Private jets, delicacies and luxury: the meeting of leaders who want to "save the planet" in Davos

A few years ago, the slogan, "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy" by the year 2030, became emblematic of the World Economic Forum (WEF). In 2023, an article called "Our Alliance is creating smart city governance" published on the WEF website highlights how the so-called 2030 agenda aims to further change the way we think and develop.

The article argued that "local and regional governments will need to ensure the application of technology promotes human rights through equitable public service provision; putting our communities and planet first. The G20 Smart Cities Alliance is an important mechanism to help facilitate this transformation, bringing together a critical network of partners to collectively address and mitigate future crises."

In the words of Danish MP Ida Auken in 2016, this plan was already being executed: "Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, I have no privacy, and life has never been better."

Many of the forum's recommendations contradict their practices. Leaders have been seen arriving in private jets, using cars that consume large amounts of fuel, eating meat-rich diets, among many other things. "Totally ironic," noted Maria Lang, cryptocurrency market analyst at Investing.

You will not have private vehicles

The organization called last year for reducing private vehicle ownership to advance its green agenda, as the transition to renewables will require large supplies of metals such as cobalt, lithium and nickel. One of the proposals to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is to curb private vehicles.

At this year's meeting, a number of leaders spoke out against fossil fuels. Former Vice President Al Gore asserted that anything "anti-climate" should be defunded and said the WEF and its global affiliates need to "rein in" the fossil fuel industry's harmful activities.

The comment is ironic given the means of transportation used every year by leaders to travel to the forum. The more than 1,000 private jets which are used to arrive to the forum generate the CO2 equivalent of 350,000 cars.

"The rich and powerful are swarming to Davos to discuss climate and inequality behind closed doors using the most unequal and polluting form of transport: private jets," Klara Maria Schenk, transport campaigner for Greenpeace's European mobility campaign, told Politics.

Caravans of forum attendees were also seen in gas-guzzling SUVs.

You will not eat meat; you will eat insects

"The consumption of insects can offset climate change in many ways": zero pounds of meat and zero pounds of dairy consumed per year per person is one of the goals the forum hopes is achieved by 2030.

We switched from meat to insects because they are "part of a virtuous eco-cycle," "they require less care and upkeep than livestock" and because we are "running out of protein." The WEF argues that "the environmental impact of the feed used in the raising of these animals... produces approximately 45% of greenhouse gas emissions."

However, despite saying that the world must change the way it eats, Zero Hedge added in its own article that one of the biggest hypocrisies of the World Economic Forum is always the food eaten by the attendees:

While speaking at a forum on problems with the safety of food in Africa, journalists were offered a welcome reception at which wine and hors d'oeuvres were served, according to Andrew Lawton, an attending journalist in Davos:

You will rent your next outfit

"Changes ahead to how you'll buy, use and sell clothes in a circular economy," is the WEF' s prediction of how we will dress:

The idea is that people will buy fewer clothes and wear more second-hand items, as "producing clothes requires a huge amount of water, energy and chemicals. ... It takes between 4,000 liters to 10,000 liters of water to produce a pair of jeans. That's about the amount the average person would drink for five years."

However, leaders attending the forum are not seen wearing second-hand or used clothing. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry was not seen wearing sustainably designed clothing as he spoke about the "select group of human beings" attending the forum who want to "save the planet."