Greta Thunberg brought a stark message to the business elite gathering in Davos: Everybody is talking about climate change, but nobody is doing anything.<\/p>\n
Her appearance at the opening of the World Economic Forum was a striking sign that the debate about how to stop the Earth warming has become mainstream in business circles. Yet only a handful of executives from the oil, gas and coal industries that are chiefly responsible for warming the planet were seen attending the panel at which Thunberg spoke on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump used his speech at the event to tout the benefits of soaring American oil and gas production and make a thinly veiled attack on those who warn about looming environmental catastrophe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe climate and environment is a hot topic right now, thanks to young people pushing,\u201d 17-year-old Thunberg said at the Swiss ski resort, where about 3,000 business and political leaders gather each year. \u201cPretty much nothing has been done, since the global emissions of CO2 have not reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Swedish activist\u2019s words came as the World Economic Forum sounds alarm bells on climate change. This year and for the first time on record, environmental risks occupy the group\u2019s\u00a0top five<\/a>\u00a0long-term concerns, while corporate executives say they\u2019re\u00a0increasingly concerned<\/a> about environmental issues. But young activists at Davos said none of this is enough.<\/p>\n Thunberg is giving relevance to the Davos gathering, which for years has suffered from criticism that it was largely a billionaires\u2019 playground where the rich debated among themselves without hearing outside voices. On Tuesday, there was a full room at this first 8:30 a.m. panel featuring young activists — something relatively unusual for a climate change event at Davos.<\/p>\n The debate on climate change is forcing businesses to respond to demands to stop carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. While some have been slow in embracing the fight, executives at Davos highlighted that the overall views from within the business community have dramatically changed over the last decade or so, moving from denial and questioning science into complete acceptance.<\/p>\n \u201cI have come to Davos for well over a decade and I see behind the scenes, among top executives, a huge change in perception of the risk of climate change,\u201d said Marco Dunand, the head of Mercuria Energy Trading SA, one of the worlds\u2019 largest oil traders. \u201cIt\u2019s not just talk: it\u2019s translating into billions of dollars in investments in the energy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n Activists\u2019 language has made its way to boardrooms across the world too. At another morning panel at Davos, Iberdrola SA Chief Executive Officer Ignacio Galan called on companies to close coal-powered plants in order to curb emissions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a hurry, we have to move fast,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is already money available, cheap money, cheap technology, competitive technology and political decision in many countries to do so. Let\u2019s not continue delaying and postponing\u201d<\/p>\n Trump landed at Davos on Tuesday morning and was welcomed by the words \u201cAct on climate,\u201d carved into the snow on a hill near the helicopter landing zone. He didn\u2019t mention the topic in his speech at the forum later in the day, focusing instead on America\u2019s growing economy and record oil and gas production.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a time for pessimism, this is a time for optimism,\u201d Trump said as Thunberg watched from the audience. \u201cWe must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday\u2019s foolish fortune tellers.\u201d<\/p>\n The President and the activist\u2019s first and only meeting last year became instantly viral as Thunberg was filmed\u00a0furiously staring\u00a0at Trump. While they\u2019ve never spoken face to face, they both seem to follow each other closely on Twitter.<\/p>\nTrump Encounter<\/h3>\n