Building Sustainability Together

Second edition: June 29 to July 2, 2026

At Católica-Lisbon SBE, Santander Center and Beato Innovation District

Organized by:

Corporate sponsor:

Founding partner:

Lisbon Sustainability Week 2026

Held from 29 June to 2 July 2026 at Católica-Lisbon SBE, Santander Central Services, and Beato Innovation District, #LSW26 was a journey of thought-provoking talks, dynamic debates, hands-on workshops and masterclasses, dissemination of scientific knowledge, and high-impact networking.

A hub for connection with top professionals — including policymakers, regulators, financial experts, corporate leaders, researchers, international institutions, NGOs, and community organizations — gathered to advance sustainability across markets, policy, business and society.

At Lisbon Sustainability Week 2026, we focused on:

  • Building Sustainability Together: Recognising that the sustainability transition requires collective action across governments, businesses, academia, finance, and civil society.

  • Nature, Resilience & Economic Transformation: Understanding nature as critical infrastructure and embedding resilience into business models, financial systems, and development strategies.

  • Leadership, Responsibility & Action: Exploring the role of leadership, accountability, and shared — but differentiated — responsibility in accelerating the transition.

  • Collaboration for Systemic Change: Advancing practical solutions through partnerships, innovation, and coordinated action to scale sustainable transformation.

Lisbon Sustainability Week 2026 in action

Miguel Rangel, Siemens Portugal

Soojin Lee, Bloomberg LP

Filipe Santos, Católica-Lisbon SBE

Inês Rocha de Gouveia, Fundação Santander Portugal

António Carlos Rodrigues, Grupo Casais

Paulo Ferrão, Climate Neutral and Smart Cities

Key LSW26 Takeaways:

Sustainability requires a fundamental rethinking of what development means and for whom – we cannot insist on a development model against nature.

Nature is critical infrastructure, so understanding business dependence on nature is essential for managing risks and opportunities.

The transition is unstoppable: it makes economic sense, as economic resilience and sustainability are increasingly aligned, not opposed.

Though we all share this responsibility, we do not have equal responsibility on this matter. Those in the developed world and in senior leadership roles have more agency on the resolution of this problem and, therefore, more responsibility.

We are much stronger than we think: we are changing individual behaviors and working collectively better than expected… even against a negative political backdrop.

We cannot outsource the task of securing a successful transition: Markets alone will not solve this; human ingenuity alone will not fix it; it requires intentional, personal commitment and action.

Building sustainability together is a necessity. We have the urgency, the knowledge, the business and community cases, and the will — now we need the commitment to scale. If we do it alone, it will be too little; if we wait for governments to act, it will be too late; if we work together, we might, just might get it right. Let’s go and do it!

Meet the Speakers

See the Full List of the Global Thought Leaders Shaping LSW26

Programme Highlights

Conference Sessions

June 30

Building and Financing Successful Sustainable Business

— Sustainability: a Fading Agenda or a Competitive Bet?

— The Business Case for Sustainability

— Responsible Leadership in an Uncertain World

— Católica-Santander Award
Innovation for Sustainability

— Is Resilience a new source of Alpha?

— Sustainable Finance Opportunities and Pitfalls

- ECGI Wallenberg Lecture: Robert F. Engle, Nobel Prize in Economics

July 1

Nature Positive: From Thinking to Acting

— The Nature Positive Shift: From Risk to Value

— Nature Positive Strategies

— Missing Link: Religion and Human Sustainable Development

— Nature-positive: markets, models and corporations

— The Superintelligence Race: Can We Keep the Balance Right?

— The Learning Curve of Nature-Positive Execution

July 2

Scaling Urban Climate Neutrality: Business, Finance & Collective Action

— Keynote Session: Ricardo Rio and Julia Lombardi

— Unlocking Municipal Climate Investment- Unlocking urban climate investment

— Blended Finance for Urban Climate Transition

— Advancing Local Climate Pacts: Climate Champions League

— Closing Remarks
Cidades pelo Clima

— LSW Closing Ceremony

Side Sessions

July 1

— Impact Accounting

— Business Case for Blue Economy

— SDG Meetings

Academic Sessions

June 29

Accounting

— Academic papers - presentation and discussion

June 30

Finance

Academic papers - presentation and discussion