Climate activists protest in Davos ahead of WEF
STORY: Dozens of protesters raised placards and chanted slogans as they arrived by train in the ski resort, where hundreds of political leaders and major economic figures are set to meet starting Monday (January 16).
Later in the week, a group of over 200 millionaires from 13 countries will also be releasing a letter calling on Davos attendees to get serious about tackling extreme wealth and embrace significant tax increases on the wealthy.
Many protesters also slammed WEF participants' handling of climate issues.
"It’s important to be here to show what are the problems of the World Economic Forum,” protester Claudio Bernhard said.
Failure to tackle climate change and environmental degradation dominate the ranking of top risks facing the planet in the next decade, a WEF survey of global risk specialists found.
Moreover, current-day challenges including the rising cost of living, persistent energy and food supply crunches and heavy national debts threaten to thwart the collective will and cooperation needed to address such problems, they concluded.
On Sunday, some protesters also gathered in front of BlackRock offices in Davos to call for the global investment giant to cancel the debt of poorer countries in order for them to tackle climate crisis more efficiently.
