WEF Leaders to Accelerate Progress on Sustainable Development Goals Amid Global Challenges

In a world facing significant geopolitical, economic and environmental shifts, the World Economic Forum gathered over 1,400 business leaders, policy-makers, leaders from international and civil society organizations, innovators and social entrepreneurs for its Sustainable Development Impact Meetings.

The meetings served as a crucial platform for public-private collaboration, where key announcements were showcased and public discussions in support of reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were forged.

Currently, only 17% of SDG targets are on track for 2030, with nearly half making minimal or moderate progress, and over one-third stalled or in some cases regressing. In response, the Forum has mobilized urgent public-private collaboration to advance these vital goals and drive action, partnerships, and innovation in sustainability. These initiatives and their key communities met to advance their work at the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings.

“We stand on the brink of the Intelligent Age, an era defined by blending artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technologies into everyday life,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman, World Economic Forum. “This sweeping transformation presents a profound paradox: the same technologies that hold extraordinary promise for unprecedented growth, innovation and human progress also risk deepening divides and exacerbating inequalities.”

“If we don’t partner with nature, we won’t be able to control climate change,” said Maria Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and President of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16), adding that creating the right political environment and getting social buy-in is important to “start having more democratic discussions around biodiversity issues”. 

“Meeting the challenge of the climate crisis is the biggest economic opportunity the planet has known since the Industrial Revolution. Everything has to be changed. We have to win this battle,” said John F. Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (2021-2024), US Department of State.

Participants engaged in high-level discussions on themes related to the SDGs, including frontier technologies and development; human capital and growth; climate action, nature protection and the energy transition. The meetings highlighted the emergence of the Intelligent Age, driven by technological advancements and the role of technology in driving SDG progress, the importance of sustainable growth and the need for collaborative action. A major milestone in digital inclusion was announced and an update on the global economic outlook.

Frontier technologies and development

Sessions focused on AI for the global good, improving social outcomes in urban development and health. The Forum’s Global Alliance for Women’s Health launched a community of senior global leaders committed to closing the women’s health gap. The Forum released the Closing Health Gaps through Collaborative Action report, highlighting place-based approaches as a powerful tool for creating healthier, more inclusive and more resilient communities.

Other reports launched included Improving Social Outcomes in Urban Development: A Playbook for Practitioners, which guides community stakeholders in planning and delivering large-scale urban development projects that create and enhance social value. The Scaling Investments in EV Charging Infrastructure was published, which outlines key strategies city governments can make to support the expansion of charging infrastructure and encourage investment. The Quantum for Society: Meeting the Ambition of the SDGs report raises awareness of quantum technologies’ power to boost global development. The Forum also co-hosted a UN side event during the week on quantum technologies and launched the Quantum Applications Hub, a platform for leaders to tackle planetary-scale challenges and shape a scalable and inclusive quantum ecosystem.

“Emerging technologies, such as generative AI, have the potential to tremendously transform economies, societies and industries,” said Landry Signé, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution.

“To deploy artificial intelligence effectively, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for all governments,” said Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications of the United Arab Emirates. “The UAE’s focus is to deploy artificial intelligence not just for productivity gains, but for quality-of-life improvements.”

Also on AI, Yann LeCun, Vice-President and Chief Artificial Intelligence (AI) Scientist at Meta, said: “What we need is a very simple open infrastructure – think of it as a Wikipedia for AI systems – so you give people the ability to build the systems that are useful for local populations.”

“What excites me the most is the explosion of information technology and how it can be applied to healthcare, even more so with AI. If we do it right, this is going to be super inclusive,” added Shobana Kamineni, Promotor Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise.

“Investing in women’s health is not only a moral imperative, but a strategic move contributing to a more inclusive, prosperous and resilient world,” said Helen Clark, Board Chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; and Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008). 

Human capital and growth

The Chief Economists Outlook September 2024 report provided reasons for optimism thanks to easing inflation and resilient global commerce while highlighting pressure on economies related to debt levels and fiscal challenges. Participants advocated for digital inclusion, and the EDISON Alliance, a World Economic Forum initiative, announced that it has successfully connected over 1 billion people globally – ahead of its initial 2025 target – to essential digital services in healthcare, education and finance, in over 100 countries.

