Good morning.
This year’s Fortune Global Forum in Abu Dhabi took place at a moment—or perhaps in an era—of enormous uncertainty for business. The rapid transformations driven by artificial intelligence ranked at the top of the list. Investor Ray Dalio spoke to the group about the economic uncertainty caused by unwinding an “insanely free-money environment.” Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair took the group on a tour of global geopolitics, noting that “it’s a bit depressing at the moment, looking around the world.” And with COP 28 just two days and a short drive away, numerous speakers expressed concern about how far the world is from meeting its climate goals. “Business is moving at a much faster pace,” said Halla Tomasdottir, CEO of The B Team, "but not fast enough.”
Yet I came away from the three days of business discussions with a renewed sense of optimism. The twin challenges of technology and climate, in particular, seem to be creating an unprecedented opportunity for business to do what it does best—solve real problems in pursuit of both purpose and profit. That was particularly evident in many of the conversations around climate. Here’s what Tarek Sultan, the CEO of Agility Logistics, had to say at a lunch session on Wednesday:
