Next week, Jan. 21-24, world leaders will meet in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, which is themed “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.” This marks the first time that the annual convening has chosen to focus on environmental sustainability as a major theme, and the timing could not be more urgent, given the organization’s 2020 Global Risks Report, which identifies Climate Change as the top risk facing the planet today. Climate action failure is identified as the top risk, with the greatest projected impact, with environmental risks, including extreme weather, biodiversity loss, and natural/human disasters following close behind as the top 5 risks (see Figure).

Figure. Global Risks Landscape 2020. Source: World Economic Forum, 2020.

Data-Driven EnviroLab Director Angel Hsu has been invited to the annual meeting to present and participate in a number of discussions focused at the intersection of data, technology, and global public goods. As Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on 4IR and Global Public Goods, Hsu will be facilitating the launch of a new WEF platform that aims to connect stakeholders to scale tech-enabled solutions to common goods issues, such as climate change, education, poverty alleviation, and health. She will also make several presentations using Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab Earthttime platform focused on the role of cities in climate change and sustainable urbanization. Here is a list of official #Davos2020 events where she will be speaking and featuring our work.

Tuesday 21 January

07:30 – 09:00 Tech for Global Goals Leaders Meeting This inaugural meeting of the Group of Tech for Global Goals Leaders will convene chief executives from the partners behind the Frontier 2030 – the new 4IR for Global Goals Platform, launching at the Annual Meeting 2020. 

16:00-16:30 The Big Picture on Urbanization From the growth of megacities to record-breaking heatwaves, explore the causes and consequences of urbanization now and through time. The Global Situation Space combines NASA time-lapse satellite imagery and geospatial and econometric data with predictive modelling to provide the big picture on complex systems.

Wednesday 22 January

15:00-16:15 Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development From satellites detecting illegal mining to drones and machine learning improving smallholder farmers’ crop yields, rapid technological progress holds great potential in fast-tracking sustainable development. How can frontier technologies be deployed globally and at scale to realize the 2030 Global Goals? This session will launch the Forum’s Platform for Accelerating Sustainable Development Impact in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Thursday 23 January

10:30-11:15 Shaping the Future of Cities, Infrastructure and Urban Services A strategic review of the industries, institutions and initiatives driving systemic change.

On the Forum Agenda:
– How has the competitive landscape changed since a year ago?
– What are the key business challenges and opportunities in 2020?
– What should be strategic priorities in the decade ahead?

This is a livestreamed session.

15:00-15:30 The Big Picture on Urbanization From the growth of megacities to record-breaking heatwaves, explore the causes and consequences of urbanization now and through time. The Global Situation Space combines NASA time-lapse satellite imagery and geospatial and econometric data with predictive modelling to provide the big picture on complex systems.

Some of these will be webcast, so please check the official Davos 2020 website for those links. 

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