Devex Davos Dispatch: Day 1

The world’s elite have once again touched down in Davos — and, from a ski town in the Alps, the World Economic Forum has officially begun. We’re coming to you straight from snowy Switzerland, where we’ll be chasing the global development threads throughout the week.

“I think the perception might be that Davos is only about business. But it also carries a very significant development agenda,” Sanda Ojiambo, the executive director of the United Nations Global Compact, told Devex before she arrived.

That’s not to say I didn’t hear the sound of private helicopters on Sunday — and that’s not to say I didn’t spot several slogans that absolutely made me cringe. (Of everything I saw while walking along Davos’ central thoroughfare, my favorite had to be “hope is the most profitable business,” which was printed on the Emirates House alongside “impossible is possible.”) My colleagues tell me that in years past, the SDGs — and calls to act on climate change — made a much louder presence across town. But this year, that seems to have been swapped for all things AI.

Despite that, the chilly air in Davos is buzzing with activity — and the global development sector is most certainly here to capitalize on it.

I’ve got my eyes on a few key themes, with climate, conflict, and the return of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump all high on the official agenda. The theme of this year’s forum is “collaboration for the intelligent age,” a lofty catchphrase which, for the development world, will likely spark questions about closing the digital divide. But there’s a lot more on the agenda, and throughout the week, I’ll be tuning into topics across the development world: from the economic impact of LGBTQ+ exclusion to artificially intelligent humanitarian response.

From today until Jan. 24, I’ll be bringing all of that — and more! — to your inbox. But to get us started, here’s a cheat sheet of what we know so far.

Read: Development at Davos — here’s what to watch

Background reading: A global development insider’s guide to Davos (Pro)

P.S. Do you have a question, story tip, or just want to meet for coffee? Shoot me a line at elissa.miolene@devex.com.

On the guest list

For more than 50 years, the weeklong event has attracted billionaires, business execs, kings, and queens — along with some of the most influential leaders in the global development space. This year, the forum will be no different: Over 130 countries will be represented, with 60 heads of state, 40 foreign ministers, and more than 900 chief executives in attendance.

Its 3,000 attendees include everyone from soccer star David Beckham to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy; from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations.

Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will also be speaking virtually — and Børge Brende, WEF’s president and CEO, told reporters there will be a “broad footprint” from the Trump administration in the latter half of the week.

All eyes will be peeled for Elon Musk, as the jury is still out on whether the world’s richest man will be making an appearance. For what it’s worth, back in 2022, Musk said he declined WEF’s invitation, calling the forum “boring af” in a tweet — while those at the organization said they’d never sent an invite his way.

It’s all about timing

WEF begins the same day that Trump — some 4,000 miles away — returns to the White House. But even before Trump is sworn in (just a few hours from now), the implications of his return were already reverberating through the Alps like an ominous yodel.

“Former President Trump’s election is obviously going to be on everybody’s mind,” says Creon Butler, the director of the global economy and finance program at the policy institute Chatham House. “How will the whole range of Trump’s policies — whether they be tariffs, fiscal stimulus, deporting migrants, deregulation, government efficiency — going to affect not just the U.S. economy, but the global economy?”

A gaudy USA House has made its debut on the promenade this year, with a proud-looking eagle watching over the businesses that annually overtake the shops and stalls of the town. Inauguration watch parties will stream Trump’s return across Davos tonight. And the first official session of the WEF is focused on the billionaire’s return to office — with editors-in-chief from several major newspapers giving their “first impressions” of Trump 2.0.

“Davos is starting the same day that a billionaire, backed by the world’s very richest man, comes to power in what’s often referred to as the world’s most powerful country,” Oxfam America’s senior policy lead, Rebecca Riddell, tells Devex. “This is oligarchy in action, and we have to be prepared for it to fan the flames of inequality globally.”

Trump is expected to make a slew of executive orders throughout this week, and many of those in the crosshairs (we’re looking at you, UNFPA) will be in Davos when he does. His return is likely to factor into nearly everything on the forum’s agenda, and we’ll be watching how that plays out in the Alps.

Read: Donald Trump won. What does that mean for development?

Plus: Will Trump gut UN family planning funds ... again?

+ Save your spot now for The first 100 days: How Trump could change US aid this Wednesday, Jan. 22. This is a free members-only event for Devex Pro members. Not a Pro member yet? You can sign up for a free trial when registering for this event.

