World Economic Forum Announces Co-Chairs of 4th Sustainable Development Impact Summit

Geneva, Switzerland, September 16, 2020 / TRAVELINDEX / The World Economic Forum announced today the co-chairs of the annual Sustainable Development Impact Summit

The summit’s fourth year comes at a time unlike any other. The COVID-19 pandemic has paralysed economic activity, forcing many to realize that the health of the planet is tied to our shared prosperity. Importantly, global calls for social justice and equality have prompted necessary and challenging conversations that will make society stronger and more inclusive. Public-private cooperation has never been needed more.

The co-chairs at this year’s summit have been asked to bring new perspectives to tackle the path forward. They will help the 2,100 leaders from government, business and civil society foster collective action and participate in sessions across the programme’s five themes: Shared Prosperity; Catalysing Cooperation; Better Business; Harnessing Technology; and Liveable Planet.

The 2020 co-chairs:
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al Futtaim
Ivan Duque, President of Colombia
Grace Forrest, Founding Director, Walk Free Foundation
Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President, Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad
Peter Laugharn, Chief Executive Officer, Conrad Hilton Foundation
Rebecca Masisak, Chief Executive Officer, TechSoup Global
Anushka Ratnayake, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, myAgro
Tiffany Yu, Chief Executive Officer, Diversability

“COVID-19 has impacted our lives and livelihoods. It has also galvanized many in the business community to double down and work together towards a great reset,” said Dominic Waughray, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. “We need to unleash the potential of these fast movers and partner them up with government and civil society to achieve the decade of delivery. At this year’s summit, new voices will bring new perspectives on the important issues of our time: social justice; biodiversity loss; economic recovery; transparent ESG reporting; and the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.”

Many sessions will be streamed and available on the World Economic Forum website. Journalists can view sessions live and access issue briefings on the global impact of the wildfires in the United States, preparing for the next pandemic and the rise of data trust brokers following media sign-up.

Key sessions include:

• A New Standard for Social Justice
• Mobilizing New Power for Change
• Pathways for an Economic Reset
• Deploying a COVID-19 Vaccine
• Towards Common Metrics and Consistent Reporting of Sustainable Value Creation
• UpLink: 1 Trillion Trees Challenge
• Fast-Forwarding to Frontier Technologies
• Making Net-Zero Possible

A new virtual 3D experience open to the public will set the scene for learning about the SDGs and the champions working to achieve them by 2030. During the summit, visitors will be able to discover the actions and actors spotlighted on the programme. It will be accessible via the Sustainable Development Impact Summit homepage.