Summit 2021

As the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic persist, the urgency and magnitude of the decarbonisation challenge cannot be overlooked. Within the context of the ‘Great Realignment, the 2020s must be the pivotal decade for climate action. While the global response to the pandemic has brought an abrupt decrease in global emissions in 2020, the data ... Read more

Resource extraction and consumption is expected to double by 2060, driven by global population and GDP growth. Such a development trajectory will accelerate environmental degradation and biodiversity loss while exposing the shortcomings of our linear ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production and consumption. A circular economy, as a means to decouple economic growth from resource ... Read more

Our culture, norms and values from the offline, real world oftentimes do not translate into the online world, which is by nature remote and lacks actual physical encounters. Online platforms provide a space in which individual opinions can be easily published and receive traction. This becomes problematic if these opinions are misleading or malicious, especially ... Read more

Our global rulebook of trade is outdated. It does not accommodate geopolitical power shifts, it is unfit to cope with the rapid internationalization of state-owned enterprises, it has little to say on the challenges brought about by the digitalization of business models and it is often seen as hindering rather than promoting the ecological transformation ... Read more

The last few years have been marked by a growing geostrategic rivalry between China and the United States. At the same time, a shift from a rules-based to a more power-based international order has taken place. This becomes evident in the increasing usage of economic instruments such as trade policy or technology and industrial policy ... Read more

Migration is a structural and multifaceted phenomenon. It poses challenges and presents opportunities in contexts of origin as well as the destination. It puts to test multilateral coordination. The pandemic, by exacerbating underlying social and economic challenges, generates additional implications for migration trends and governance. These are just some of the reasons why migration must ... Read more

It is often heard: Global problems, such as climate change or the fight against Covid-19, require global cooperation. The cross-border nature and sheer scope of the problems require global collective action. Yet, cooperation often does not go beyond words. What is often highlighted instead are systemic differences, bilateral approaches to cooperation, and the malfunctioning of ... Read more

The economic system that uplifted society coming out of World War II has, with the aid of a massive disruption in technology, also created significant income and wealth disparities, a lack of trust in institutions, growing populism and social unrest. Youth are among those who have often been locked out of the benefits of the ... Read more

Designing out waste and pollution through the gradual closing of loops in global production chains is an important requirement for achieving the Sustainable Agenda and Paris Agreement climate goals and for halting the degradation of our biodiversity. A worldwide shift to a circular economy in all value chains, regions and cities is of central importance ... Read more

The global system is focused on economic growth, with social prosperity and environmental sustainability as subsidiaries and derivative to economic growth. The transformational change needed to realign the political, economic and social systems, focusing on the wellbeing of people and the planet, requires a broad coalition of actors – actors from politics, business and society ... Read more