Dear Colleagues,

As we’re about to enter a Brave New World (officially on 20 January), these days euphemistically labelled a ‘transactional world’  (which presumably also includes a  transactional approach to multilateralism from “you-know-who”), readers of this newsletter at least might vaguely remember that the SDG agenda ‘deadline’ is now only 6 years away. Over here, in the EU, however, these days, talk is much more about how “we only have 5 (max 7 years) left in order to defend ourselves from Putin”.  As a result, focus is very much on how we have to boost defense budgets – and ‘fast & furious’  moreover. Nevertheless, as the latest (2025) World Economic Forum’s  Global Risks report   makes clear, although ‘escalating armed conflict’ comes right on top as the most urgent threat, global risks are multiple, huge, complex and getting worse every year.

With that in mind, a few suggestions for Davos men & women (whom I largely hold responsible for the current global mess...