Trust in the future is fraying and people’s attitudes to artificial intelligence (AI) capture this development. Stanford’s 2026 AI Index found that 59% of people globally believe AI products and services offer more benefits than drawbacks, while 52% also say they make them nervous.

This is a warning to leaders, not an argument against innovation. New systems do not earn legitimacy because they are advanced. People want to know who benefits, who carries the burden and who will be accountable when technology changes jobs, infrastructure and daily life.

Climate change has been testing these questions for decades.

In the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026, geoeconomic confrontation, misinformation and societal polarization dominate the two-year outlook, while environmental risks dominate over 10 years. Leaders must govern across both timelines by responding to what is urgent without abandoning what is consequential over the longer term.

Climate policy compresses the leadership challenge of developing trust in the future. Leaders must act now to create benefits that unfold over years, through systems most people never see, while deciding who pays, who benefits and who is accountable. The same test shapes whether workers, customers and communities accept a business transition – and whether public policy survives controversy or a change in leadership.

This test becomes concrete in cities. Global ambition reaches people through streets, buildings, waste systems, health initiatives and the quality of everyday public services.

When I was growing up in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the child of immigrants, my family experienced public services not as theory, but through whether rules were understandable, institutions were fair and people were treated as though they belonged.

Today, as Director of the San Francisco Environment Department, I help turn ambition into systems people can use. That work has taught me that trust is operational.

Consider three ordinary objects: the blue bin, the green bin and the black bin used by San Francisco’s three-bin waste collection system. These bins – and this initiative – demonstrate how institutions can build durable participation.

Before this system, much of what could be recycled or composted in San Francisco was treated as trash. Then, in 1999, the city piloted its “Fantastic Three” programme with 2,800 households and 50 small businesses. Within eight months, the pilot diverted almost 46% of material from landfill.

From 2009, the city required all residents and businesses to separate recyclables, compostables and trash into the three bin types. The amount of material composted rose from about 400 tonnes a day to more than 600 tonnes. Business participation increased by 75%, and the number of apartment buildings composting more than tripled.

Those numbers matter, but they are not the main story. They are the receipts for a change in behaviour.

A resident places food scraps in a green bin because the bin is available, the instructions are understandable and the collection route runs. A restaurant reorganizes its kitchen because employees have been trained and the system can function during service. A child learns to sort at school and brings the practice home.

Behind each action sits a larger system: collection contracts, drivers, kitchen pails, multilingual outreach, signs, school programmes, business training, property-manager tools, waste audits, customer service, enforcement and reporting.

The system is not magic. It is institutional capacity made visible. It is also unfinished. Waste contamination persists, participation varies and reliable service still depends on sustained funding, education, enforcement and workforce capacity. Trust must be maintained, not merely won.

The same principle has played out in Medellín, Colombia as part of the Davos Baukultur Alliance’s Pioneering Places programme. Community workshops helped turn nearly 400 metres of a seven-lane highway into Parque del Río, a riverfront with playgrounds, sports facilities and cultural spaces.

Medellín is now extending the approach north through Parque Primavera Norte, due to be completed in 2027. Visible results built confidence and the momentum to scale.

The contexts are different, but the leadership lesson is the same. So, before asking people to trust a major transition, ask five questions:

The above questions apply to more than waste disposal systems. They apply to cleaner buildings, transportation, food systems and new technology. AI could improve lives, create opportunity and transform how people learn, work and solve problems. It could also disrupt livelihoods, concentrate benefits and place new demands on energy systems and communities with little power over the decisions.

These challenges are different, but they share a trust test.

Ambition, communication, targets, product launches and public announcements cannot substitute for institutions being capable of delivery. Future-facing systems earn legitimacy when leaders make them understandable, accountable and connected to public benefit, then build the capacity to make the promise real.

That is why climate policy matters beyond climate. It shows that leaders can act over time by making responsibility practical, taking fairness seriously and backing promises with public services that work.

The best test of leadership is whether we can build institutions reliable enough to protect people today and trusted enough to still work for future generations.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/san-francisco-public-services-trust/