Global Agenda

The World Economic Forum's 2014 Annual Meeting, themed 'The Reshaping of the World,' convened over 2,500 leaders to address four primary pillars: achieving inclusive growth, embracing disruptive innovation, meeting society's new expectations, and sustaining a world of 9 billion. Key discussions highlighted the pervasive nature of global inequality, the dual-edged impact of hyperconnectivity and automation on employment and privacy, and the urgent need to decouple economic growth from resource consumption to mitigate climate change. The event also emphasized the role of the 'circular economy' and public-private partnerships in addressing water and food security.

• Global inequality is a pervasive issue across both developed and developing economies, with a reported concentration of wealth where nearly half of global wealth is held by 1% of the population.
• Addressing the global infrastructure deficit is viewed as a primary driver for job creation and inclusive growth, with an estimated US$ 57 trillion required for projects between 2013 and 2030.
• Hyperconnectivity and disruptive innovation are transforming leadership and commerce, though they introduce risks such as the destruction of manufacturing jobs and threats to privacy rights.
• The 'circular economy'—an industrial process designed to be recyclable and restorative—is presented as a commercial opportunity to reduce materials costs, with potential savings of US$ 1 trillion a year by 2025.
• Climate change, extreme weather, food crises, and water crises are identified as four of the top ten global economic risks for 2014.
• There is a significant mismatch in the global labor market where one-third of employers cannot find workers with required skills despite 200 million people being unemployed worldwide.
• The World Economic Forum and the UN have agreed to advance public-private cooperation on climate change, leading to the first 'Climate Day' at the 2014 meeting to drive solutions toward the UN Climate Summit in New York and UNFCCC meetings in Lima.

APA

World Economic Forum (2014). Global Agenda. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM14/WEF_AM14_Public_Report.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Global Agenda. 2014. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM14/WEF_AM14_Public_Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Global Agenda |date=2014 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM14/WEF_AM14_Public_Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2014global, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Global Agenda}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2014}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM14/WEF_AM14_Public_Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }