Around 1,000 leaders from business, government, international organisations, civil society and academia will gather in New York for the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2026, with climate and nature, responsible AI and mobilising investment among the central priorities.
Global leaders will gather in New York from 21–24 September to explore how business, government and civil society can work together to drive resilient growth, accelerate sustainable development and ensure emerging technologies create wider economic and societal value. The World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2026 (SDIM26) will take place alongside the 81st United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week, bringing together close to 1,000 participants from across sectors and regions.
The programme will focus on three increasingly interconnected challenges: climate and nature, responsible artificial intelligence and frontier technologies, and mobilising capital for greater social and environmental impact. Participants will include close to 100 government and international organisation leaders, more than 500 business executives and over 100 civil society leaders, alongside representatives from academia.
The meetings come at a time when geopolitical fragmentation, economic uncertainty, climate risks and rapid technological change are placing growing pressure on organisations to turn long-term commitments into practical results. As Fair Play Talks highlighted in its Sustainability in 2026 outlook, businesses increasingly face pressure to move beyond sustainability pledges and demonstrate measurable outcomes around resilience, competitiveness and long-term value.
GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY SHOULD NOT COMPETE
A central theme of SDIM26 will be how economies can continue growing while building greater resilience and delivering broader social and environmental benefits. “Economic growth and sustainable development should not be seen as competing objectives. The challenge is how to create growth that is resilient enough to endure future shocks and broad enough to create opportunity,” said Alois Zwinggi, President and CEO of the World Economic Forum. “This is precisely when cooperation matters most. As debate becomes increasingly polarised, SDIM26 provides a space where different perspectives can be heard and common ground explored.”
The emphasis on collaboration comes as progress towards many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains under pressure ahead of the 2030 deadline. That challenge was also at the centre of the 2026 SDG Business Forum, where UN and corporate leaders called for stronger partnerships between business, governments and international institutions.
As Fair Play Talks reported following the Forum, business leaders argued that collaboration, investment and accountability will be critical if organisations are to turn sustainability ambitions into measurable progress.
SUSTAINABILITY MOVES FROM AMBITION TO EXECUTION
The discussions will also take place against growing evidence that businesses remain committed to sustainability despite geopolitical and economic headwinds — but increasingly need to demonstrate its commercial value. New World Economic Forum research found that six in 10 global chief sustainability officers expect sustainability progress to hold steady or accelerate despite current headwinds.
Some 63% of CSOs expect global sustainability progress to hold steady or accelerate over the next 12 months, while three in four expect company investment linked to the transition to remain stable or increase. The research suggests businesses increasingly see commercial value, technology and resilience as drivers of sustainability.
But it also highlights an important shift: the challenge is becoming less about setting ambitions and more about execution, investment and demonstrating returns. That theme is likely to run throughout SDIM26 as leaders examine how to channel capital towards projects capable of creating both commercial and societal value.
MOBILISING CAPITAL FOR IMPACT
Investment will therefore form a major part of the New York discussions. Sessions will explore impact investment, inclusive economic growth, green and blue economies, climate action and humanitarian and resilience financing. Mobilising capital has become one of the biggest obstacles to translating sustainability commitments into practical change.
Previous research found that many organisations still struggle to measure the return on investment from sustainability initiatives, making it harder for sustainability projects to compete internally for funding. Yet the commercial opportunities could be substantial.
Recent research also suggests technology could help unlock $15 trillion in markets linked to advancing global sustainability goals. The question facing investors and businesses is increasingly not simply whether sustainability matters, but how to direct capital towards initiatives capable of delivering measurable economic, environmental and social returns.
RESPONSIBLE AI MOVES UP THE AGENDA
Artificial intelligence will provide another major focus for SDIM26. The programme will explore both AI’s role in the economy and how organisations can deploy frontier technologies responsibly to create economic and societal value.
That balance is becoming increasingly important. AI offers opportunities to improve productivity, analyse sustainability data, optimise resource use and strengthen climate modelling. But rapid adoption also creates new governance, accountability, environmental and social risks.
Recent research found that organisations with strong trustworthy AI practices are 15 times more likely to report strong returns from their AI investments. That research suggests governance, high-quality data, transparency, explainability and human oversight can directly affect whether AI creates meaningful business value. Separate research found that one in four executives had seen AI-generated errors reach boards or external audiences, reinforcing the need for organisations to combine technological adoption with stronger accountability and human judgement.
AI ALSO CREATES A SUSTAINABILITY DILEMMA
Responsible AI is not solely a governance issue. Its environmental impact is also becoming harder to ignore. The World Economic Forum’s latest CSO Outlook found 73% of sustainability chiefs expect AI to accelerate sustainability progress, particularly through measurement, reporting, efficiency and risk modelling.
But 77% simultaneously identify the energy and resource intensity of AI infrastructure as its biggest negative impact. That tension reflects a challenge Fair Play Talks has previously explored. More than one-third of companies worldwide are already struggling to meet climate targets as AI adds additional environmental pressure.
That research found 95% of organisations had committed to science-based targets or structured climate plans, yet 37% were already experiencing delays in achieving them. As businesses increase AI investment, the sustainability of data centres, computing infrastructure and energy use is therefore likely to become a much bigger responsible business issue. Reflecting that concern, the Forum plans to publish new research during SDIM26 on green and resilient data centres.
CLIMATE RESILIENCE MOVES CENTRE STAGE
Climate action and resilience will form another major strand of the meetings. The Forum’s latest CSO research found 85% of sustainability leaders expect climate adaptation to become a bigger global priority over the next three years, while 77% believe private-sector investment will play a decisive role.
Yet businesses still struggle to demonstrate the returns from resilience investment. Some 62% of CSOs cite uncertain cost-benefit assessments as the main barrier to adaptation spending. That is particularly significant because the consequences of climate change increasingly extend beyond environmental damage into workforce health, productivity, supply chains and business continuity.
Fair Play Talks has already highlighted how extreme heat is becoming a foreseeable workplace health, safety and business continuity risk. SDIM26 will take that issue further, with the Forum planning to publish new research examining the effects of extreme heat on workers during the week.
That could prove particularly important for employers as rising temperatures increase risks for outdoor workers, people in poorly ventilated workplaces and employees with existing vulnerabilities.
INCLUSIVE GROWTH AND THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP
The agenda will also extend beyond climate and technology. Sessions will explore inclusive economic growth, the global gender gap, humanitarian action and the role investment can play in creating broader social impact.
This reflects a wider understanding of sustainable development that goes beyond environmental performance. Responsible growth increasingly requires organisations to consider who benefits from economic and technological progress, who bears the risks, and whether new opportunities are distributed fairly.
That question becomes especially important as AI and other frontier technologies reshape labour markets, jobs and skills. As recently reported in its coverage of London’s £30 million plans to help workers and businesses prepare for AI, technological progress does not automatically create inclusive outcomes. How businesses, policymakers and educators respond will help determine whether AI widens existing inequalities or creates broader access to opportunity.
CROSS-SECTOR COLLABORATION
SDIM26 will bring together a wide range of World Economic Forum communities, including the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, First Movers Coalition, Faith in Action, AI Global Alliance, Global Coalition for Digital Safety, InvestFrontier, Resilience Consortium and UpLink.
Senior participants will include leaders from organisations such as the IMF, World Bank Group, UN Development Programme, UNHCR, World Health Organization, International Committee of the Red Cross and Inter-American Development Bank, alongside government representatives and business executives.
The Forum says discussions will focus on identifying areas where progress remains possible despite geopolitical uncertainty and converting dialogue into collaborative action. That emphasis mirrors another theme Fair Play Talks has tracked throughout 2026: many of the biggest responsible business challenges can no longer be solved by organisations acting alone.
Whether the issue is climate transition, AI governance, skills, sustainable investment or the SDGs, progress increasingly depends on collaboration across sectors, industries and borders.
NEW RESEARCH TO WATCH
Several new World Economic Forum reports are also expected around the meetings. These include the Chief Economists’ Outlook, alongside research on:
- Green and resilient data centres
- Valuing impact
- Extreme heat and workers
The Forum’s new Chief Sustainability Officers Outlook has already provided one important signal ahead of the meetings: sustainability momentum has not disappeared, but companies increasingly need to demonstrate how environmental and social investment supports growth, resilience and long-term value. The additional research could provide further evidence of how businesses should navigate the intersection between technology, people, investment and the planet.
WHY SDIM26 MATTERS FOR RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS
The breadth of the SDIM26 programme reflects how much the responsible business agenda has changed. Climate can no longer be separated from investment. AI cannot be separated from energy consumption, governance or workforce impact. Economic growth cannot easily be separated from resilience, inequality or social stability. And sustainable development cannot be delivered by governments or businesses acting independently.
The challenge now is turning those connections into practical decisions — where organisations invest, how they deploy technology, how they protect people and the planet, and how they measure the value they create. As nearly 1,000 leaders gather in New York, the measure of success will therefore not simply be how much agreement emerges from the discussions.
It will be whether those conversations translate into investment, partnerships and action capable of delivering measurable impact long after the meetings end. The World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2026 take place in New York from 21–24 September, alongside the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week. Selected sessions and plenary discussions will be livestreamed through the World Economic Forum.
Read more about the WEF’s impact here.
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