Hello and welcome

Thanking the speakers for their contributions to the Great Reset launch, the Forum's Founder and Executive Chairman concluded:

"It's not enough to change a few policies or address short-term issues, what we need is a change of mindset, of lifestyles, of business models."

He called for a "comprehensive approach" to shape the future, integrating "all organisations and people with innovative ideas".

"When I stood with Mandela on stage 20 years ago, he said that to lay the scourge of racism to rest we'd need democratic institutions and the will of everybody.

"None of this is possible without a strong economy and cohesive society."

"We've seen our common humanity emphasized and brought together in these past months," said the LSE economist in a statement that linked the Great Reset to the Paris climate goals.

But it's not just individuals and communities who are changing their ways; Stern said that companies too were beginning to step up to the challenge.

"It's about finding profitable solutions to the problems of the people and the planet. And we're seeing firms that are responsible, doing better."

"We have to invest strongly in the right kind of assets," he said, "physical infrastructure, human capital, natural capital and finally social capital.

"If we invest well in those four assets, we have a strong response to challenge of sustainability."

The post-COVID recovery must be "greener than any of the previous recoveries" said Ma Jun of the China Green Finance Committee.

"The size of stimulus package is very big - bigger than historic numbers" he added, estimating that it amounts to around 20% of GDP in the United States and 8% in China.

Ma Jun had 6 recommendations for the Great Reset:

1. Make sure the percentage of green projects is higher than any other time in history.

2. Ensure projects that can't be labelled as green are made to follow strict environmental standards.

3. Consumption stimulus needs to be green. Governments could make a list of green consumer goods and these should be given preference on list of consumer subsidies and coupons.

4. Employment generation programmes must be green. Migrant workers have lost jobs. Instead of paying them unemployment benefits we should ask them to plant trees and pay them for that.

5. Governments to consider green bonds as much as possible. This enhances market participation, encouraging the private sector to join too.

6. Any central banks considering using quantitative easing should use green bonds.

"The pandemic has clearly accelerated the adoption of digital technologies," says Microsoft President Brad Smith.

"As people return to work, we can continue to expect digital technology and data to fundamentally to be the infrastructure for this decade and for the Great Reset."

We need more inclusive jobs and a more inclusive economic recovery, he adds.

"This means recognizing that broadband has become the electricity of the 21st century.

"We need to spread broadband technology more broadly, and we need to couple that with new initiatives to equip more people with the digital skills they'll need not just to have a tech job but a job that is increasingly tech-enabled in almost every part of the economy. And we need to do this in a way that remembers there are more than a billion people on the planet that have some kind of disability."

"We need to sustain people's trust", Smith adds. "This means protecting their privacy, their security, and ensuring that new technologies, especially artificial intelligence are deployed responsibly around the world."

The pandemic has shown "there are a lot of young people who are living a precarious reality”, says Juliana Rotich, from Atlantica Ventures in Kenya.

But it has also exposed the opportunity to centre the Great Reset around the vulnerable, and those living on the edge. The people for who a pandemic or other crisis often means sliding into poverty.

Improvements made in recent years will be wiped out if we don't invest in young people in a way that makes them feel like they can "bounce forwards."

"Energy prices should reflect real costs," said Bernard Looney of British Petroleum.

We must "support decarbonization in emerging economies," he said. "People should not be forced to choose between clean energy and supporting jobs. We need to close the gaps in equality and justice.

"We need our imagination here: we're seeing every day the arc of the possible, it's being defined every day now."

"The time for cynicism is a little behind us," says Mastercard President and CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga. "Being an armchair critic is really not acceptable. It’s time to come to the table and make a difference."

Much of the success of the Great Reset rests on the younger generation, says tech entrepreneur Victoria Alonsoperez.

Young people, social innovators and entrepreneurs are "raising awareness, speaking up", she says. They're "full of passion" and well placed to tackle challenges with appropriate solutions.

"I work in farming industry, I speak to lots of farmers. They love the land and they want to be more sustainable, but they do not have the tools or knowledge or capital to do it. Young entrepreneurs can really step up and create solutions."

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union, says COVID-19 "has starkly exposed the existing fault lines in our world," including gender, race and income inequality, and we are now seeing that anger spill over [in protests in the US].

