Why an absence of A-listers at Davos is not just deep trouble for the World Economic Forum, but for globalisation too
Davos, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and its founder, Klaus Schwab, have become more famous than ever before in the past couple of years – albeit not for the reasons they might have wanted.
As COVID-19 spread and the world battled the pandemic, Mr Schwab and the WEF, not to mention regular delegates such as Bill Gates, became the subject of a suite of outlandish conspiracy tales, most of which came back to the premise that they were hell-bent on world domination.
Leaving aside the lurid detail of these stories, they seem to have missed the most important point of all, far from becoming more powerful than ever before, Davos is failing.
Before we go any further it’s worth pointing out that pinning down what Davos “is” is surprisingly tricky.
At its core, it is a four-day-long meeting of businesspeople, politicians, academics, campaigners and, yes, celebrities, up the mountain in a Swiss ski resort.
There are speeches from world leaders, forums where people talk about the big issues of the day, from poverty to climate change to inequality and countless meetings and parties outside the official World Economic Forum cordons.
Bankers come here to meet potential clients and do deals in hotel suites, politicians have quiet bilateral meetings with their peers and with businesspeople.
Read more:
What is Davos and what happens at the World Economic Forum meeting?
But there are two overarching reasons why Davos matters. The first is: convening power.
It stands and falls on whether it can persuade enough influential people to come here, so that the other influential people can rub shoulders with them.
The second is something deeper: most of the delegates here benefit from a world where capital and trade move freely from one part of the world to another. This place is not the explanation for the globalisation of the past few decades, but it has certainly thrived in that world.
And on both of these fronts, things are not looking good for Davos.
There are plenty of A-list delegates coming to the forum this year, from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to US climate envoy John Kerry, not to mention the business mainstays like JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and, of course, Bill Gates.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates (L) talks to Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos in 2008
But the guestlist this time around looks considerably less heavyweight than usual.
There is no US president, no UK prime minister and even Emmanuel Macron is giving the meeting the cold shoulder – little wonder given these nations, and so many others, are battling a cost of living crisis back home.
The end of globalisation itself?
But more important still is the fact that the very world Davos thrived in is disintegrating.
There is a war in mainland Europe. Indeed, some have described the conflict in Ukraine as simply the earliest movements in a world war.
Relations between China and the West are at a new low point. Countries around the globe are re-engineering their supply chains, and the era of untrammelled globalisation seems to be ending.
Davos has been written off many times before (possibly including by yours truly) yet it has managed each time to defy such prognostications.
A lot of people thought Donald Trump‘s election would spell disaster for the forum, yet he attended it more than once, and was here at the last winter meeting back in early 2020.
Yet there are two other reasons, on top of the two above, why Davos is facing its biggest threat yet.
COVID’s blow to face-to-face events
The first is the pandemic that erupted shortly after that last winter meeting, which has undoubtedly dealt a blow to face-to-face events such as these.
Davos may be leagues bigger and more influential than most corporate jamborees, but at its core that’s ultimately what this event is, and thanks to Zoom and remote working the corporate jamboree sector is trapped in a deep recession of its own.
The other issue comes back to something Klaus Schwab, the forum’s founder, has often talked about before: the stakeholder economy.
This idea, his brainchild from decades ago, is that businesses do not exist in isolation: they are at a nexus of various different groups, from shareholders to customers to employees and, for that matter, the state and society in which they operate.
The idea was that by engaging more sensibly with each of these parties the stakeholders could all get along. The Forum’s official motto is “Committed to Improving the State of the World” but it might have done better to borrow the old BT slogan: “It’s good to talk”.
Yet in the face of the cost of living crisis, these lines of communication seem to have frayed, or possibly snapped altogether.
There has been more industrial action in recent months than at any time in recent decades.
Dialogue seems to be failing.
On pretty much every front, then, Davos seems to be in deep trouble.
Far from gaining power in the past few years, it is under greater threat than ever before.
There will be fanfare aplenty from this Swiss town in the coming days: Ukraine, the state of globalisation, climate change – all of these issues will be discussed here by A-list panels.
But quietly, almost indiscernibly, this place is becoming less important as the world around it changes.
Consumers could be allowed to attend water company board meetings under new rules proposed by the regulator.
Companies may survey and research customers to understand their views, involve them in decision-making and seek feedback on consumers’ experience.
