Interview: 2017 summer Davos to focus on environment, technology issues, says WEF senior official

The 2017 Summer Davos, to be held in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian in the coming summer, will mainly focus on environment and technology issues, a senior official with the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said.

Dominic Waughray, head of the Public-Private Partnership and a member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum (WEF), made the remarks in a recent written interview with Xinhua.

According to him, the Summer Davos, also known as the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, will discuss, among others, circular and sharing economy, oceans, green investment and new technology innovations for environmental management.

This was viewed as an effort of addressing pressing global environmental risks, as the WEF stressed in its latest annual Global Risks Report.

According to the report, climate change stands to be one of the top underlying trends in 2017, and environmental risks rank for the first time among the most likely and most impactful risks in the world.

Actually, issues regarding climate change, environmental protection and sustainable growth were extensively discussed amid the WEF annual meeting in Davos last week.

"A common approach to protecting our global commons is required," Waughray emphasized, in view of the environmental deterioration and declining biodiversity. Global cooperation between public and private sectors can create new alliances to reverse these trends, and demonstrate especially to young people how collaboration, rather than isolation, can bring benefit to all, he added.

Investment in green energy, green transport and other green infrastructure and circular economy is actually the key to boosting economic growth, Waughray said.

China plays an increasingly vital role as a world leader in a green and sustainable development model, both in the public and private sectors, said the WEF senior official.

The world's largest issuer of green bonds during 2016 was the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, with China's priorities placed on ecological and digital economy, he added.

In terms of the current environmental challenges China is facing, such as smog, Waughray pointed out, it is a worldwide problem plaguing cities, while China is attaching great importance to improving its urban air quality. Endi