4-5 billions years have already passed since the formation of our planet, Earth.
It could survive extreme temperatures, moisture, magma building everywhere and then suddenly Ice age. It has been dynamic ever since the Universe gave light to it and it has not ceased to surprise us Humans along the way.
I ask, is Climate change this new?
No it isn’t.
Climate change has always been there all along, working as a disciple of Nature’s forces, uniformly twisting and triggering things at its end.
It could barely be noticed.
Then, what’s so new about it?
It is undoubtedly that pace of changing face of Earth, fueled by the Human actions.
Since the Industrial Revolution, we Humans had begun to transform most of the Earth’s resources in the forms we like.
All we cared for has been a few billion profits in the hands of a few, but now, Earth is in constant action, a rather fierce approach to make things right, to mend behaviour of the ones who were willing defaulters all along, to snatch the power back into her hands, to balance the World once again for its sustainable and Rejuvenation.
Nature with its hidden mysteries, can easily overpower us.
This is the age of Pandemic.
The times of rapid Climate Change, an age of Sixth Extinction that can wipe off several species from the face of the Earth, lest alone Humans.
And this will only increase exponentially unless we work hard to provide “The Great Reset“.
Meeting in Davos, Jan 2021:
The greatest of World leaders met virtually after the Pandemic to rebuild hope and muster trust by addressing the prevailing economic, environmental, social and technological challenges.
Onus lies on our representatives from different Institutions to proceed with required policy changes in order to achieve more inclusive, cohesive and sustainable future as soon as possible in 2021.
What is “The Great Reset”?
Proposed by World Economic Forum, to provide an impetus to our staggered and tainted Economies but in sustainable ways.
It was unveiled in May 2020, by the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles and WEF director Klaus Schwab.
The fundamentals of such Reset:
It has already been assessed that the world economy is in deep trouble.
Schwab has argued that the situation has exacerbated due to many factors, including the pandemic’s devastating effects on global society, the un-folding technological revolution, and the consequences of climate change.
He demands that the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.
Every country must participate, and
Every industry, from oil and gas to technology, must be transformed to become sustainable.
Agenda under “The Great Reset”:
1. Reforming Traditional Capitalism:
Call for “stakeholder capitalism” that goes beyond just traditional corporate focus on maximizing profit for shareholders.
To steer the market toward fairer outcomes, Governments can reset their fiscal and monetary policies.
Proportional and progressive wealth tax will work in this regard.
Sustainability is to have greater say in undertaking business plans.
Governments can forge a Stimulus package or recovery fund that will promote Green infrastructure or for sourcing the incentives for industries to improve their track record on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics.
2. Focus on solutions to the building climate crisis:
No stone is to be left unturned when we need to stop further degradation of our planet.
One can devise new technologies and methods to render sustainability to every human activity and sphere.
The respective targets for mitigating global temperatures is need of the hour.
It is indeed welcoming that President Biden has
rejoined the 2015 Paris accord on mitigating climate change.
3. Achieve Climate Consensus when it comes to Global cooperation
Countries are relinquishing the ideal of Multilateralism, globalisation and greater cooperation for lesser mean motives.
Also an era to be the greatest power hegemony along with the liberalization of the global economy at the turn of the 1990s has yielded place to intense competition in every sphere: political, economic or technological.
Why do we need “The Great Reset”?
Apart from many pressing worries to adopt a sustainable approach, the most urgent call is from the Pandemic.
A simple virus had the tendency to destabilize the whole world’s administration, health services, demographic welfare and even our best Economies. A year has passed and we are yet to free ourselves of its clutches.
We witnessed Stagflation, extreme unemployment, hunger issues and deepening poverty alongside greatly disturbed Macroeconomics of any country.
The International Monetary Fund expects the world economy to shrink by 3% this year – a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points in just four months.
This will further negate all our attempts for years to alleviate poverty, hunger and achieve other SDGs.
Looking at the bigger picture we found that Inequality has increased at the cost of poor lives.
This disturbing trend can further lessen our efforts to achieve Sustainability in the long run as more resources will be diverted to assuage the setbacks.
What does upcoming Meeting in Singapore, Aug 2021 holds for us?
The World Economic Forum Special Annual Meeting is to be held in August 2021. Singapore will host a successive reunion of the Forum’s virtual Davos Agenda held earlier in January.
It will be the first global leadership summit to discuss the challenges of recouping from the consequences of Pandemic and promoting a more inclusive and sustainable world.
It hopes to bring leaders on one platform to focus on shaping solutions to the most prominent challenges of our times that needs attention now more than ever.
We can therefore utilise this hard time as an opportunity: to make or break, to lose or gain.
We have experienced the unbelievable, that Humans can make compromises for Nature and for their own future.
Indeed we have nurtured the will and propensity to change. Our future depends on our current choice and our affinity to reset and reform the norm.