The Davos ‘do-gooders’

We’ve given you the “dirty dozen” of Davos; it’s only fair also to highlight the goody-two-shoes of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

From those who are battling climate change, poverty and disease — to those defending democracy and their nations’ freedom — here are eight righteous folk fighting the good fight in the Swiss Alps.

1. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Davos with a mission: to remind the world’s top wheelers and dealers of Ukraine’s fight for survival, in the process securing the money and weapons Kyiv needs to win. But as the war drags on, and attention turns to the crisis in the Middle East and the election in the United States, Zelenskyy is fighting an uphill battle.

He is slated to deliver an address on Tuesday and hold meetings with top officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Zelenskyy will also be making his case directly to the world’s corporate elite that Ukraine is open for business — even while it’s under attack.

2. Former US Vice President Al Gore

Rebuilding trust is the mission statement of this year’s WEF — and it’s a cause close to Al Gore’s heart.

The veep-cum-presidential-candidate used his concession speech (remember those?) after the famously tight 2000 U.S. election — in which the Democrat won the popular vote, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared Republican George W. Bush the winner of the electoral college — to urge Americans to have faith in their electoral system and institutions.

Since leaving office, Gore has been heavily involved in the fight against climate change, imploring the world to trust what the science says about our baking planet. For his environmental advocacy (read: sick PowerPoint presentations), he was both awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and named runner-up Time Person of the Year in 2007. The man who beat him to Time’s top spot: Russian President Vladimir Putin. Go figure.

3. Alexander Soros, Open Society Foundations chief

Depending on whom you talk to, Alexander Soros’ Open Society Foundations is either the worst thing that has happened to the free world — or the best. The nongovernmental organization funds civil society groups around the world seeking to support human rights, justice, education, public health and the free press. The foundation, along with its founder — Hungarian-born billionaire investor George Soros — are favorite punching bags for the far right the world over, from the U.S., to Hungary, to the United Kingdom.

The 38-year-old Alexander Soros, who took control of the philanthropic group from his father in 2022, pledged to be “more political” than his dad and said he planned to continue donating to left-leaning U.S. political candidates. But it seems the younger Soros’ focus on the U.S. political landscape has come at a cost: The Open Society Foundation’s decision to end a large part of its European operations caught many by surprise last year, raising fears about the survival of many of the nonprofits it funded.

Open Society Foundations chief Alexander Soros | Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Ford Foundation

4. Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Tsikhanouskaya wants to bring down Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, hold him to account, and usher in an era of a democracy in Belarus. To do that she needs the world — Davos hotshots included — to pay attention. A big ask, in the midst of two hot wars and an uber-busy election year.

In her battle for Belarus, the winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has paid a steep price: Her husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, an opposition activist and blogger, has been in prison since 2020. He was locked up after seeking to run against Lukashenko in the presidential election. Tsikhanouskaya ended up on the ballot herself — but remains in exile since wide protests erupted in the wake of the rigged election.

5. Singer Angélique Kidjo

Kidjo has long raised her voice for a variety of causes. The singer-songwriter was born in what is now Benin, West Africa, and rose to fame in Paris, where she settled in the 1980s after a coup d’état and political crisis in her native country.

A five-time Grammy award winner for her genre-blending Afrobeat and reggae albums, Kidjo was appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2002, traveling across Africa to advocate for women and girls. For her humanitarian efforts, the WEF in 2015 awarded her a Crystal Award (given to artists improving the state of the world).

6. Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Microsoft’s co-founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates (still one of the world’s richest people) has been using his significant cachet — and cash — to fight inequality in health, energy, climate and education, via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That said, Gates’ largesse has given his foundation an outsized influence over the global health agenda (POLITICO in 2017 dubbed him the world’s most powerful doctor), and raised questions about accountability.

Still, there’s no denying Gates’ generosity: In Davos this year, his foundation announced it would be upping its spending to $8.6 billion in 2024, which is 4 percent more than last year, in response to decreases in global contributions to health efforts in low-income countries in the wake of Covid. The foundation has committed to increasing its annual spending to $9 billion by 2026.

7. Conservationist Jane Goodall

Goodall is the world’s most famous expert on chimpanzees, after 60 years studying their social and family interactions. Which puts her in good stead with the party primates of the World Economic Forum.

She founded the Jane Goodall Institute for protecting chimpanzees along with the Roots & Shoots program, which focuses on conservation among youth. The primatologist was previously named a U.N. messenger of peace, and is an honorary member of the World Future Council.

Goodall, who believes that chimps and their various cousins are sentient, sapient and deserve respect, has worked extensively on conservation and animal welfare issues. She is particularly active in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade, using her star power to campaign to protect chimpanzees and other primates in the wild. One of her goals: To stop people sharing images of primates and other animals on social media — something she says could be driving people to buy exotic pets or to think animals used in entertainment are happy.

8. Fortescue Chairman Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest

Andrew Forrest, whose personal net worth is larger than the gross domestic product of Malta, made squillions via the company he founded: Fortescue, which dug up iron ore in the remote desert of Western Australia and shipped it off to China. However, “Twiggy,” as he’s known in Australia (not to be confused with the English supermodel), is no longer your garden-variety mining magnate.

Andrew Forrest | Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

The 62-year-old has staked his reputation — not to mention his cash — on renewable energy, particularly green hydrogen. At the U.N.’s COP28 climate summit, he urged the world to turn away from oil and gas … and called for the heads of fossil fuel bosses to be “put up on spikes.” Or did he mean twigs?

Forrest has also taken up the fight against modern slavery, meeting with Pope Francis and other religious leaders at the Vatican in 2014 for the signing of a multi-faith pledge to eradicate the practice. The Vatican later withdrew its support for the initiative, accusing Forrest of “using the pope” to make money — a charge Twiggy rejects.

Dionisios Sturis, Peter Snowdon, Suzanne Lynch and Paul de Villepin contributed reporting.