WEF remarks and the main topics matching United \mpact agenda from Energy to Social Innovation

United \mpact starts the challenge to be a future WEF of Sustainability, starting from actions. Think-DO Tanks will be on of our key, to \mpact and Shape a better future for the Planet, together with Institutions and People, from education to executive management.

Also this year the World Economic Forum attracted hundreds of people and companies from all over the world to talk about current and future main challenges in the economic world. WEF also had to change its vision of the business in the last years, welcoming the Sustainability needs in performing businesses achievements.

As we were pointed like a movement of people committed to Sustainability from people who gave they contribution to create WEF excellence, we feel invested of a second, parallel mission for the world to reach certain goals, starting from the \mpact that our Leaders in the world are already generating.

We want to start from shape and \mpact which our own environment is already creating and and then meet to talk about continuous improvements and optimization, responding action-by-action to the planet's need which is now. From education to management.

Our "ready" network is especially well developed in following topics: Energy, Healthcare and Social moves and innovation.

Energy transition is an urgency and as our Energy Community is wide and already impacting, we were interested in WEF energy's conversations on how to accelerate this transition, which is something involving people at all scales.

The evidence was on:

• Energy security is currently the top priority for many governments, marked by short-term policy measures – such as fuel substitution, market interventions and fiscal policy – aimed at maintaining the living standards that a functioning energy system provides. Over the medium to long term, reaching climate goals, ensuring economic growth and enabling a just energy transition for everyone are paramount, because by 2050 it is estimated that the global economy will have doubled in size, serving an additional two billion people.

• The big question that will dominate 2023 is whether this priority will adversely affect long-term sustainability goals.

• Investment, transition and deployment on a large scale must take place by 2030 in a way unparalleled by any other global transformation.

Balancing these multiple dimensions and ultimately achieving net zero by 2050 relies on rapid clean power generation deployment, energy efficiency improvements and extensive use of carbon dioxide removal measures. The clock is ticking and major changes are required immediately. Investment, transition and deployment on a large scale must take place by 2030 in a manner perhaps unparalleled by any other global transformation.

The key pillars of transformation.

Improving efficiency is the first step in the transition. While energy efficiency may not have the glamour that new sources of energy do, evolution in digital technologies offers a tremendous opportunity to eradicate the unnecessary waste that is embedded in our current energy system. With this comes considerable emissions reductions.

The second step is to change industrial and retail demand patterns. As economies develop and grow, so does the demand for energy-intensive products like cement and steel. Responding to these developments in a way that meets sustainability goals means that the quantity of energy that is necessary to produce one unit of GDP in 2050 has to be 50% of what it is today. In this respect, beside the clean power electrification, fuels like hydrogen will play an important role, serving as a decarbonization tool in industry processes and thereby industry transformation.

The World Economic Forum’s Transitioning Industry Clusters initiative is bringing together companies and governments to share knowledge and best practices for achieving net zero. The overall aim is to reduce emissions in hard-to-abate industries and energy sectors, while supporting economic competitiveness and job growth.

The third factor is the need to generate clean power on a large scale. To achieve this, zero-carbon electricity supply must increase at least three-fold by 2030. Alongside this, the permitting process for clean power and related infrastructure from project to operating phase must be accelerated. Total grid investment must rise from approximately $300 billion to $820 billion by 2030, and electricity networks (that took more than 130 years to build) must more than double in length by 2040, and increase by another 25% by 2050.

Finally, recognizing that fossil fuels will be a part of the economy for years to come, a likely and realistic short-term direction is to future proof these types of fuel. This means accelerating progress in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, and maximizing the efficiency of existing assets. CCUS can fulfil three roles globally and at the country level. It can lower net greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, counterbalance hard-to-abate residual emissions in the medium term and achieve net negative emissions in the long term.

Also this following topic was clear: it’s time to tackle humanity’s greatest challenge by speeding up the green energy transition.

In the 1990s and 2000s, as the climate crisis intensified, a new focus emerged for renewable energy sources, including solar and wind, clearing the way for technological advancements, improved manufacturing and special subsidies that lowered barriers to entry. Quickly, solutions, such as solar photovoltaics and onshore wind power, were scalable, accessible and affordable (with costs falling by 82% and 39% over the last decade).

In the coming years, we can expect advanced energy systems to progress even further as the cost of new renewables falls at an even greater speed. By 2027, the International Energy Agency predicts 2,400 GW growth in renewable power capacity – an 85% acceleration from the previous five years. This expansion is expected to create a diverse energy mix, with low-carbon systems, such as solar, wind, biomass, nuclear and hydrogen, offering clean and secure energy.

There is a big focus now on Hydrogen but very few actions are already on the road.

Hydrogen produces only water as a by-product (unlike fossil fuels, which produce many pollutants, including carbon dioxide) and its use is already increasing thanks to a significant boost in public and private investments. While low-emission hydrogen use remains low overall, demand is growing — particularly in hard-to-abate areas, such as shipping, aviation and heavy industry.

