Davos 2012 - Special Report

It’s not just the fear of being punished by consumers that drives companies. There is now also a growing class of conscious consumers that demand more sustainable products and services.

Occupy protesters have set up Camp Igloo accommodation in Davos, as  the World Economic Forum gets underway in the Swiss ski resort.

Last year, our favorite story from Davos explained the on-going battle involving wives, mistresses and aspiring mistresses. It was just the right combination of rumor, scandal and cutting details. The first edition of this year's version of the Davos Wife confessional is somewhat tamer.

IMF's Christine Lagarde explains why the organization needs $500 billion to help contain the spreading European debt crisis.

"Maybe all wealthy people should make a contribution, as long as it is used to pay the debt down," Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post, told CNBC.

"Europe needs a two-speed euro," Dr Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered, said on CNBC, "You don't have any room for flexibility, any room for manoeuver and that's why here at Davos, one of the big worries that people have is that this European problem is going to run."

After New York, London and Milan, you thought the Paris Haute Couture week was the end of the month-long fashion celebration? Think again, in terms of hats, turn to Davos to find out what's hot and what's (only) hot.

Larry Summers, economist and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, told CNBC, "I think the LTRO will be remembered as an important step. It is providing very substantial liquidity in Europe that is lubricating both credit and economic activity, the sense that we are near the edge of a precipice has been walked back considerably."