Word Economic Forum: Davos 2024
From 15 to 19 January, the Swiss town of Davos hosted the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which in 2024 met under the theme "Rebuilding Trust". The event brings together some 2,500 heads of state and government, business CEOs, civil society representatives, global media and youth leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and North America to work together to rebuild trust and shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed to meet the challenges of 2024.
The war in Ukraine and the rise in inflation and interest rates have triggered major transformations and this meeting aims to address systemic risks to avoid uncertainty and fragility. The Davos Forum 2024 thus seeked to drive forward-looking solutions and address the most pressing global challenges through public-private cooperation.
As an international company that aspires to improve the future and stimulate economic growth through innovative technological and business proposals, the Iberdrola group is a member of the World Economic Forum and its chairman has become one of the regular voices at this institution's events. Ignacio Galán was therefore one of the participants invited this year to give his views on the direction of global economic growth.
Ignacio Sánchez Galán, Iberdrola's Executive Chairman
The opportunities presented by the transition are enormous, but it is vital that both business and policy makers focus now on ensuring that people have the right skills and training. Without skilled workers, the transition will not be achieved and the benefits will be non-existent.
Core themes of Davos 2024
As every year, the Davos Summit focused on a series of themes with the aim of providing answers to today's problems. Trust needs to be rebuilt at three essencial levels: towards the future, within societies and between nations. It also focuses on the basic principles of transparency, consistency and accountability.
The forum focused on answering crucial questions to drive the future through four key interconnected themes:
- Security and cooperation in a fractured world. With problems such as the situation in the Middle East, the aim in Davos was to identify areas where cooperation can help all those involved to reach a positive agreement for all parties.
- Creating jobs and growth in a new era. Global economic growth has slowed in recent years and there is a need to move forward with new solutions to replace past measures – putting people at the centre.
- Artificial intelligence as a driving force for the economy and society. AI is currently one of the most important issues in terms of the economic future of our society, and it must be assessed what uses are beneficial to society.
- Climate, nature and energy strategy. The ultimate goal in Davos is to achieve carbon neutral consumption by 2050 while providing global access to energy, water and food. For this, the summit wanted to reach a consensus where everyone has their voices heard on how this can be achieved.
Iberdrola, at the Davos Forum
The Executive Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, has defended in Davos the importance of energy storage – referring not only to short-term storage such as batteries, but also to long-term storage such as hydroelectric pumping. The main objective is to boost renewables, as well as investment in electricity distribution networks and interconnections between countries, which play a key role in the energy transition.
Furthermore, in 2024, Iberdrola has presented a study, conducted in collaboration with The Economist Impact, arguing that green skills will be the most important driver of the energy transition.
The report, entitled Green Skills Outlook , explores the impact of the green transition on global labour markets and is based on a global survey of 1,000 business leaders, specific working groups and a Subject Matter Expert Advisory board. It analyses nine countries and four sectors of the economy with a central role in the green transition – including new technologies, construction and infrastructure, transport and logistics, and energy and utilities.
According to the survey, most business leaders around the world see the responsibility for driving the green transition as lying with the private sector rather than employment policies, and anticipate more opportunities than challenges. However, rapid progress towards a low-emission economy is threatened by the inability of businesses to develop and obtain sufficient 'green' skills.
In addition, at the previous Davos Forum, we presented a Manifesto defining five principles that we believe are essential to move faster towards a secure and green energy system by 2023.
- Doubling down on electricity grids. To reach the zero net emissions target, the amount of renewable generation to be connected to the grid needs to increase five- to six-fold by 2040. In addition, electricity demand levels will also grow massively. Electricity grids are the critical link between these new green energy sources and the decarbonisation of local homes and businesses.
- Boosting the deployment of new renewable generation. Our global leadership position in renewables, with more than 40,000 MW of installed capacity, gives us the confidence and know-how to develop ever more ambitious and innovative projects. By 2030, our plans call for an almost tenfold increase in current installed offshore wind capacity, while we continue to grow strongly in onshore wind and solar.
- Making green hydrogen a large-scale solution. With more than 50 projects in 8 countries, we are leading the development of green hydrogen as a clean energy solution for those sectors of the economy that will be difficult to decarbonise through electrification.
- Stimulating innovation. As the private energy company that invests the most in R&D worldwide - more than €2 billion over the past ten years - we want to go further and faster in the innovation needed to ensure green energy security.
- Don't lose sight of the benefits of decarbonisation. As an energy company with the most ambitious decarbonisation plans in the world, our goal is to achieve emissions neutrality in our generation plants and own consumption by 2030 and to reach net zero emissions in all our activities by 2040. Our Climate Action Plan, launched at COP27, reinforces our commitment to emission neutrality as a means to preserve the environment and generate employment and industrial development.
