The World Economic Forum’s dying climate scam

OPINION:

Greetings from Switzerland!

The World Economic Forum’s Davos shindig wrapped up last week, as did The Heartland Institute’s inaugural World Prosperity Forum. Along with freedom-loving allies in Europe, Heartland decided it was time to host our own conference.

At the World Prosperity Forum, instead of promoting globalism and climate mania, we argued for national sovereignty and common sense. Our forum was held in Zurich, and I got the opportunity to ride the train up those beautiful mountains to see what all our supposed betters were up to at Davos.

I went with two colleagues. We weren’t allowed inside the main event and didn’t feel like testing the line of armed police and excited Belgian shepherds guarding the gate, but the ski village’s main street was filled with pavilions sponsored by heavy hitters, including BlackRock, Palantir and Meta.

I was most interested in finding the climate section of the conference because we have been hearing rumors that “green” is dying at the World Economic Forum.

Ahead of Davos, polling conducted by the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Perception Survey asked the “experts” in attendance what they were most worried about heading into the meetup. Climate Change News was alarmed to learn that attendees reported a lot less concern about climate change issues this year than at past conferences.

These dignitaries report that their concerns are shifting toward “economic risks like geo-economic confrontation, economic downturn, inflation, and asset bubbles bursting.”

Economic concerns, ranking highly at the World Economic Forum? Say it isn’t so!

I wondered whether that polling reflected reality on the ground in Davos, and it certainly seemed to.

We almost walked right past the climate “hub.” It was nearly empty save for some people gathered around the patio space at a nearby restaurant. It had the vibe of a granola-sprinkled corporate space at a mild tailgate. There were hockey-putting game stations, a booth about mushrooms (the drug kind) and an area with an encampment of ayahuasca advocates (I’m not kidding). There was exactly one protester, an ambiguously gendered person dressed as a cow in stiletto boots.

The venue for breakout sessions was a small coffee shop with a dark stage in the back. Admission was free; to get in, you needed only to give your email and a short statement about your greatest professional contribution to saving the planet. I said mine was “educating laypeople on climate science,” which is completely true (though probably not in a way the World Economic Forum would appreciate).

The climate hub was subdued, with little to no green advertising outside the small area. The busiest time was around dinner, and the most popular food stand was one selling veal bratwursts, which I’m pretty sure isn’t on anyone’s list of “sustainable” foods.

As my colleague Donald Kendal pointed out, the World Economic Forum website shows that at past conferences, about 35 panel sessions focused on climate. That number suddenly dropped to 20 last year. This year, only 11 panel sessions included “climate” in their titles.

The irony is that this decline in climate concern at the World Economic Forum brings these elites a bit closer to the general public. Polls in the United States and Europe have consistently found that climate policies such as carbon taxes and bans on combustion engine vehicles are unpopular, and other concerns, especially financial ones, rank higher.

Climate change isn’t even among most people’s top five concerns, according to market research firm Ipsos. Most of the world is far more worried about crime, violence, immigration and economics.

Even as climate issues become less pressing at Davos, World Economic Forum elites still aren’t really worried about any of the things you or I would be, according to that pre-conference polling. They worry about artificial intelligence (fair enough), but most ironically, about “misinformation” and “inequality.”

Among “green” issues, although pollution is a top environmental concern for the average person, it ranks the lowest for Davos attendees. It’s true there wasn’t much trash or polluted water at the famous (and expensive) Swiss ski resort, so I suppose it’s a case of “out of sight, out of mind.”

Although it’s great that the climate issue is slowly being buried alive by others at the World Economic Forum, it’s not dead yet, and it could claw its way out of the grave if it isn’t finished off properly.

Inside the climate hub, some finance types were discussing yet another scheme to assign scores to people’s habits and even the environment itself. During the dry, buzzword-filled session, the CEO of the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures awkwardly said, “No one wants to be shouting from the rooftops about what they’re doing for sustainability right now, for various reasons,” but reassured the audience that financial institutions are still interested in climate change nonsense.

It was fascinating to hear these people acknowledge that they don’t plan to stop their environmental, social and governance programs, but do intend to be quieter about them. They don’t care whether these programs stomp on individual liberty, though they are cowed by some public backlash. The Trump administration surely scares them as well.

I have no doubt the climate scam will come roaring back if we get complacent and let off the pressure, but for now, the greens at Davos are being abandoned and ignored. I would almost feel bad for them if they hadn’t spent the past few decades trying to plunge us all into a cold, dark, green technocracy.

• Linnea Lueken (llueken@heartland.org) is a research fellow with the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy at The Heartland Institute. X: @LinneaLueken.