Davos Elites Told Inflation Reduction Act Is the New Paris Climate Deal That Trump Opposed

A police officer stands on the roof of a hotel and monitors the area with binoculars in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2023. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

The recent Inflation Reduction Act might do little to fight soaring prices, but it’s the biggest climate change-fighting pact since the 2015 Paris Accord that former president Donald Trump pulled the United States out of, the head of a transnational energy policy group told participants of the globalist meet-up in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said during a panel on energy security that the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed with zero Republican backing and was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, is in fact the most important climate agreement since the Paris Accord, because it would drive massive investment into cleaner energy.

Birol added that energy security was now the biggest driver of climate-related investment, with his remarks coming on the second day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos, which has declared 2023 the “Year of the Polycrisis” and is pushing hard to rededicate members to a progressive climate and social-justice agenda.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, in Singapore, on Oct. 25, 2022. Isabel Kua/Reuters

In June 2017, Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, citing the economic cost of the accord and the negative impact it would have on American workers and businesses.

The former president also argued that the agreement was unfair to the United States, as it would place a greater burden on the country to reduce emissions while letting other nations continue polluting at higher levels. Trump also argued that the climate pact would undermine the U.S. economy, cost  jobs, and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries.

On Jan. 20, 2021, on his first day in office, Biden signed an instrument to bring the United States back into the Paris Agreement.

“You have seen and will continue to see us weaving climate change into our most important bilateral and multilateral conversations at all levels. In these conversations, we’re asking other leaders: how can we do more together?” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Feb. 19, 2021, the day the United States once again officially became a party to the Paris Agreement.

President Joe Biden at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, on Jan. 12, 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

‘Year of the Polycrisis’

Klaus Schwab, chairman of the WEF, kicked off the 53rd annual meeting of political leaders, corporate executives, and activists on Monday in Davos, warning of “unprecedented multiple crises” and urging globalist unity in the face of various de-globalization trends.

“The theme of our meeting in Davos is cooperation in a fragmented world,” Klaus said in opening remarks, declaring that “economic, environmental, social, and geopolitical crises are converging and conflating, creating an extremely versatile and uncertain future.”

The WEF identified the top-five short-term risks as the “cost-of-living crisis, natural disasters and extreme weather, geo-economic confrontation, failure to mitigate climate change, and erosion of social cohesion and societal polarization.”

The global forum noted in a report that, looking farther ahead, “the top four most severe risks over the next 10 years are all environmental.”

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab delivers a speech during the "Crystal Award" ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2023. FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

‘Money, Money, Money’

The so-called “climate emergency” is a major theme in Davos, with sessions on issues such as adaptation to climate change and panels on biodiversity and the future of environmental protection.

Biden’s climate envoy, former senator John Kerry, said on Tuesday that time is running out for the world to tackle climate change to avoid the worst impacts and that what’s needed to deliver a low-carbon economy is “money, money, money.”

Former vice president Al Gore, a major figure in climate-fighting circles, will be giving a speech during the four-day talkfest about efforts to build clean energy infrastructure and decarbonize the economy.

The elite gathering in the Swiss alpine town of Davos has been routinely skewered by critics who argue that attendees are too out of touch with the concerns of common people and are pushing a globalist, progressive agenda often referred to as the “Great Reset.”

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry speaks onstage during the 2021 Concordia Annual Summit at Sheraton New York in New York City, on Sept. 20, 2021. Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit

‘You’ll Own Nothing and Be Happy’

The WEF has been the subject of considerable scorn for its 2016 ad campaign, which stated: “Welcome to 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better.”

Many critics objected to the organization’s attempt to frame a lack of personal ownership and privacy as something positive, with the ad generating a tidal wave of memes, many centering on the slogan: “You‘ll own nothing and you’ll be happy.”

Initially accompanied by a promotional video and several articles, much of the campaign’s content has since been removed from the internet.

The WEF sent a tweet expressing that the idea still remains up, while a video featuring eight predictions for 2030 can still be viewed online, which contains the tag line: “You‘ll own nothing. And you’ll be happy.”

Twitter CEO Elon Musk took to the social media platform over the weekend to make a series of quips aimed at the WEF, commenting on an article that references the “you'll own nothing” controversy.

“I guess there’s value to having a mixed government and commercial forum of some kind. WEF does kinda give me the willies, though, but I’m sure everything is fine …” wrote Musk in a Sunday post on Twitter, responding to a Substack article co-written by independent journalists Michael Shellenberger and Izabella Kaminska.

Shellenberger and Kaminska called out WEF managing director Adrian Monck, who blamed the uproar surrounding the “you'll own nothing ” ad on right-wing reactionaries posting on online forums.

Monck penned an opinion piece in the Canadian outlet The Globe and Mail last August, calling the backlash a “misinformation campaign that targeted the World Economic Forum.”

“The story of ‘you’ll own nothing and be happy’ is anything but trivial and offers valuable insights into how misinformation is created and why it’s essential not to perpetuate its spread,” Monck wrote, claiming that many criticisms were racist and antisemitic.

Shellenberger and Kamiska refuted Monck’s claims: “What Monck claimed was inaccurate. The phrase ‘Own nothing, be happy,’ hadn’t originated on 4chan; it originated on WEF’s website,” they wrote.

Musk meanwhile continued to poke fun at the organization.

“There should be a game show: “4Chan or Davos, who said it?” Musk wrote in another post on Twitter, referring to the 4chan message board that Monck singled out in his article.

Kevin Stocklin and Reuters contributed to this report.