Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, President Trump outlined American economic successes as well as goals for the coming year and decade—and while he didn’t quite spell it out, we feel it’s important to note achieving many of these goals will depend on biotech.
About the event: The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters in Switzerland, more commonly known as “Davos,” brings together policymakers, business leaders and activists from around the world to talk about how to make the world a better place—everyone from Trump to teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, who spoke before AND after Trump.
What Trump said: In his speech, he hyped the booming American economy and jobs, and outlined new goals on jobs, trade, energy, and innovation—many of which will require research and investment from America’s biotech industry.
Take energy. He said the United States is “boldly embracing American energy independence” as “by far, the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world,” calling out “traditional fuels, LNG, clean coal, next-generation nuclear power, and gas hydrate technologies…”
But he failed to explicitly mention the important role of biofuels in energy independence, especially as we need to reduce our dependence on those very fossil fuels to tackle climate change.
He also wants to plant more trees. He announced the United States will join the 1 Trillion Trees Initiative, a global initiative to plant one trillion trees and sequester 200 gigatons of carbon in 10 years.
This, too, will depend on biotech. Pests, disease, and climate change are threatening all kinds of trees, including orange trees and cacao trees—but unless we invest in and support innovations like genome editing, these trees literally may not be able to grow.
In conclusion: “The great scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, from penicillin to high-yield wheat to modern transportation and breakthrough vaccines have lifted living standards and saved billions of lives around the world, and we’re continuing to work on things that you’ll be hearing about in the near future, that even today, sitting here right now, you wouldn’t believe it’s possible”—all thanks, of course, to biotech.
More Agriculture & Environment News:
The Washington Post: Trump administration further undercuts Obama school-lunch rules
“On Friday, USDA Deputy Under Secretary Brandon Lipps proposed new rules for the Food and Nutrition Service that would allow schools to cut the amount of vegetables and fruits required at lunch and breakfasts while giving them license to sell more pizza, burgers and fries to students.”