As the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, Switzerland on Monday, it will be hard to miss the dozens of sessions on the global climate crisis. But don’t look for the organization that first brought the topic of sustainability to Davos 50 years ago. The Club of Rome, which became famous in the early 1970s for sounding the alarm bell on the planet’s “limits to growth”—including at Davos—is sidelined from the event this year.
The reason may be a difference in opinion. Last Friday, the Club and its allies released a letter calling on the leaders at Davos to “tax wealth, income, companies and windfall profits” more progressively to counter the climate emergency. Among the signatories were a co-author of the original Limits to Growth, Kate Raworth, the economist of “Doughnut Economics,” and the co-presidents of the club.
