Davos 2020 should be all about climate crisis but Trump won’t admit it| Larry Elliott
Subject was not an issue at forum’s first meeting in 1971 but should now be at forefront for US president
Richard Nixon was in the White House, Mao Zedong was running China and Ted Heath was the prime minister of the UK when hand-picked members of the global business, academic and policymaking elite were first invited to a get-together in the Swiss resort of Davos in 1971.
This year marks the 50th Davos but there is not exactly a party mood. The World Economic Forum, the body that organises the annual talkfest in the snow, is “committed to improving the state of the world” but in key respects things look worse today than they did at the start of the 70s.