People at Davos have a tendency to overstate the importance of the gathering, and they have perhaps been spoiled by the obsession Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, showed with the place.

Despite the urgent need for climate finance, numerous barriers have impeded the flow of private capital to decarbonisation projects around the world and especially in the Global South, experts and business leaders noted.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg accused attendees of the World Economic Forum in Davos of "fuelling the destruction of the planet" as she arrived at the event in the Swiss Alps on Thursday.