Temperature check

Regardless of Davos’ headlining theme, no topic will be taking up more airtime than climate change. Presidents and prime ministers from Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru will be making the case for more focus on the climate, while the world’s loftiest C-suites will be discussing electric vehicles, decarbonization, and the economics of a green energy transition.

But with Trump returning to the White House the same day Davos begins, attendees will be bracing for the raft of climate-related changes to come. FWIW, This is my first year at the WEF, and after a multitude of stories about how bitter cold Davos is in January, I packed with that in mind. But when I got here, brown mounds of grass peeked through the snow nearly everywhere — and my colleagues were shocked at how warm it actually was.

Your Davos Dispatch reporter tried to go tobogganing yesterday, but was turned away due to the lack of snowfall. Still, ChatGPT assured me that’s normal for this time of year — and I expect that argument will play out on the slopes, too.

Despite — or perhaps, because of — that, there will be a multitude of relevant events on the agenda. Kenyan President William Ruto is expected to announce a new $5 billion initiative focused on climate adaptation across Africa, while the African Union’s commissioner for infrastructure and energy, Amani Abou-Zeid, will be speaking on clean technology hardware — and how the world can close an estimated gap of $130 trillion by 2050 to fund it.

“With companies increasingly exposed to financial risk due to climate change and biodiversity loss, there is no choice but for the private sector to invest in climate mitigation and nature strategies,” Marianne Kleiberg, The Nature Conservancy’s managing director for Europe, tells Devex.

Risky business

Conflict weighs heavily on this year’s WEF. In the lead-up to Davos, the organization released its yearly Global Cooperation Barometer, which assesses how the world collaborated across trade, technology, and beyond. Peace and security have continued to plummet, and in another annual report, WEF ranked armed conflict as the number one risk facing the world today. 

That might be why conflict, crises, and geopolitical tensions appear throughout Davos’ 2025 agenda. Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s minister of foreign affairs, will be speaking at a session titled Diplomacy amid Disorder with the Prime Minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani — along with the foreign ministers of Nigeria, Finland, and Spain. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud — the president of Somalia — will talk about engaging the private sector in humanitarian response. And development heavyweights Comfort Ero, the head of the International Crisis Group, and Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, will be speaking on unreported humanitarian crises across the world.

“The idea here is to bring different perspectives — from tech leaders to those working in logistics and supply chains — and enable people who don’t usually meet one another to explore innovations in the humanitarian sector,” WEF’s Brende told Devex last week. “That is the essence of Davos.”

You can’t sit with us?

In a nutshell, that’s how Brende described the humanitarian and global development community’s openness to the private sector — something that this year, Davos will seek to change. WEF will be highlighting what has worked, and in particular, the businesses partnering with humanitarian and development partners in Somalia, Nigeria, and the DRC. But ultimately, Brende felt there was more to be done.

“I also think the sector could be more open to different types of actors, particularly those from the private sector,” he told Devex. “We are seeing new actors and resources coming together in support of humanitarian and development goals. We have been advocating for this for some time, but the humanitarian and development sector must be serious about including these actors — investors, businesses, philanthropists — in a sustained way.”

Read the full interview with Brende: World Economic Forum president and CEO on development’s role in Davos

The Davos divide

Despite all those intentions, the crux of Davos is always the same: inequality. Every year, Oxfam produces a report on the world’s wealth gaps just in time for WEF — and this year, the findings are stark.

Billionaire wealth grew by $2 trillion last year alone, and more than 200 new billionaires were minted during 2024. At the same time, the number of people living in poverty has barely moved since 1990.

But in spite of — or perhaps, because of — those divides, many civil society organizations see Davos as a place to highlight the world’s ever-widening gaps. One social activist for the homeless, Andrew Funk, slept outside to make the point. Youth packed the annual Arctic Basecamp at the historic Schatzalp Hotel, an attempt to compel world leaders to take climate action. And a full-throated protest weaved its way through town Sunday, one with a seemingly endless assortment of missions.

I saw pride flags, trans flags, Palestinian flags, weed flags (aren’t we past that?) all in the same crowd of activists, with chants of “tax the rich” making their way across Davos. I’m told some private cars were held up by the protesters, making me wonder if their passengers will take their message to heart, or shrug them off with annoyance.

Either way, we’ll keep you posted on what we hear.

Read more about what we’re watching at this year’s WEF.

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