Under the suggested reforms by regulator Ofwat, customer voices could be heard by making changes to a company’s governing body, the board of directors.
Money latest: Michelin-guide restaurant launches water menu
The obligation to hear billpayers’ views could be met by boards allocating time for consumer matters, arranging for consumer experts to attend, holding open board meetings for the public, or by having an independent director with a consumer focus.
Boards could also comply by arranging for independent consumer experts, such as the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), to regularly attend.
Topics that consumers will have to be consulted on include the cost of bills, performance of key water services, support when things go wrong – like water outages – and the company’s investment priorities.
When decisions likely to materially impact consumers are made, the water company needs to have clear processes to ensure consumers are involved, Ofwat said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Is Thames Water a step closer to nationalisation?
As well as including water users in decision-making, utilities will have to work to understand how decisions impact consumers so those views are taken into account in future decisions.
Seeking this feedback must involve engaging with the new consumer panels being developed by the CCW to hold companies to account, Ofwat’s rules outline.
Why’s this being done?
It’s all part of the government’s aim to rebuild trust in the water sector and to improve accountability, transparency and performance in water firms.
The public has been outraged by record sewage outflows and polluted waterways at a time when senior executives are receiving bonuses and bills are rising.
New powers were granted to regulator Ofwat to clean up the sector, and rules on pay and bonuses were developed and took effect in June.
They’ve already been used to claw back bonuses.
What next?
Stakeholders have until 1 October to respond to the consultation, with Ofwat intending the rules take effect on existing water utilities in April.
Consultations already took place to make the suggested rules with 11,000 responses received from businesses, groups and individuals.
Not all of the replies made their way into the rules. The idea of having MPs and local authorities involved in decision-making, received from “several respondents”, appears not to have been included.
It comes despite the recent announcement of Ofwat being scrapped, as part of a once-in-a-generation review of the sector.
It and the other regulators are to be replaced by one single body.
Ofwat said it was working until new arrangements were in place and continuing to implement rules on remuneration and governance.
How’s it been received?
Environmental charity River Action said to rebuild trust in the industry, the government “needs to go a lot further than tinkering around the edges”.
“We need a complete overhaul of how water companies are owned, financed and governed. That means ending privatisation and instead operating for public benefit,” chief executive James Wallace said.
Industry group Water UK said: “It is important customers are involved in water companies’ decision-making.
“We will continue to work with government on these proposed rules and other vital reforms to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.”
More than 200 UK pubs closed in the first half of the year as part of a “heartbreaking” trend which industry bosses fear is set to accelerate.
Analysis of government figures revealed 209 pubs were demolished or converted for other uses over the opening six months of 2025 – around eight every week.
The South East was hit the hardest, losing 31 pubs during the period.
It means 2,283 pubs have vanished from communities across England and Wales since the start of 2020.
Industry bosses said the “really sad pattern” is being driven by the high costs faced by pubs – and called for government reforms to business rates and beer duty.
Many pubs have been hit by changes to discounts on business rates, the property tax affecting high street businesses.
Hospitality businesses received a 60% discount on their business rates up to a cap of £110,000 – but this was cut to only 25% in April.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
July 2025: ‘Not surprising pubs are closing’
Pub owners had warned such a move would place significant pressure on their industry.
Last month, the owner of a pub told Sky News “you can’t make money anymore” and “it’s not surprising so many pubs are closing at an alarming rate”.
‘Staying open becomes impossible’
A rise in the national minimum wage and national insurance payments have also increased bills for pubs.
Alex Probyn, of commercial real estate specialists Ryan, which analysed the government data, said the higher costs are “all quietly draining profits until staying open becomes impossible”.
He added: “Slashing business rates relief for pubs from 75% to 40% this year has landed the sector with an extra £215m in tax bills.
“For a small pub, that’s a leap in the average bill from £3,938 to £9,451 – a 140% increase.”
Read more from Sky News:
Sharp rise in disabled people facing homelessness
Nearly 2,000 soldiers fighting Spain fires
‘A lot of these pubs never come back’
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer And Pub Association, said: “It’s absolutely heartbreaking and there is a direct link between pubs closing for good and the huge jump in costs they have just endured.
“Pubs and brewers are important employers, drivers of economic growth, but are also really valuable to local communities across the country and have real social value.
“This is a really sad pattern, and unfortunately a lot of these pubs never come back.
“The government needs to act at the budget, with major reforms to business rates and beer duty.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike