 The COVID-19 crisis has shown us that our old systems are not fit anymore for the 21st century. In short, we need a great reset. Welcome to World Versus Virus, a podcast from the World Economic Forum that aims to make sense of the COVID-19 outbreak. This week, as we rebuild the global economy, how can we make it better than the old one? This episode is all about the great reset. The best memorial we can build for those who lost their lives to the pandemic is that greener, smarter, fairer world. The CEOs of Microsoft, BP and Mastercard added their support for the great reset as it was launched this week by the World Economic Forum's founder, Klaus Schwab and Prince Charles. As we move from rescue to recovery, we have a unique but rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to learn lessons and reset ourselves on a more sustainable path. It is an opportunity you've never had before and may never have again. Subscribe on SoundCloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Robin Pomeroy and this is World Versus Virus, the Great Reset. In January, the World Economic Forum held its annual meeting in Davos. It was the 50th year of the meeting established by Klaus Schwab. At that point, people were just starting to talk about a new virus that had infected a few hundred people in a city called Wuhan in China. A panel of experts was hastily assembled to discuss how much of a threat the unnamed disease might pose and a new partnership to develop vaccines was created. But most of us weren't paying much attention. Less than five months later, now everyone knows about COVID-19 and even in those few lucky places where the disease has not spread, people will still feel the impact as it causes what is likely to be the biggest economic slump in a century. So where do we go from here? As governments pump money to try to revive the economy and deal with mass unemployment, can we build back something better? All the voices you'll hear in the episode this week were recorded at the June 3 launch of the Great Reset. By the end of this podcast, you'll know what that phrase, the Great Reset, actually means, why it's important and where things might go from here. Launching the Great Reset, World Economic Forum Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab. It is obvious that behind the midst of the most severe crisis, the world has experienced since World War II. 75 years ago, countries and people came together to shape the post-war global order, which brought us decades of peace, increased global cooperation and prosperity to hundreds of millions of people around the world. The COVID-19 crisis has shown us that our old systems are not fit anymore for the 21st century. It has led bear the fundamental lack of social cohesion, fairness, inclusion, and equality. Now is the historical moment, the time, not only to fight severe virus but to shape the system for the need for the post-corona era. We have a choice to remain passive, which would lead to the amplification of many of the trends we see today. Polarization, nationalism, racism, and ultimately increased social unrest and conflicts. But we have another choice. We can build a new social contract, particularly integrating the next generation. We can change our behavior to be in harmony with nature again. And we can make sure that the technologies of the forced industrial revolution are best utilized to provide us with better lives. In short, we need a great reset. We have to mobilize all constituents of our global society to work together. We must not miss this unique window of opportunity. The idea of a great reset was welcomed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and by the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva. Will history say that was the great reversal? And we actually today see very worrisome signs. 170 countries are going to finish this year with a smaller economy than they started. And we already project that there will be more debt, more deficit, more unemployment, and there is a very high risk of more inequality and more poverty unless we act. And that takes me to what is it that would make it so that history would look at this crisis as the great opportunity for reset. What we see is inevitably a very massive injection of fiscal stimulus to help countries deal with this crisis and shift gear for growth to return. But it is paramount that this growth leads to a greener, smarter, and more fairer world in the future. And it is possible to do that, provided that we concentrate on the key elements of a recovery now. We don't wait for the days to come. For the fund, what we see are tremendous opportunities. Let me first talk about green growth in the future. We can put in place public investments and incentives for private investments into low carbon and climate resilient growth. Not only that, but many of these investments can lead to job rich recovery. Think of mangroves restoration, reforestation or building insulation and think of the key sectors for reducing climate intensity where both the public and private sector can invest. I am particularly keen to take advantage of the low oil prices today to eliminate harmful subsidies and to bring in place carbon price as an incentive for the investment for the future. So we now have to step up, use all the strengths we have. In the case of the IMF, $1 trillion lending capacity and tremendous engagement on the policy side to turn a page to have that history be about the great reset, not about the great reversal. And I want to say it loud and clear, the best memorial we can build for those who lost their lives to the pandemic is the greener, smarter, fairer world. Prince Charles has been a champion of environmental causes for half a century. He said the great reset was a chance to solve the climate crisis and restore the natural world. To seize this window of opportunity, I believe we need to do five things. First of all, to create momentum