“The global economy may be stabilizing, but fiscal challenges continue to pose significant risks,” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. “Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts from policy-makers and stakeholders to ensure that economic recovery is not undermined by these pressures. Now is the time for pragmatic solutions that can strengthen both fiscal resilience and long-term growth.”

“Everybody, no matter where they were born or where they live, should have access to the digital services that are essential for life in the 21st century,” said Hans Vestberg, Chair, EDISON Alliance, and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Verizon. “Making sure that everybody can get online is too big a challenge for any one company or government, so the EDISON Alliance brings people together to find practical, community-based solutions that can scale globally.”

Human capital was a core theme for the week, with several initiative meetings, including Reskilling Revolution, Education 4.0 and TeachAI galvanizing public and private commitments, and the Gender Parity Sprint and the Jobs Initiative advancing their work. Additionally, a white paper providing a framework to facilitate job transitions, highlighted how the ability of workers to transition into new roles is becoming increasingly critical – not only for maintaining employment and advancing social mobility, but also for economic productivity and people’s well-being.

The Schwab Foundation announced that 11 companies joined its Rise Ahead Pledge. By endorsing the pledge, companies collectively aim to increase their engagement in social innovation and significantly bolster the social economy by 2030, in line with the SDGs. Participants also focused on how businesses and governments can collaborate to create trade frameworks that promote economic development while supporting next-generation technologies and ensuring environmental sustainability.

Climate action, nature protection and the energy transition

Participants explored strategies to incentivize green trade, and at a session on putting the COPs’ pledges into practice, which included the incoming Biodiversity COP16 president, discussed how the public and private sectors must take a coordinated approach in view of the upcoming UN environmental summits on biodiversity, climate and land. 

“There is an intersection between trade and sustainability, and we need to better use trade to underpin decarbonization and support the  energy transition,” said Børge Brende, President, World Economic Forum.

“We can’t solve the issue of biodiversity, climate, or land degradation alone,” said Ibrahim Thiaw,  Undersecretary-General of the United Nations, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, adding that the three upcoming summits “are an opportunity to have a more holistic view in addressing these issues.” 

The Forum-supported GAEA (Giving to Amplify Earth Action) initiative announced the launch of its 2025 awards to recognize groundbreaking partnerships that drive systems change in support of ambitious climate and nature goals. It also announced a new climate talent fund in Asia to help meet transition goals and published a report on the role of corporate philanthropy in accelerating climate and nature transitions. 

Other publications released at the meetings included a white paper on governing marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction; case studies for business transformation towards a nature-positive future; a paper on unlocking the tech-driven bioeconomy; leaders’ insights for the nature-positive transition in cities; and a report on securing minerals for the energy transition. 

“Countries like India still have the majority of economic growth ahead of us,” said Sumant Sinha, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, ReNew Private Limited. “If we follow the same path 
as developed countries, it will lead to larger emissions. We need to follow a different trajectory and 
that has to be based on clean energy.” 

The Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), the World Economic Forum’s platform for translating plastic pollution commitments into concrete action, welcomed two new national partnerships with the Dominican Republic and Paraguay, while the First Movers Coalition (FMC), a global public-private partnership launched by the Forum and the United States government, announced it reached the milestone of 100 industry members.

UpLink, the Forum’s open innovation platform, announced the winners of its Sustainable Mining Challenge and launched a second challenge to source and elevate innovations bringing sustainability to the mining sector. The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders announced a 10% reduction in aggregated emission reductions between 2019 and 2022, while achieving 18% revenue growth.

“Bold and decisive leadership is needed to accelerate the net-zero, nature-positive transitions,” said Gim Huay Neo, Managing Director of World Economic Forum. “Over the last three years, the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders has successfully cut 10% of its aggregate emissions – equivalent to the annual emissions of France – while growing revenue ahead of global GDP growth and delivering significant value for their stakeholders. This clearly demonstrates that positive climate action does not have to come at the expense of economic performance.”