After Davos: Why Delivery Now Defines Credibility

After Davos, the One Question That Matters

Along with the familiar uniform of Moncler and Arc’teryx down jackets, Davos had no shortage of big, buzzy debates humming through the Alps -the ‘triple bubble’, trade tensions, responsible AI.  

But beneath the noise sat one far more consequential question: who gets to define what is considered credible? 

Markets no longer move on ambition alone. They move on expectations: what leaders believe is possible, what they think others will do next, and where capital is likely to flow. Those beliefs shape investment decisions, which in turn shape real-world outcomes, reinforcing the signals that set them in motion. That feedback loop is forming. 

At Davos, the World Climate Foundation (WCF) focused on shaping those signals, helping determine what markets will treat as credible in 2026, and what they will not. 

Because if you are not actively shaping that loop, you are operating inside one shaped by someone else. 

Why Collaboration is Now a Competitive Strategy  

Competitiveness isn’t just about speed anymore; it’s about coordination. 

Acting alone increasingly means absorbing fragmentation risk; misaligned standards, slower approvals, and higher transaction costs. But coordinate through coalitions and networks, and risks drop, capital mobilises faster, and execution delivers a clear competitive edge. 

This is the gap the World Climate Foundation exists to close. 

The WCF Network does this by working across companies, sectors and regions to move from strategy to delivery - not in isolation, but through coordination.  

This shift from "talking" to "doing" is what defines credibility. As WCF CEO Jens Nielsen noted in Davos, in a fractured global economy, markets no longer reward ambition; they demand proof. 

“Davos this year has not been about easy optimism.  In a world shaped by geopolitical rivalry, economic anxiety, and growing mistrust in institutions, hope must be earned.”

– Jens Nielsen, CEO, World Climate Foundation 

Coming Down the Mountain 

Walking between venues in Davos, one shift was hard to miss. Public stages and street-level branding were dominated by AI and geopolitics. Climate and sustainability, once front and centre, were far less visible in the open programme. 

But this did not mean the agenda had disappeared. It had moved. 

As geopolitical pressure intensifies and corporate priorities adjust, many of the most consequential conversations are taking place behind closed doors. 

From inside those rooms, the WCF network is still at work — away from the noise of today’s geopolitical headlines — because global frontrunners understand a critical reality: AI, growth and competitiveness cannot scale without energy, climate resilience, water security and nature protection.  

These are not “nice to haves”, they are symbiotic systems that reinforce each other. As WCF Chief Impact Officer Flora Bitancourt observed:

"Global leaders seem to be ignoring the urgency of the moment we are living in, and nature has emerged as the world’s most undervalued asset. Yet, behind closed doors and in bilateral meetings, the topic remains alive, as does our hope that the corporate practices which have advanced so significantly in recent years will not be rolled back.” 

What differentiates frontrunners is not that they ignore geopolitics, AI, or growth pressures, but that they understand the cost of treating these forces in isolation.  

As Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock and interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum, put to delegates in Davos, leadership risks irrelevance if it remains disconnected from physical and social realities - when we stay stuck up the mountain, ignoring the rest of the world. 

When major transitions concentrate value too narrowly (on small elites or abstract GDP growth) they trigger political backlash, tougher regulation and loss of trust. The outcome is not stability or competitiveness, but higher costs, slower markets and rising risk. Or, as he put it: ‘the mountain will always come down to earth.’ 

Why 2026 is the First Real Test of Delivery 

Davos 2026 marked the start of a decisive implementation cycle for climate and nature - from COP30 and ten years forward - one that will shape leadership, credibility and competitiveness for the decade ahead. 

Across closed-door discussions in the World Climate Sessions with finance, insurers, policymakers and corporates, the conversation came back to a core question: is delivery now investable and insurable? 

Marsh's Global Head of Energy & Power, Amy Barnes, nailed it in a panel discussion - risk now has to be structured, priced and insured, not just disclosed. Assets that cannot pass insurance scrutiny will struggle to attract capital at speed or scale. 

Natural capital was repeatedly identified as a major growth opportunity — but only for those able to coordinate across public and private actors to make projects financeable. 

Markets are already reflecting this shift.  At the January 2026 reinsurance renewals, global reinsurers sustained returns above 15% even as pricing softened by 10–20% - signalling that capital is flowing toward risks that are clearly structured and understood, and away from those that are not. 

In a world where AI is scaling faster than governance and geopolitical fragmentation is reshaping energy, trade and capital flows, ambition without delivery is no longer neutral, it is a source of risk. 

In 2026, relevance will be defined by who can coordinate early, structure execution, and mobilise capital before standards and returns lock in. 

From Davos to Delivery 

This is the reality WCF engaged with in Davos. Across its World Climate Sessions, the focus was on filtering what is executable in 2026; prioritising scalable solutions, investable structures and coordination models that move commitments into the real economy. 

The emphasis shifted decisively away from targets and toward repeatable, financeable delivery. 

What moved in Davos now shapes the year ahead. These signals carry through WCF’s engagements in Tokyo, London, São Paulo and New York — feeding directly into capital mobilisation and the climate and biodiversity COPs at the end of 2026.