Gathering at Davos has usually served as an excellent indicator of what big business is thinking. Those are often not explicitly mentioned but only hinted at by global business leaders in the WEF annual meeting but the messages are always clear.

In an ironic coincidence, this year’s WEF annual meeting in Davos is slated to start on January 20, the same day when Trump will officially take office as the US president for a second time.

Global Reaction To MAGA Set To Define WEF

The meeting theme at Davos this year is ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age’. With the United States at the pole position in AI and currently at loggerheads with China for global digital supremacy, other participating countries at WEF may face a Hobson's choice.

The point to note will be to what degree those speaking at Davos keep MAGA in mind while discussing the need to work collaboratively to evolve ways to address the many challenges confronting us as a society. The issues on the agenda, of course, will range from finding new ways of global growth to evolving solutions for climate change and creating good jobs.

Will delegates play safe by saying the right things on the topics under discussion? Or will a few delegates speak their mind openly, given the huge impact that policy decisions taken by the world’s most powerful economy, the United States, can have on all countries?  

Incidentally, the five thematic priorities at Davos this year are ‘Rebuilding Trust’, ‘Reimagining Growth’, ‘Investing in People’, ‘Safeguarding the Planet’, and ‘Industries in the Intelligent Age’.

Climate Change & Trump 2.0

In this context, it is relevant to mention that there is already considerable apprehension on how the US, in Trump’s second stint as president, will act on the issue of climate change where global cooperation is seen as the only way out.

The climate finance target goal reached at the COP29 summit held in Baku in November 2024 has already received much criticism from developing countries, including India. The developing world feels that the amount is unfair and grossly inadequate.

During Trump’s first term, America had pulled out of the Paris Agreement on the climate change issues. The United States officially became a Party again under the presidency of Joe Biden. However, Trump has vowed to get out of the agreement once again.

In a presidential speech at the 50th annual meeting of the WEF in 2020, Trump was scathing in his criticism of those who had “predicted an end of oil in the 1990s”, equating them to “perennial prophets of doom” and “heirs of yesterday’s foolish fortune-tellers”.

He added, “We’ve been so successful that the United States no longer needs to import energy from hostile nations.  With an abundance of American natural gas now available, our European allies no longer have to be vulnerable to unfriendly energy suppliers either.  We urge our friends in Europe to use America’s vast supply and achieve true energy security.”

Interestingly, Trump made this speech just minutes before teenage activist Greta Thunberg addressed a session called ‘Averting a Climate Apocalypse’.

Global Business Leaders Likely To Spread Positivity

Usually, gatherings at Davos see attendees stay on script, especially those from the world of business, using the platform to forcefully articulate their strong belief in the ‘doing well by doing good’ philosophy. These business leaders also normally underline their deep and unwavering commitment to the highest principles of stakeholder capitalism.

Last year’s WEF, for instance, saw OpenAI’s Sam Altman highlight the necessity of societal involvement in the development of artificial intelligence technologies so that AI could become a force for good for everybody.   

Speaking on the future of AI, Altman said, “I have a lot of empathy for the general nervousness and discomfort of the world towards companies like us… We have our own nervousness, but we believe that we can manage through it and the only way to do that is to put the technology in the hands of people. Let society and technology co-evolve in a step-by-step approach with a very tight feedback loop and course correction, and build these systems that deliver tremendous value while meeting safety requirements.”           

Tech Energy Demand & Environment Implications

Another noteworthy facet of this year’s Davos meeting will be the huge energy demand for new technologies and their implications on the environment. What is stated in Davos can serve as useful input for the AI Action Summit to be held in Paris in February 2025.

“Developing a greater distribution of access to computing power” is one of the important issues on which the AI summit in Paris will deliberate.     

In its ‘Electricity 2024’ report,  the International Energy Agency (IEA) pointed out that the consumption of electricity by data centres, AI, and the cryptocurrency sector could double by 2026. The report said, “After globally consuming an estimated 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2022, data centres’ total electricity consumption could reach more than 1000 TWh in 2026. This demand is roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan.”

Can India Attract Capital At Davos?

From an Indian perspective, what will further be keenly watched at the WEF is the success achieved by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and especially Andhra Pradesh, which will be a prominent part of the India contingent, in attracting investment promises from global corporations.

As per the national investment promotion agency Invest India, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana will also participate in Davos this year. If these states also succeed in onboarding sizeable foreign investors, that will be a feather in the hat for the Indian contingent on an otherwise turbulent global stage.

(The writer is a current affairs commentator. Views are personal.)