- New strategies to improve green jobs. We are determined to make green jobs the foundation of the future, and this requires bridging the current gap between employees and new skills. To do this, it is necessary that companies lead the way by creating programmes to specialise their current employees. In addition, collaboration with regional governments is also urgent and necessary in order to make progress on regulation. In order to do this, we believe it is important to implement an active employment policy and to encourage companies to be greener through stricter standards, paying for emissions and eliminating subsidies for polluting industries.
Committed to green recovery
Iberdrola has accelerated its investments in renewable energy, digitalisation and electric mobility to boost economic recovery and employment in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.
We champion the energy transition
The group is committed to renewable energies, grids, energy storage and smart solutions for its customers as the main pillar of its clean, reliable and smart business model.
World leader in renewable energy
The company will invest 34 billion euros in renewable energies until 2025, reinforcing its position as an international energy leader and Europe's largest wind power producer.
An example in the fight against climate change
Iberdrola is fully aligned with the emission reduction targets of the Paris Agreement and actively contributes to achieving a decarbonised future.
With the SDGs
The group has incorporated the UN Sustainable Development Goals into its business strategy, with a focus on affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), climate action (SDG 13) and industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9).
We support green employment
The transition to a decarbonised economy is not only key to slowing down climate change, but it is also an engine of economic growth with the potential to create millions of green jobs.
At the forefront of digital transformation
The leading private utility in Europe and second in the world in terms of R&D investment, Iberdrola is at the forefront in the use of digital technologies and is preparing for an era in which disruptive tools will be key.
Diversity and inclusion, our strategic priority
The company is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment in which everyone feels represented.
All the information about Davos and the World Economic Forum
What is Davos and the World Economic Forum?
The Davos conference is the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum 
External link, opens in new window. (WEF), an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to public-private sector cooperation. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the institution involves the most important political, business, cultural leaders, etc. from all over the world to shape the global agenda.
Where is Davos located?
Davos takes place at Davos-Klosters, a tourist resort situated in the high Alps in Switzerland. It is one of the biggest winter sports areas in Europe and the continent's highest-lying town.
What is the purpose of Davos?
The aim of the Davos summit is to bring together the top world leaders to debate the most pressing global problems and seek solutions to these challenges. And they do it in the Davos spirit, based on interdisciplinary, informal and direct interaction among peers.
Where and when is the Davos Forum 2024?
The World Economic Forum in Davos 2024 is scheduled to take place from 15 to 19 January under the theme "Rebuilding Trust".
What was Davos 2023 all about?
The epicentre of the 2023 agenda - under the theme "Cooperation in a Fragmented World" - was to address global problems and find solutions to the world's most pressing challenges.
How many Davos Forums have been held?
The Davos 2024 conference will be the 54rd edition of this annual meeting.
What are the goals of the World Economic Forum?
The mission of the World Economic Forum is to serve as a platform for dialogue and cooperation between public and private institutions from all over the world. This mission is based on the stakeholder theory, according to which organisations, of whatever kind, are answerable to all sectors of society. So, a company must not just let itself be guided by the interests of its shareholders, but also by those of its employees, customers, suppliers, local communities and society in general.
Who is the creator of the World Economic Forum?
The creator of the World Economic Forum is Klaus Schwab, Swiss economist, professor and businessman.
How did the World Economic Forum come about, and how has it developed?
In 1971, Klaus Schwab founded in Geneva what was originally called the European Management Forum, a non-profit foundation that brought together business leaders from the entire continent in its annual meeting in January. These first conferences aimed to help European corporations to keep up to date with the management practices of the United States, and to develop and promote the management approach based on the stakeholder theory.
In 1973, due to the collapse of the Bretton Woods exchange system and the Arab-Israeli war, the Forum widened its focus to social matters and, at Davos 1974, political representatives were invited for the first time. Two years later, a membership system was introduced which permitted the entry of 1,000 leading companies from all over the world. The forum started to work with China to stimulate economic reform policies and, in 1979, after the publishing of the Global Competitiveness Report, it also became a research centre.
All this led to the institution becoming the World Economic Forum in 1987. In 2006, it opened regional offices in Beijing and New York, and in 2015, it was recognised as an international organisation.
Which countries integrate the World Economic Forum?
The World Economic Forum includes the 1,000 leading companies in the world, which form part of the institution through a membership system. The members are regional or global companies that have the intention and potential to transform the future to a significant extent, stimulating economic growth through their groundbreaking technological and business proposals. Membership is by invitation only.
What activities does the World Economic Forum organise?
Apart from the Davos summit, the Forum's members take part in the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, which is held in China and is the leading world conference on innovation, technology and science. The Forum also holds regional meetings and high-level workshops in Africa, East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It also promotes the Young World Leaders community — comprised of persons under 40 years of age from different sectors and disciplines — and publishes various research reports.