DAVOS, Switzerland -- The head of the World Economic Forum noted Sunday that concerns about the environment will be a key topic for this year's meeting in Davos, which will be held this week.
Klaus Schwab, the forum's founder, said he has seen vast changes in business, society and culture over the 50 years since he created the yearly gathering in the Swiss Alps, which initially was a forum for business leaders but now is a key stop for policymakers and activists as well.
After another year of extreme heat, out-of-control wildfires and melting ice sheets, environmental issues are considered to comprise the top five long-term risks confronting the global economy, the World Economic Forum said last week, citing a survey of more than 750 decision-makers.
It said catastrophic trends such as climate change and the extinction of animal species would top the agenda at this year's meeting, which begins Tuesday.
The forum is shifting away from its focus in recent years on how technology is transforming lives. The focus now is on the environment and responsible business practices that promote jobs, fight climate change and work for social good along with profit-making.
Environmental issues could make for uncomfortable subjects for President Donald Trump, whose administration has called for expanded use of carbon-spewing coal, stripped away some environmental protections and downplayed concerns among scientists about man-made climate change. Trump has also moved to take the U.S. out of the landmark 2015 Paris accord to fight climate change.
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Schwab said it's "reassuring" that Trump and climate activist Greta Thunberg, who have mocked each other in the past, will both be at the meeting.
The forum's founder said Trump is welcome because of his role on the world stage while Thunberg will keep the focus on the environment. Both will speak Tuesday on the opening day.
"I think both voices are necessary," Schwab said Sunday in an interview with The Associated Press. "The environment will play a particularly important role during this meeting."
Schwab pointed to the forum's 160 "lighthouse" projects on inclusion and equality; economic development; technology governance; regional development; corporate leadership; and ecology, including a project to plant a trillion trees.
"So if Greta comes this year, she will see that we have made substantial progress," he said, alluding to her debut at the forum last year.
As young people have shown a growing awareness of climate issues, company executives have taken notice.
"CEOs have kids and grandkids. I've heard a lot of stories from executives who were sitting down at the table for Christmas dinner and their nephew asked them, 'What are you doing about climate change?'" said Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a former World Bank special envoy for climate change.
Larry Fink, head of the world's largest money manager, wrote a widely read letter this month urging his fellow business leaders to view climate change as a financial risk. He said his company would factor climate risk into its decisions about which businesses to invest in, and he specifically cited September climate protests led by young people as evidence that the issue isn't going away.
"Awareness is rapidly changing, and I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance," wrote Fink, the chairman of BlackRock and a Davos attendee.
Schwab said the forum has helped air concerns about the environment since the 1970s but that public awareness about climate issues has now exploded.
"Now we have recognized the urgency because we know the window to act [on climate change] is closing," he said, adding he hoped to inject "this sense of urgency into the meeting."
He said many companies are increasingly seeing the benefits of environmental, social and governance concerns in their business models.
"Companies recognize ... doing good ... it's a precondition for some long-term survival," Schwab said.
On Friday, Schwab and the chairmen of Bank of America and Dutch nutrition company Royal DSM sent a joint open letter calling for corporate leaders on hand at this year's event to set "a target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner" if their companies haven't done so already.
The forum chief said most leaders of European Union members will attend this year, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said the EU has a chance to lay out its vision for the future and turn the corner after three years of haggling over Britain's departure from the bloc, which comes at the end of this month.
He also brushed aside critics who have faulted the forum as an overly exclusive vacation for the world's elites.
"If I am particularly proud of something during the last 50 years, it is of having created many years ago the community of young leaders," Schwab said, citing 10,000 young "Global Shapers" in more than 400 cities who he said are engaged in issues on the ground. "We try -- and I think quite successfully -- to integrate the bottom-up, young generation very much."
The Davos gathering has battled a reputation of being a haunt for the rich, powerful and famous over its five decades. Over the years, the forum has hosted celebrities including Hollywood stars Shirley MacLaine and George Clooney, Nobel Peace Prize laureates Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, former South African Presidents F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, and business leaders such as Davos regular Bill Gates.
Information for this article was contributed by Jamey Keaten and Masha Macpherson of The Associated Press and by Heather Long of The Washington Post.
A Section on 01/20/2020