for the great reset. We need to capture the imagination and will of humanity. We will only change if we really want to change. Secondly, the global economic recovery must set us on a new trajectory of sustainable employment of livelihoods and economic growth. To achieve scale, we must not be afraid to reorientate our longstanding incentive structures, which have been having such perverse effects on our planetary environment and on nature herself, if we are to reap the benefits afforded by a more sustainable world. Thirdly, we must redesign systems and pathways to advance net zero transitions globally. And in this regard, carbon pricing can form a critical pathway to generally sustainable markets. This reset moment is our opportunity to accelerate and align our efforts to create truly global momentum. Countries, industries, and businesses moving together can create efficiencies and economies of scale that will allow us to leapfrog our collective progress and accelerate our transition. Fourthly, we must reinvigorate science, technology, and innovation. This crisis has shown the importance of investing in science, technology, innovation. We are on the verge of catalytic breakthroughs that will alter our view of what is possible and profitable within the framework of a sustainable future. And fifthly, we must rebalance investment. Accelerating sustainable investment could offer significant economic growth and employment opportunities, including in green energy, the regeneration of nature and landscapes, circular bioeconomy, ecotourism, and green public infrastructure. It is time, therefore, to align sustainable solutions with funding in a way that can transform the marketplace. This would be the most dramatic act of responsible leadership ever seen by the global private sector and would at once provide a catalytic incentive for the public sector to follow. We have a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis. And as we move from rescue to recovery, therefore, we have a unique but rapidly shrinking window of opportunity to learn lessons and reset ourselves on a more sustainable path. It is an opportunity we have never had before and may never have a gain. So we must use all the levers we have at our disposal knowing that each and every one of us has a vital role to play. The Great Reset launch also hit from a few of the world's biggest companies. Here's Microsoft CEO Brad Smith on the role of digital technology during and after the pandemic. I think interestingly, the pandemic has clearly accelerated the adoption of digital technologies. As people are needed to work from home or study from home or as governments needed to operate from home, it was digital technology that they turned to to sustain the continuity of society around the world. And as people return to work, I think we can continue to expect digital technology and data fundamentally to be the infrastructure for this decade and for the Great Reset we're talking about here. I think the great opportunity we have is to put this technology to work in a way that is going to advance all the goals that everyone has been talking about today. I think that needs to start with what it will take to promote a more inclusive jobs and economic recovery. I think that means recognizing that broadband has become the electricity of the 21st century. We need to spread broadband technology more broadly. And then we need to couple that with new initiatives to equip more people with the digital skills they'll need, not just to have a tech job, but a job that is increasingly tech enabled in almost every part of the economy. And we need to do this in a way that remembers that there are more than a billion people on the planet that have some kind of disability temporary or permanent. And so we need to ensure that all of this works for them. I think as we do that, there are a couple of other things that are really a paramount importance. We need to sustain people's trust. And that means protecting their privacy. It means protecting their security. It means that ensuring that these new technologies, especially artificial intelligence, are deployed responsibly around the world. I think we have the opportunity to recognize that data and technology more broadly are indispensable tools to solving almost any of the problems that we confront. And so when it comes to protecting people's fundamental rights, as we're seeing in the United States today, we've been focused for several years on using data to shine a light on disparities, for example, between the practices of police on African-Americans and blacks in the United States in comparison to other populations. And that is, I just think a slice of what we'll need to address around the world. And then finally, I think it's right that every part of this conversation recognize that in all probability, the greatest challenge of this great decade, a great reset, the greatest opportunity this decade is around sustainability. That's why we as a company committed that will be carbon negative by the year 2030. But I think what we really have the opportunity to do is unite the private sector, use digital technology to better measure scope one, two, and three emissions created in the building of products and empower consumers around the world. So when they make a choice about which product to purchase, they can see what was emitted in terms of the amount of carbon to create that product in the same way that they can read the nutritional content on a label at the grocery store or a food product. If we can empower consumers with all of this, I think we unleash this next generation to have a much broader impact more quickly. And what about the energy transition, the need to rapidly move away from fossil fuels to avoid climate catastrophe? This is Bernard Looney, the CEO of BP. You know, we at BP, we welcome this great initiative. On February the 12th of this year, BP set out an ambition