Evergreen’s executive director Geoff Cape is blogging from The World Economic Forum.

If Davos 2009 was dominated by the financial crisis, 2010 is dominated by ideas around sustainability. After two days here in at the World Economic Forum, I can report with confidence that the green agenda is fully represented. I am impressed so far.

It begins with the front-of-program positioning of the “Greener Davos,” which involves elaborate public transit services for all participants (rather than the usual black Mercedes), pedometers for all and recycling programs for all waste. There is a very long list of sessions on topics such as green design, the state of the oceans, climate change, energy, transportation, water and waste management. Others are related to shifting consumer behaviour, the environmental challenge of short-term profit motives and the protection of our global commons: air, water and soil.

One session that looked at consumers’ purchasing interest suggested that 90 percent of the buying public want to purchase green products. A large retailer in India referenced five major trends and all five related to green issues in one way or another.  In a session devoted to Haiti, Bill Clinton referenced the need to rebuild a green Haiti, and the need for massive reforestation programs across the country.

This year’s theme is under the “Global Redesign Initiative” banner with “Rethink, Redesign and Rebuild” as the slogan. As you can imagine, much of this rethinking is focused on global financial issues including the role of the state, the role of big banks, executive compensation and the need to rebuild trust. There is no shortage of rhetoric and pandering politicians and CEO’s, but there are also many sincere and committed leaders from all sectors and all corners of the globe. Dan Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University and panelist at this fall’s Brick Works Forum is here, as are several others who participated at our event. HRH Prince Charles’ brother Andrew is present as well.

In total there are 2,500 people here, and I feel very lucky to be one of them.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 1:59 pm and is filed under Issues, News, Notes from Geoff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.