Day 3, January 22 at Davos focused more on central bankers, finance titans and investment fund managers where predictions and prognostications ran rampant. Many speakers were warning that Europe’s future was looking very dark (on the day when the Euro Stoxx 600 shrugged off Trump’s tariff threats to reach a record high). But optimism was the buzzword as the media tried to ignore Jamie Dimon’s statement of the obvious: that the US markets were kind of inflated (ie, in a bubble). Everyone seemed to be arguing that tariffs should not be the focus but then everyone had an opinion on Trump tariffs and how Europe should respond.
Kudos to the WEF sommelier, as Blackrock CEO, Larry Fink, was apparently thoroughly imbibed by the time he participated in a Bloomberg House side panel (see from the 53:30 mark). He was as giddy as a teenager about the opportunities Bitcoin was offering the investment world (figuring it could reach $500-600,000 once AI takes over the trading world with bots buying stocks).
Being right in your predictions is not as important as being heard in Davos. Fink seems to keep no record of past erroneous statements at previous World Economic Forums. Don’t dare hold him to task on his ESG strategies or the Net Zero Banking Coalition – they were just dalliances or youthful indiscretions. Today in Davos, the Blackrock CEO was peddling a new product with Microsoft, investing in infrastructure for data centers (powered, ahem, by fossil fuels). Fink has mastered the hypocrite mantra: “Do as I say, not as I do!”.
This is actually a good example of why Davos disgusts so many people. When, like Larry Fink, you control such a large amount of the capital flow, you can be totally wrong and economically destructive, and still make a lot of money (so long as you pivot out early enough, leaving retail investors holding the bag). In today’s interview, Fink even admitted, half-jokingly, that if you bet against what Davos is saying every year (including what Larry Fink himself is saying), you would be rich. But it is not so funny when someone reminds him how his ESG ETF extortion debacle forced banks away from funding many development projects in emerging markets because they were powered by natural gas. But no one in Davos ever does remind Fink of his missteps, so he once again feels entitled to toss back a few and loft nonsense in the form of some strategic stream of consciousness.
What is worse is that these WEF poet billionaires pretend to appeal to the dreamers and ideologues, throwing out concepts like degrowth or late-stage capitalism only because some academic published an interesting paper on it, promoting carbon disclosure projects or environmental waste targets only because it would make them look good, expecting industries to then realign their strategies in order to keep trading on their platforms. That is, of course, until the markets take a downturn (or a war breaks out), and once the investments look doubtful, they forget everything they said and pile into the next big thing, admitting nothing while all along showing how virtuous they are.
Billionaires like Larry Fink and Klaus Schwab think they should be measured by how much money they make for their shareholders and investors. They should be measured by how catastrophic their stupid ideas have cost societies and economic development. But that is not the Davos Way.
And as Larry Fink is now hugging fossil fuel investments, no one should be talking about climate change now.
Keep the Climate Alive
On the day that David McKay, CEO of Royal Bank of Canada and the last main Canadian bank still in the Net Zero Banking Alliance, told the media they were examining all options on remaining in the UN climate body, the old climate warriors all flew into Davos to urge stronger measures at cutting carbon emissions.
Al Gore teamed up with the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement in a session arguing that the emission reductions are not enough.
John Kerry showed up in Davos today, again, to promote a tropical forest carbon sink project with the not too dramatically-titled session: Defending Earth’s Largest Lung.
Then there was the session on promoting further alternatives for climate finance by tapping into the billions of dollars apparently just sitting in the family offices and sovereign wealth funds. Since the UNFCCC’s COP29 in Baku failed miserably at climate finance, the WEF assumed the mantle, stepping forward to take the lead (assuming that as most Davos luminaries have their own family offices, they could easily out-fund the UN).
But the organizers somehow missed the Davos Way – the billionaires have moved on.
What does it mean to say: The billionaires have moved on? It means their foundations will not be pouring 100s of millions of dollars into NGOs that only exist to amplify climate fears and stop fossil fuels. It means they will not be funding tort law firms like Sher Edling to keep filing climate nuisance lawsuits. It means they won’t be creating fiscal sponsors to pay journalists or media groups to treat every news story as a climate change story. It means the world will get less divisive and confrontational.
But did Davos get the memo?
This is a curious point in how the narrative on climate change is shifting but the WEF is fighting to keep their influence alive. They released a white paper calling on businesses to provide early warning systems for extreme weather events. The paper looked at “how businesses can bridge the EWS coverage gap through technological advancements, data-driven innovations and public-private collaboration.” Companies do this as part of their business continuity crisis management strategy, and this can easily be communicated to local authorities, but now the WEF is proposing that they take over this responsibility from governments even in places where they don’t operate. But once again, the billionaires have moved on.
So while the audience politely listened to the old climate warriors, with one eye on the goings on in Washington, it should be asked: Where have the billionaires move on to? AI is what everyone seems to be talking about as funding is pouring in for multiple projects. Connected to that, investors are interested in energy infrastructure (why Larry Fink gave up religion to advocate for fossil fuels), crypto, chips, social media restrictions and, of course, tariffs.
Speaking of tariffs, Davos should end with a bang tomorrow when Donald Trump logs in for his speech.