World Economic Forum grapples with transition ‘from Cold War to hot peace’
The World Economic Forum’s meeting of its Global Future Councils began yesterday in Dubai, in “the world’s biggest brainstorm to lay the groundwork for our annual meeting in Davos”, its president said.
The international community must come to grips with a transition “from Cold War to a hot peace” as the slowest economic growth in a decade has led to polarisation and a possible global recession looms, Borge Brende said.
“We must build the tools to work against such a backdrop and a truly globalised world, where your problems are my problems, and vice versa,” Mr Brende said.
More than 600 delegates from government, academia and the private sector are attending the annual meeting of the Global Future Councils in Dubai.
They will set the agenda for the meeting in Davos in January on themes of geopolitics, artificial intelligence, training and retraining, and mental health, among other topics.
Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, said the WEF must answer three questions “for a more stable, safe and happy future”.
“We have a popular saying in our culture: ‘The key to knowledge and wisdom is constant questioning’,” Mr Al Gergawi said at the Madinat Jumeirah complex.
With more than a billion people still living without electricity and 1 per cent of the world’s population owning more than half of the global wealth, the forum must question if the
Fourth Industrial Revolution has contributed to increasing or decreasing the gap between rich and poor societies.
“What will happen when half of the world starts adopting the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchain, while the other half remains light years away from more advanced societies?” Mr Al Gergawi asked.
The data revolution also underscored “a question of trust – trust in institutions, media and government. Trust is the foundation of stable societies”.
“The UAE, in collaboration with the WEF, is trying as much as possible to create this model for a country of the future which will be able to balance technology with social care,” he said.
Costa Rica is on track to become the first country to achieve carbon neutrality.
On Saturday, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, the country’s Minister for Environment and Energy, arrived in Dubai for the World Economic Forum Global Future Councils’ meeting.
The annual gathering brings together more than 600 academics, business leaders and government officials to address global, regional and geopolitical issues.
Costa Rica has been focused on environmental concerns for some time and the country has a hugely ambitious climate policy agenda.
“Costa Rica has understood that the neoclassic economic model is unable to reflect what we do with nature,” Mr Rodriguez told The National.
“Unless we are able to change it, we will collapse society. If our economic model does not reflect the good and the bad we do to nature, Mother Nature will pass on an invoice that we will never be able to pay.”
Last year, Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado, 39, pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2021.
Renewable energy currently meets 98 per cent of the nation’s power requirements, which is due in part to strategies put in place more than 30 years ago.
In the 1980s, Costa Rica began an intensive reforestation programme after its forestry was reduced by about 80 per cent in only a few decades.
Today, its forests cover more than 50 per cent of the country and are a boost to ecotourism, which now accounts for 8.2 per cent of Costa Rica’s GDP.
“Costa Rica has doubled the size of our forests in a period the economy tripled, meaning that we can protect nature and it is not a burden for development,” said Mr Rodriguez.
Costa Rica also introduced a carbon tax on petrol half a century ago to fund environmental conservation. It added a 3.5 per cent levy to hydrocarbons in 1997.
The carbon tax funds carbon sequestration through reforestation and reduced carbon emissions by changing consumer behaviour.
Additionally, the government pays subsidies to landowners helping to nurture and protect natural resources.
“In the case of Costa Rica, even though our emissions are small on a global level, we see the decarbonisation of our economy as a way to transition to a new development paradigm,” said Mr Rodriguez.
“It’s not simply moving to a carbon-free society, it’s moving towards what we call the fourth industrial revolution – automatisation, digitalisation and a decarbonised society.
“We see it as a great opportunity to prosper, to generate more quality jobs and to have happier people.”
Costa Rica is also tackling transport, which accounts for about 60 per cent of national emissions.
It has lifted all taxes on the sale of electric vehicles, installed an extensive infrastructure for public charge points and has begun to replace buses with electric substitutes. It wants to make 40 per cent of all the country’s vehicles electric by 2030.
In the same period, officials say they would like to the number of cars used in the country to drop by about 33 per cent by offering better alternatives.
To that end, the government has plans to construct an electric train in the capital, San Jose, which is due to be completed in 2025.
These policies have made Costa Rica an example of a decarbonised economy.
Mr Rodriguez said he believed that many of these policies could be also adopted by the UAE.
The country has pledged to diversify its energy mix, albeit national emissions could increase by 50 per cent between 2010 and 2030, according to Climate Change Tracker, an independent body that measures government action against the 2016 Paris Agreement.
But the region’s solar power potential is a “magnificent opportunity” and its advances in wireless energy transfer could add to that economic boon, Mr Rodriguez said.
“The Emirates may have a strong role in the global transition to a new energy paradigm,” he said. “If we solve the energy issue and we don’t solve the deforestation issue, we will never achieve anything.
“Arab nations are in the best location for energy solutions but need to engage more with tropical countries on deforestation and forest restoration.”
If our economic model does not reflect what we do to nature, Mother Nature will pass on an invoice we cannot pay