Davos (Switzerland) (AFP)

The world's economic elite is tackling the climate emergency: the 50th Davos Forum opens Tuesday with US President Donald Trump and environmental activist Greta Thunberg, with diametrically opposed visions on environmental challenges.

In the snowy surroundings of the Grisons ski resort (Switzerland), global warming dominates this year the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Donald Trump, with the climato-skeptical convictions claimed, will open the ball. He must make his speech a few hours before the opening in Washington of his dismissal trial.

Two years ago, the unpredictable American president had been rather well received by the big bosses gathered in Switzerland, who had retained his fiscal generosity rather than his diatribes against free trade.

Donald Trump is due to hold talks in Davos with the President of the European Commission, as well as with the Iraqi President, shortly after the assassination of an Iranian general in Iraq by American forces.

Will he also meet Greta Thunberg? Invited to Davos for the second consecutive year, the 17-year-old Swedish activist will speak shortly before the American president at a round table, and will open in the afternoon a session with the unequivocal title: "How to avoid the climatic apocalypse ".

The opportunity to once again summon the business community to act in the face of climate challenges, and to find an audience perhaps more receptive.

According to a WEF survey, some 750 political and economic leaders rank environmental crises (extreme weather, loss of biodiversity, etc.) at the top of the global risks deemed most likely.

And this perception is beginning to have striking and stumbling consequences: the asset manager BlackRock, a financial monster driving $ 7,000 billion, announced last week that it wanted to become a leader in sustainable investments.

The announcement could be emulated, at a time when the assessment of the costs of climate change is taking place.

- "Awareness" -

According to a report released Monday by WEF and PwC, more than half of the global economy depends on nature and ecosystems.

For Chris Williamson, economist at IHS Markit, "there is clearly a change of atmosphere: some may have underestimated the speed of this development and Davos may accelerate this pressure" on the business community.

However, NGOs present in Davos are wary of any triumphalism: "There is a huge increase in growth taking at the level of the big bosses, but the challenge is to translate it at lower levels, within gigantic groups" to complex production chains, insists AFP Marco Lambertini, secretary general of WWF.

The Davos Forum, sometimes accused of climatic hypocrisy because of the ballet of jets, helicopters and limousines that it causes each year, intends to set an example by banning single-use utensils, mounting meatless buffets ...

- "Climate apartheid" and Venezuela -

For the time being, the climate issue is mainly aggravating already "indecent" inequalities, insists Oxfam. The NGO, a traditional spoilsport in Davos, said on Monday that the 2,153 billionaires of the globe held more wealth than 60% of the world population.

"The impact (of global warming) will be more devastating for the poorest", while "the super-rich will know how to get rid of it", and "there will be a climate apartheid", assures AFP Amitabh Behar , Oxfam manager for India present in Davos.

The distribution of the fruits of economic growth is a question all the more burning as the latter will remain "sluggish" in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which revised Monday its forecast for the year (to 3 , 3%).

In a country plagued by intense social anger, Lebanon, the presence in Davos of the head of diplomacy Gebran Bassil goes very badly. Two petitions were launched to demand its cancellation, and collected thousands of signatures.

Another hot spot on the globe: Venezuela. Opponent Juan Guaido, whom about fifty countries recognize as interim president, is due to come to Davos on Thursday.

© 2020 AFP