As the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos, Switzerland on Monday, it will be hard to miss dozens of sessions on the global climate crisis. But look no further than the organization that first brought the topic of sustainability to Davos 50 years ago. The Club of Rome, famous in the early 1970s for sounding alarm bells about the planet’s “limits to growth” – including in Davos – has no event this year.
Reasons may differ. Late on Friday, the Club and its allies published a letter calling on leaders in Davos to “tax wealth, income, companies and wind profits” more to fight the climate emergency. Among the signatories are the original co-authors Limits to GrowthKate Raworth, economist “Doughnut Economics,” and club co-president.
But that message is unlikely to have landed well in a Swiss ski resort. Of course, addressing the energy, food, and climate crises is one of the five thematic pillars of the Annual Meeting. “Climate action” was also the subject of dozens of sessions. But the same is not true for discussions about taxes, wealth, or inequality. There was exactly one session on tax reform, and two on inequality.
Taxes will always be a tougher sell for the global business elite, of course. It’s a zero-sum game, after all. A dollar paid to the government in taxes is a dollar less in profits for the company and its shareholders. With climate action, that seems less. Some companies have cashed in on the energy transition, profiting from turning the green economy into an opportunity.
But for Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, co-president of the Club of Rome, those reasons make no sense. “The social tipping point will be the biggest challenge as we move through the 21st century,” he said by phone, as he traveled to Davos. “We can’t talk about the climate without talking about the hypocrisy of our taxation structure.”
In the letter, the Club acknowledged that it was difficult to get the message across. “Business leaders in Davos this week may feel that this is the strategy [taxing wealth, income, companies and windfall profits] against short-term and individual interests,” he wrote. But he later called the view “limited” and “self-destructive”.
Taxes strengthen society and government, the reason for which will be important as the world resolves what is called “polycrisis” in climate, energy, food, immigration, and other areas.
But will it be enough for the argument?
At least a few tax enthusiasts were at the Congressional Center this week, who could continue the debate. Gabriel Zucman, a French economist known for his research on tax havens, will be one of the participants in the tax session in Davos. Mathias Cormann, Secretary General of the OECD, the intergovernmental organization that is trying to raise the global tax bar, is another.
From a sideline presence in Davos, the Club of Rome will also talk to governments and individuals who are expected to sign on to plans to raise taxes. These include John Kerry, the US president’s special envoy for climate; Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission; Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund; and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
As the Club of Roma knows well, convincing the global business elite of something that benefits in the long term, but not in the short term, is itself a long game. It took the club almost 50 years to be verified among business leaders in their views on the limits to growth. Today, two-thirds of Americans have a favorable view of the IRS, a 20% increase compared to the 1980s, 1990s, and most recently in 2010.
But if the Club is right about the urgency of the social and economic crisis we are facing at this time, they better hope that it can be rectified in Davos in a shorter time. And this requires them to re-engage in the debate directly, or find powerful allies in the orbit of the World Economic Forum. To date, this remains a limitation to the growth of the Club of Rome in Davos.
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