By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
Hello!
This time last year, I centred the newsletter on the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos as the anti-poverty group Oxfam revealed that the rich were growing richer, the poor poorer, and billionaires dominated the world's largest companies.
This year, Davos kicked off amid the backdrop of Donald Trump's inauguration day as President of the United States. The summit competed for attention among billionaire business leaders like Tesla's Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai, who chose to attend the president's swearing-in ceremony instead.
In fact, tech billionaires, foreign diplomats and CEOs attended a church service at St. John's Church in Washington, on Inauguration Day, which went from a little-known ceremony to a "who's who" parade of some of the United States' – and the world's – wealthiest individuals.
Click here for this year's Oxfam report exploring how most billionaire wealth is taken, not earned, with 60% coming from either inheritance, cronyism or monopoly power.
Greenpeace activists hold a banner as they protest in the Congress Centre during the 55th annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Is Davos dead?
Reuters Breakingviews global editor Peter Thal Larsen wrote a comment on business leaders splitting attention between the summit and Trump's inauguration.
He highlighted that this year's Davos is also facing a relative dearth of political leaders.
"Chinese President Xi Jinping is staying away, as is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The only elected leader from the Group of Seven developed economies taking the Davos stage is Germany's Olaf Scholz, whose party is on course to lose the country's general election next month, according to opinion polls," writes Larsen.
"The disappointing guest list reinforces a growing sense among the Davos crowd that the world is drifting ever-further away from the WEF's pro-trade, internationalist spirit," he adds.
Since business leaders' attention is on Trump's second term, today's newsletter will follow suit. Here are a few things that the Republican president has already set in motion that affects environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies:
ENVIRONMENT:Trump will once again withdraw the U.S. from theParis climate deal, the White House said, removing the world's biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade.
He declared a national energy emergency, intended to provide him with the authority to reduce environmental restrictions on energy infrastructure and projects and ease permitting for new transmission and pipeline infrastructure as part of a sweeping plan tomaximize oil and gas production.
He also suspended new federal offshore wind leasing pending an environmental and economic review, saying wind mills are ugly, expensive and harm wildlife. "We're not going to do the wind thing," he said.
SOCIAL:Trump ordered that the government would use the term "sex" rather than "gender", while mandating that identification documents issued by the government, including passports and visas, be based on what it described as "an individual's immutable biological classification as either male or female."
He said that the United States will recognize only two sexes, male and female, that are unchangeable, as he moved to quickly end a range of policies aimed at promoting racial equity and protecting rights for LGBTQ+ people.
Trump repealed 78 executive orders signed by Joe Biden, including at least a dozen measures supporting racial equity and combating discrimination against gay and transgenderpeople.
GOVERNANCE: President Donald Trump is pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, raising concerns about the U.N. agency's ability to fight diseases and respond to emergencies around the globe without its biggest funder.
Trump also said he will revoke nearly 80 executiveactions of the administration of Biden, adding he will also implement an immediate freeze on new regulations and hiring.
The government hiring freeze is being paired with a return-to-office order which would see many government teleworkers forced to commute to work five days a week.
Experts say the new restrictions on hiring, flexible work, and the pressures around cost-cutting will driveexasperated federal workers out of government.
Talking Points
A Palestinian boy carries an aid box provided by UNRWA, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Gaza: Billions of dollars will be needed to rebuild Gaza after the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, according to assessments from the United Nations. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect this weekend, suspending a 15-month-old attack that has devastated the Gaza Strip and inflamed the Middle East.
Indonesia landslide: A landslide in Indonesia's Central Java city of Pekalongan killed 16 people and injured 10, an official at the country's disaster mitigation agency said on Tuesday. The landslide was triggered by heavy rains in the area since Monday, agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said. Authorities are now searching for three missing people, he added.
Nigeria oil spill: An ongoing oil spill at a wellhead and subsequent fire in Buguma community in Nigeria's coastal Rivers state has entered its fourth week, with no immediate action taken by authorities or operators to halt the destruction, the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) said.
EU forever chemicals ban: The European Commission intends to propose a ban on the use of PFAS, or "forever chemicals", in consumer products, with exemptions for essential industrial uses, the EU's environment chief told Reuters. Click here for the full story.
Workers' rights: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued two large automakers, accusing General Motors and the United Auto Workers of age discrimination and the Stellantis unit that includes Chrysler of subjecting female employees to sexual harassment. Click here for the full Reuters story.
In Conversation
Dr. Robert Bullard, founding director at the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, shares his thoughts on Trump's Day One policies:
"Once again, it will be Black and Brown communities already overburdened by pollution that will pay the highest price at the hands of this short-sighted decision from the second Trump administration.
"Exiting the Paris Agreement will exacerbate environmental burdens faced by those who are least responsible for the climate crisis — but feel the hurt and pain first, worse, and longest.
"Local leaders must not only keep ambitious climate actions alive – they must also keep centering solutions around environmental and climate justice with the goal of protecting the health and well-being of frontline communities and our most vulnerable people and places.
"The fight against climate change is inseparable from the fight for racial and economic justice and human rights. By stepping up where the federal government has failed, local leaders and communities have the power to shape a future that prioritizes sustainability, resilience, and fairness.
"We must continue to lead and push back against greed, false solutions and ignorance that created this human-induced crisis in the first place."
ESG Spotlight
Rev. Dr. Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., speaks to reporters on the sidelines of a summit in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. REUTERS/Megan Varner
Today's focus is on the activists and organizations that rallied and met with lawmakers to protect policies and funding for social services supporting Black and Latino communities before MLK Day in the U.S., honouring Dr. King's legacy and the fight for equality.
Dr. Bernice King, CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, told Reuters the day served as a dual moment to honor her father's legacy of non-violence and unity, while calling on Americans to keep up the fight.
"We [have] an opportunity to take seriously what my father has been saying to us as a nation — to hold strong to those ideals that he taught us," King said. "Don't forget that they showed us that it is possible to keep moving forward and fighting for freedom, justice, and democracy — cultivating it, protecting it, and advancing it."
Sustainable Switch was edited by Christina Fincher.
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