Social Inequality in Light of Davos 2022

While the World Economic Forum was gathering leaders from around the world in person at Davos, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, Oxfam’s 2022 report “Profiting from Pain” was released without attracting much attention.

Designed to address our world's critical challenges, top of the Davos agenda were 9 key topics: the war in Ukraine, the economy, the future of globalisation, the food and energy crisis, climate change and the environment, the role of business and entrepreneurs, health, the future of work to the technology and the metaverse.

Oxfam's report release puts the reality of what's happening on the ground into stark contrast with the elite gathering at Davos2022. The report's results expose the fact that billionaires’ wealth has risen more in the first 24 months of COVID-19 than in 23 years combined, while the number of people facing starvation has risen from 135 million to 276 million after the pandemic.

WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s CEO Peter Bakker, who attended the Davos meeting, highlights the missing critical component: social inequality. “Whilst these are all key topics that need to be addressed, the thing that felt missing on the ground is how the various conversations are tied together. We will not fix the multiple crises based on IRR, we need to include people and planet into our decisions, investments, and actions.”

The fight for social inequality and the fight against climate change are one. The work to combat these many critical issues must be work that is done together, across sectors, recognizing their inextricable links. We must bring back the social question to centre the agenda of our dialogues.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/pandemic-creates-new-billionaire-every-30-hours-now-million-people-could-fall