In India, three of the largest industrial players are actively pursuing hydrogen, showing us a glimpse of what could happen next. In 2022, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries announced a partnership with the Danish energy firm Stiesdal to produce hydrogen more cheaply through electrolysis technology. With such partnerships in place, it’s not a question of when but rather by how much companies will drop the cost curve for both electrolysers and hydrogen production.

To be sure, scaling hydrogen will not be easy. Using it to power ships or heat homes requires massive quantities of the fuel which, as some experts have pointed out, is only as clean as the methods that produce it. No aspect of the green energy transition is without challenge: electrification requires a rethink of the grid and batteries require an unprecedented improvement in how we manage the world’s rare earth supplies.

Each low- and no-carbon energy solution we pursue will require massive change – from innovative funding models to new regulatory environments that support shifts in how economic sectors operate.

History has given us a glimpse of what’s ahead: New efficiencies will emerge with a range of new technologies and processes at an increasingly faster pace. And, while complications will never disappear, the core commitment to new mindsets, practices and systems thinking will help us maintain momentum. Leaders, technologists and policymakers have what they need to move nimbly and overcome any number of climate challenges. It’s time we truly tackle the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced.

We mentioned India, which was an important partner for 2023 WEF from energy transition to gender parity:

• From the economy to the energy transition, India's action on crucial global issues was a major topic of discussion at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland.

• By 2035, India will become the third $10 trillion economy, the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) predicts.

• Here are five highlights on India from this year's Meeting, which saw participation from key government and private sector leaders.

About Energy:

India has sizeable and growing energy needs, and with this, comes the risk of rising greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

The country has been at the forefront of driving global action on climate change, writes Viraj Mehta, Head of Regional Agenda, India and South Asia, at the Forum. He says the establishment of a National Hydrogen Mission is particularly noteworthy.

During 2022, extreme weather events were recorded in India during 80% of the year, underlining how much the country is already suffering the effects of climate change.

It has pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 at COP26, and Raj Kumar Singh, who oversees the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, believes it’s right on track.

“India is the only major economy whose energy transition is consonant with a sub-2 degree rise in global temperature. We achieved our NDCs nine years in advance – we had said that we’ll have 40% of our capacity coming from non-fossils by 2030, and we achieved that in 2021.”

About Gender Parity:

As G20 Chair, India has identified women-led development as one of the high-priority subjects and created an engagement group Women20 focused on gender equity.

To bridge the gender gap, India's Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, says we need to recognise that we won't have a 'one size fits all solution'.

"Do we reduce women to only consumption of technology? Or do we want to support them to become leaders of technological institutions or enterprises? The G20 presidency gives us a unique opportunity to speak about our experiences, speaks about our commitment," she says, while helping empower the Global South.

During a session on ‘The $11 Trillion Opportunity in the Care Economy’, Mirai Chatterjee highlighted ‘one of the big issues’ plaguing India: the falling female workforce participation rate. “Our policymakers are extremely concerned about that – and that is one opportunity for promoting [child] care,” said Chatterjee, a social worker and chairperson of the Self-Employed Women's Association, SEWA, which is a union that helps almost 2 million members in India obtain work and income security, financial services and primary health care.

She established the critical link between the two: “If women don't have basic care services infrastructure, they simply cannot work.”

Last topic particularly important in our environment is the Healthcare sector and the

7 essentials to create a resilient global Healthcare supply chain

• SARS, Ebola and COVID-19 have tested the world's ability to deal with outbreaks and pandemics.

• A global pandemic preparedness system needs sustained political will and investment to ensure the global healthcare supply chain can effectively respond to a crisis.

• If we don't get serious about pandemic preparedness now, millions more lives will be at stake.

It was 20 years ago, when the SARS outbreak exposed key fragilities in the global healthcare supply chain, that people internationally began to talk seriously about pandemic preparedness.

Eight years ago, when the Ebola outbreak proved the world no better prepared to address outbreaks, there was more talk and some action. This included the founding of the Pandemic Supply Chain Network (PSCN), by the World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, World Bank, World Food Programme, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Henry Schein and more than 60 companies. The PSCN was established to make it easier to anticipate and respond to global healthcare supply chain disruptions.

Yet today, nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic – the worst global health crisis in a century – many of the same supply-chain fragilities remain. Although partnerships, such as the PSCN, and national efforts somewhat blunted the severity of supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, the effort to develop a global pandemic preparedness system has yet to garner the sustained political will and investment needed to ensure that the global healthcare supply chain can effectively respond to a crisis.

It’s time we got serious with these 7 essentials:

1. Political will and sustained financing

2. Geographic diversification of manufacturing

3. Improved stockpiles and inventory management

4. Platforms for data sharing and enhanced transparency

5. Fostering the free flow of goods

6. Coordinated early-warning system for outbreaks

7. Strengthened health systems and better primary care We will continue on these Healthcare topics in our Think Tank of New York in 2024.

In conclusion, at WEF we were even more inspired to make a change in our mentality from education to management, deeply understanding the need of changing the planet through our business as well as to \mpact starting from actions.