Wed23-Sun27Jan13 - DAVOS - World Economic Forum - MORDOR

[TonyGosling]

Davos group report warns climate change among top global risks
By Zack Colman - 01/08/13 11:08 AM ET
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/276061-davos-group-report-cli mate-change-among-top-five-global-risks
Climate change ranked among the top global risks in the annual World Economic Forum survey of more than 1,000 experts released Tuesday.
The group, most associated with its yearly conference in Davos, Switzerland, said leaving environmental issues unaddressed compounded with global economic stress could handcuff policymakers.
“A sudden and massive collapse on one front is certain to doom the other’s chance of developing an effective, long-term solution,” the report said of the interplay between the global environment and economy.
That diagnosis underscores several tension points in the United States, where GOP lawmakers are pressing for increased domestic energy production despite concerns from green groups about environmental impacts.
Industry groups and Republican lawmakers are trying to push President Obama to expand fossil fuel drilling, saying increased exploration would engender an economic recovery. They also have fought several administration emissions rules, calling them economically burdensome.
Green groups, though, have pointed to Hurricane Sandy and other extreme weather events as a reason to leave carbon-emitting fuels in the ground. They want Obama to elevate climate change discourse, impose new emissions limits on existing coal-fired power plants and kill the industry-supported Keystone XL pipeline project.
The report also highlighted the income divide between rich and poor, ballooning government deficits, water shortages and aging populations as causes for concern.
On climate change, the report noted a change in the environmental debate since last year’s survey.
By replacing “rising greenhouse gas emissions” with “the failure to adapt to climate change” as a top global risk, respondents conveyed a “shift in the conversation on the environment from the question of whether our climate is changing to the questions of ‘by how much’ and 'how quickly,' " the report noted.
The report said governments should invest in infrastructure upgrades to bolster resiliency to climate change and associated natural disasters.
But many governments are too cash-strapped to make those improvements, the report noted.
The report's findings come at a time when Congress is re-evaluating the federal government's role in providing flood insurance.
Many House Republicans voted against a recently passed package providing federal funds for the Northeast's recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
Those GOP lawmakers said the government has no business in offering flood insurance, as the federal program that provides it is nearing a $20.75-billion debt limit.
Providing federal flood insurance has encouraged homeowners to move into areas at risk of flooding, critics argue. Recovery funds, however, have often improved infrastructure resiliency to better enable coastal regions to withstand future storms.
Even if policymakers can recover to handle climate change, the report said experts wondered if we have "already passed a point of no return and that Earth’s atmosphere is tipping rapidly into an inhospitable state.”
While recognizing climate change is happening, the report said policymakers will need to become more comfortable making decisions without a conclusive set of data. At the same time, governments must boost research funding to gather more complete information.
The report, along with other studies, said nations are unlikely to prevent a 2 degree Celsius global temperature increase by 2020 — a goal set ahead of global climate talks in 2009.
Emerging economies, such as China and India, are burning more fossil fuels, which is contributing to the temperature increases and a stalemate on global climate accords.
The U.S. balked at ratifying the last major international climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, largely because it failed to place emissions reduction goals on China and India. In 2011, Canada, Japan and Russia pulled out of the pact for that reason.

[TonyGosling]

Google Davos party not happening this year

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/go ogle-davos-party-not-happening-this-year/articleshow/17961859.cms

Google won't hold its invitation-only party this year at the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland, depriving attendees of a soiree famous for the celebrities and political luminaries it lures.

The world's biggest Internet-search company will send a delegation, the company said in an e-mailed statement, without giving a reason for canceling the party. Google chairman Eric Schmidt, who hosted the party last year and traveled to North Korea this week on a private humanitarian mission, isn't on a preliminary list of scheduled attendees.

Hottest party:

Hundreds of influential executives, bankers and policy makers flock to the annual Davos conference, scheduled for January 23-27. In previous years, the Google party dance floor at the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere has attracted guests including Gary Cohn, Goldman Sachs Group president and chief operating officer, and Steven A Cohen, founder of SAC Capital Advisors.

"It was the hottest party at Davos," said Kari Stoever, 47, vice-president of external affairs for Aeras, a tuberculosis-vaccine developer. She said that she has attended Davos several times and plans to return this year.

Underwater Theme

When she walked into the Google party in the year 2010 with Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post , there was an underwater theme to the decor and the staff costumes, Stoever recalled. Each year has a different motif, she said.

"It is always crowded and hot," Stoever said. "There is a dance floor in the middle of the room and it's packed."

Coca-Cola, which hosts another popular party, plans no changes this year for its reception in the middle of the week, according toKent Landers, a spokesman. Coca-Cola chief executive officer Muhtar Kent is one of the co-chairs of Davos. Other popular parties are hosted by Accenture and McKinsey & Co, Stoever said. Bollywood also throws a bash she said.