to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner. And not just that, but actually to help the world get there. And I think a lot of people have asked if the pandemic has somehow slowed our energy in this area. And if anything, I think it's increased it and we're as if not more committed than ever to make that happen. You know, we all know there is a carbon budget. It is finite, it is running out. But I think a better way to explain it might be some refinery workers that I was speaking to in the United States just a few weeks ago. And they thanked me for the commitment to the energy transition. And I asked them why and one of them said, given the choice, I choose my grandchildren every time. And that was coming from someone who has worked in hydrocarbons for his career. So that is what this is about. And we have some thoughts on what we think should happen. Obviously it's against a backdrop where growth and employment is core and governments will be facing higher deficits, higher debts. So we need to think about how we can do this at low or no cost to the taxpayer and in some ways increase revenue. There are three policy points that we would just quickly touch on. The first is that any recovery stimulus should have green conditions attached to it. Kristalina mentioned this. I agree with her 100%. We're seeing some of that here in Europe and we absolutely encourage and actually advocate for that. Secondly, energy prices should reflect real costs. Israel has talked about carbon price. Kristalina talked about abolishing subsidies for fossil fuel production. We agree with all of that. And in fact, we advocate strongly for all of that. And then thirdly, supporting decarbonization in emerging economies. We want to make sure that in those countries people are not forced to choose between a clean energy and supporting jobs, as Sharon pointed out, supporting jobs and livelihoods. They shouldn't have to make that choice and building back better ought to be about closing the gaps that exist in inequality and social injustice rather than widening them. So just in closing, I would say we need our imagination here. We're seeing today, every day, the art of the possible. The possible is being redefined each and every day right now. So the next time someone tells us that tackling climate change is either too costly or too difficult, I think we need to remind them and remind ourselves of what just is happening right now. Bernard Looney talked of the need to reset jobs and livelihoods. Another participant have more to say on that. Sharon Burrow, who is head of the International Trade Union Confederation, represents around 200 million workers in 163 countries. COVID-19 has starkly exposed the existing fault lines in our world. We had already income inequality that was fueling income, race, gender inequality. It was about despair, it was about anger. It was resulting in a distrust even of our democracies, even of each other, I should say. And of course you're seeing some of that anger spill over now around racial injustice before and again, it will come on income injustice and of course progress for women has stalled everywhere. If we don't have full employment at the center of recovery and building resilience, then we will go back into the same spiral. We also need of course job creation to go along with that and investment in enabling green infrastructure, in industry policy to help us shift the transition, adjust transition on all these fronts and of course in care and in eco systems repair. And we can never again, we can never again allow our health, education, care systems to be underfunded. Adjaye Banga, CEO of Mastercard, said it was time for any company's resisting policies such as regular reporting of their environmental performance to stop being armchair critics. What Klaus was referring to, which is an effort at the WEF around the International Business Council to develop objective measures that can be put into the way all of us report out. I think that's an outstanding way of doing it because you create transparency and you create a level playing field in how people speak about the importance of these. And by the way, you ensure that investors begin to pay attention to it as well. So I think this is a, it's a brilliant idea and I'm all very supportive of it. I would say one thing about cynicism, Adrien. The time for cynicism is a little behind us and the idea of looking ahead really requires us to put cynicism away and start thinking about constructive participation. So you're welcome to have a point of view and you're welcome to have a discourse but being an armchair critic is really not acceptable. And it's time to come to the table and make a difference. I think that's the point that we all need to emphasize for each other. There were several other fascinating speakers at the Great Reset launch to find more of our coverage, visit weforum.org. And in the coming weeks, we'll be covering the Great Reset Dialogues, events that will bring more stakeholders from around the world together to seek a better world post COVID-19 and in the run-up to Davos next January. As well as the website, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube and on Twitter using the handle at WEF. Thanks to Gareth Nolan as ever for help with the podcast. Please subscribe to receive it every week. Just search World vs. Virus on Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's give the final word to Klaus Schwab who chose to end the launch with a reflection on racial tensions in the world and how the aims of the Great Reset could also help long overdue progress on civil rights. When I stood 21 years ago together with Vanessa Mandela in Davos on the stage, when he said, we should lay the scorch of racism, of divisiveness to rest. This requires strong democratic institution and the will of everybody and the culture of compassion. None of this is possible without a strong economy and a cohesive society.