Energy remains the burning issue for world leaders
The first full day of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum spanned topics from the Ukraine invasion to restoring societal trust.
The two plenary speeches by heads of state were from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim.
Mr Zelenskyy addressed the business community with a focus on getting their backing for his country, a complete boycott of Russia and preparing for the “reconstruction” phase that will follow the war.
Countries and corporations are already trying to assess the costs associated with that reconstruction, yet an end to the war is still not in sight.
Sheikh Tamim also spoke of the importance of ending the war in Ukraine, but stressed the necessity of appreciating the suffering of others, with an emphasis on Palestine.
“Palestine has been an open wound since the establishment of the United Nations,” he said and referred to an Al Jazeera journalist killed in the West Bank earlier this month.
“Shireen Abu Aqleh, a Christian Palestinian-American journalist, was killed two weeks ago in Palestine and then robbed of a dignified burial,” Sheikh Tamim said – a reference to the attacks on her funeral procession.
Business leaders attended both talks, but in large part were concerned with what the two heads of state had to say on energy. The impact of the Ukraine war and increased energy prices, with gas prices jumping about 500 per cent since the last meeting in Davos, has finance officials and corporate leaders concerned. And while some were arguing for further sanctions on Russia, former US congressman Eric Cantor said yesterday that an “off-ramp” was necessary for Russia to end the war and stabilise energy markets.
Ukrainian officials in attendance were not pleased with the idea of finding a way to bring Russia in from the cold.
US congresswoman Ann Wagner said that her country should be the “Saudi Arabia of LNG”, with little interest in finding a way to lift the sanctions imposed on Russian energy supplies.
Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al Jadaan said that the green transition was in danger as some European countries opted for coal burning to compensate for Russian gas. Although discussions on climate mitigation are in full force, including the need for investments in technology to enable a green transition, the most immediate concern was the coming winter amid high energy prices.
The intricate relationship between the state of geopolitics and energy is a big topic in Davos. As the Iran nuclear talks continue to languish, Tehran’s foreign minister is expected to speak at the summit later this week.
Whether striking a nuclear deal could ease some of the pressure has yet to be seen, but the bigger picture in Davos is that the energy dilemma is the main thing on leaders’ minds, across the board.