Once a year, droves of private jets carrying invited guests descend on the small Swiss mountain town of Davos, for the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting. Seemingly oblivious to the irony, attendees’ lofty pursuit will be to look for innovative ways to use capitalism to solve the problems caused by capitalism, which continues to rampantly exacerbate inequality and mercilessly exploit our natural world.

At the first full-scale forum since the Coronavirus pandemic struck, these corporate bosses seem to prefer imagining the end of the world (for others at least) rather than trying to imagine changing the economic system causing so much harm to our world.

The good news is that the solutions already exist and many others would arise if we created room for them to grow. While the WEF’s billionaires have remained at a stalemate on the forum’s proclaimed raison d’être for the past half century, individuals and communities around the world are creating their own solutions to crises they are facing, particularly in the Global South – and they work. 

People are working together to make more just and sustainable ways of life. Neoliberal capitalism is notably absent from these solutions. Justice plays an active role – recognising the disproportionate impacts on those who contributed the least to the problem. Here are some of the ways that the WEF set have missed the point about creating an equitable and environmentally sustainable future with dignity and safety…