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Sustainability | Article | January 13, 2023
As world leaders prepare to descend on Davos 2023, find out everything you need to know about the high-altitude gathering of decision-makers.
What do Bono, Donald Trump, Nelson Mandela and Greta Thunberg all have in common?
Not much, except that they’ve all been to Davos, Switzerland. Each January, famous – and infamous – names from many different spheres rub shoulders with CEOs in a snowy Swiss gathering of global influencers.
Since 1971, the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in the Alpine town of Davos has kicked off the year with a discussion on the challenges facing the world. But who gets to go? Who runs the invite list? And what’s the point of the whole Davos gathering?
Read on to find the answers in our ultimate Davos c***t sheet.
Who goes to Davos?
Davos attendees include leaders from business, governments, civil society, faith groups, media, academia and the arts. They’re all coming together in a glammed-up conference hall to take part in a week of meetings about everything from c*****e c****e to cryptocurrencies. Around 2,000 to 3,000 people are on the official invite list, though many more flock to fringe events, swelling the population of the alpine resort from its modest permanent base of around 10,000. Others warm up with a hot drink at the café in the Zurich House. As a strategic partner of the World Economic Forum, Zurich Insurance Group sends a small group of executives to Davos every year. And when not in a session, they can be found in their temporary Davos home.
Who’s running the show at Davos?

Greta Thunberg spoke at Davos in 2019 and 2020.
Arranging everything from the program to the plant-based canapés is the World Economic Forum, which is not in fact based in German-speaking Davos, but on the other side of Switzerland in Geneva. The Forum is one of many international organizations in the French-speaking city, from the World Trade Organization to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Beyond Davos, Forum staff work year-round on projects including the Global G****r Gap report, which quantifies the obstacles women face around the world, and the Climate Action Platform, which aims to decarbonize the global economy.
Why go to Davos?
The World Economic Forum was founded on the principle of “multistakeholder theory.” That’s an arcane term for the idea that businesses don’t operate in isolation and should serve all stakeholders – not just its shareholders – such as employees, suppliers and the communities they work in. It’s something that resonates with Zurich, through the work of its charitable arm Z Zurich Foundation as well as its broader purpose and values. The stakeholder approach means Davos is one of the rare places where you will see leaders of global businesses discussing everything from AI to ine******y with union leaders, c*****e c****e activists, policymakers and academics. There’s a spirit of dialogue that can broaden perspectives and even bring traditional adversaries together. It is also indisputably an efficient venue for networking, in a beautiful – if remote – setting.
What’s on the 2023 agenda at Davos?
The theme of the meeting is “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” – an optimistic nod towards growing geopolitical tensions which stretch from Ukraine to China. Under this theme, a program of around 500 events will delve into every facet of the global economy, from the prospect of a global recession to the latest advances in green technology. Ahead of Davos, the publication of the Forum’s Global Risks Report, in collaboration with Zurich, sets the scene for the meeting by probing the major threats on the horizon.
What has Davos ever done for the world?

The Zurich House in Davos.
As a gathering of the global elite, Davos has often been a lightning rod for protests about everything from the rapid globalization of the 1990s to the runaway c*****e c****e of this century. The event can point its critics towards some solid achievements, however. As a peace broker, Davos helped to avert war between Greece and Turkey with the signing of the Davos Declaration in 1988. It was also in Davos that Gavi, the v*****e alliance, was launched in 2000. Gavi now helps to v******te nearly half the world’s children from deadly diseases and plays a key role in delivering C****-** v*****es to vulnerable countries.
Why is it in Davos, anyway?
At 1,560m altitude, with ice-slicked streets and a long train ride to the nearest airport, Davos is not the most obvious location for a major international conference. The Founder of the World Economic Forum, Professor Klaus Schwab, originally chose Davos as a peaceful place to get perspective away from the daily challenges of running a business. The quiet valley is known as a retreat from the world, as captured in the German writer Thomas Mann’s account of life in a Davos tuberculosis sanatorium, The Magic Mountain. These days, what magic there is can be captured and shared on social media. Tickets to the event may be hard to come by, but anyone curious can tune into the event’s substantial livestream program.