Continuing our daily recaps of the 2023
World Economic Forum
, day 2 focused on the resilience of the global economy, the growing politicization of ESG and impact of the geopolitical environment.
- The day was focused on the challenging global economic outlook, with senior economists predicting a global recession and the inflationary environment remaining a challenge for many parts of the world. As the conference agenda gained momentum on Tuesday, overall sentiment started to indicate some green shoots, focusing on the resilience of the global economy and markets. Leaders have started to point to global markets potentially improving towards the end of 2023 and into 2024, while there are signals that the IMF may update its economic forecasts.
- Leaders debated the growing politicization of ESG, and there were talks of the beginning of a new global trade war as countries compete for new green industries, as well as voluntary carbon markets. WEF said in a report that prohibiting voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) to mature is delaying progress with decarbonization and deforestation objectives. The VCM is expected to have channeled more than $1.2 billion in investment flows over 2022, helping to mitigate about 161 megatons of carbon emissions but it is at an inflection point.
- WEF’s head of MENA,
Maroun Kairouz
, commented yesterday that the Middle East and North Africa region has become a “centrepiece of global geopolitical efforts.” Kairouz stated that the Gulf region, in particular, could play a significant role as mediator when it comes to the various interlocking global crisis, stating that the Gulf region is “key to global stability, energy stability and to economic stability across the world.”?