"The survival of the human race requires us to act," she says.
"We need to look at this world with a lens of what will make it better."

We can't ignore the impact the pandemic has had on people's lives. It's about "jobs, jobs, jobs," she says. "If we don't put employment at the centre of the recovery then we will go back into the same spiral...

"We must build a system of financing that is sustainable. We must end the short-termism, whether in investment or our approach to debt."

We can never allow our health, education and care systems to be underfunded. We must build social protection for everybody, she says.

"It's time for the IMF, with its 1 trillion lending capacity, its tremendous engagement on the policy side ... to have history be about the Great Reset, not about the Great Reversal," said Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, in an address in which she outlined three objectives for the post-COVID future.

1. Greener: Georgieva suggested public and private investments for low-carbon industries - many of which could lead to job growth, adding that she was "keen to take advantage of low oil prices" to ensure it could happen.

2. Smarter: "The digital economy is the big winner of this crisis," she continued. We need to shrink the digital divide, she said, by working out "how to use benefits of rapid growth in digital, where profitability is jumping up, to share this benefit across societies".

3. Fairer: "We know this pandemic, if left to its own devices, will deepen inequality," she said. "But if we were to concentrate in investing in people, in the social fabric of our societies, in access to opportunities and education for all, in expansion of social programmes - then we can have a world that is a better world for all."

"The best memorial to those who lost their lives to pandemic, said is a greener, smarter, fairer world," she concluded.

“Unless we take the action necessary, and build in a greener and more inclusive and sustainable way then we will have even more and more pandemics,” HRH Prince of Wales adds.

"I can only pray that we recognize the urgency of the situation."

And here's a clip from HRH's opening speech, in which he said that "we must treat the planet as a patient."

"We need to put nature back at the centre of the circle," says HRH Prince of Wales.

"If we look at the planet as if it were a patient, we can see our activities have damaged her immune system and she's struggling to function and survive because of the strain we've put on her vital organs."

We need to reflect on and shape the type of world we want for ourselves and for future generations, he adds.

"The 75 years after the Second World War saw unprecedented growth, rising longevity and poverty reduction. But all this put an overwhelming strain on our environment. The good news is that we have many of the solutions to hand."

So how do balance the need to rebuild economic prosperity, the need to get back to work, with environmental concerns?

We need to do five things, HRH Prince of Wales says:

1. To capture the imagination and will of humanity. "We will only change if we want to change," he says.

2. A global economic recovery must set us on a new trajectory of sustainable employment.

3. We must redesign systems and pathways to advance net-zero transitions globally. And in this regard carbon pricing can form a critical pathway to genuinely sustainable markets.

4. We must reinvigorate science, technology and innovation.

5. We must rebalance investment. Accelerating sustainable investment could offer significant economic growth and employment opportunities including in green energy and the regeneration of nature.

"There is a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis," HRH says. "Global crises know no borders, and highlight how interdependent we are as one people sharing one planet."

"Think big and act now."

"We build must equal, inclusive, sustainable societies, that are more resilient in the face of pandemics and climate change," said António Guterres, UN Secretary-General in his address.

"As momentum builds, the Great Reset can help to energize the conversation. Together we can make fast progress; build a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world for all."

After World War II, countries came together to create a new global order and prosperity for hundreds of millions of people around the world, says Professor Schwab.

But COVID-19 has shown us that our old systems are not fit for the 21st century.

We have a choice: to remain passive and accept polarisation, nationalism, racism and social unrest that we see today. Or we build a new social contract in harmony with nature, and we make sure the technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are best utilised to provide us with better lives.

"In short, we need a global reset... we must not miss this unique window of opportunity."

“The Great Reset” will be the theme of a unique twin summit in January 2021, convened by the World Economic Forum.

The theme reflects a commitment to jointly and urgently build the foundations of our economic and social system for a fairer and more sustainable future post pandemic.

The twin summit will be both in-person and virtual, connecting key global governmental and business leaders in Davos with a global network in 400 cities.

"Now is the historical moment to shape the system for the post-corona era," says Klaus Schwab in his opening remarks.

This new initiative from the World Economic Forum and Britain's HRH Prince of Wales is aimed at building a more sustainable world post COVID-19 pandemic.

Stay tuned for an announcement at 14.30 (Central European Time) by Prince Charles and the Forum's Founder and Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab.