Themes

CEO Forum 2026

24 Feb 2026 24 Feb 2026

Mumtaz Hall, Taj Palace, New Delhi

The world is at a critical juncture. Findings from the first Global Stocktake underline that current efforts are significantly misaligned with the ambition required to meet global climate and development goals. Achieving the temperature targets of the Paris Agreement demands a 43% reduction in global emissions by 2030, yet the implementation of existing nationally determined contributions is projected to deliver only a 2% reduction. Similarly, the mid-point review of the Sustainable Development Goals pains a sobering picture: of the 169 SDG targets, only 13% are on track, while 18% are not even being monitored. These realities point not only to gaps in implementation, but also to deeper systemic challenges relating to fragmented decision-making, short-termism, insufficient data, and misaligned incentives across institutions and markets.

The challenges confronting the world today are deeply interconnected, spanning climate change, economic volatility, social inequalities, and technological disruption. Addressing them requires transformational approaches that go beyond incremental action. Long-term vision is needed to anticipate risks and opportunities in an increasingly uncertain global landscape; diverse voices are essential to ensure that transitions are inclusive, credible, and grounded in real-world contexts; and strong values must anchor decision-making to principles of equity, responsibility, and resilience. It is within this context that the CEO Forum 2026 is being convened.

Building on TERI’s long-standing engagement with business leaders and sustainability practitioners, the CEO Forum 2026 will focus on the theme “Transformations: Vision, Voices, and Values for Sustainable Development.” The forum will bring together CEOs and senior leaders to reflect on what transformative leadership entails at a moment when the world is off track, and to explore how businesses can play a decisive role in driving systemic change aligned with global climate and development imperatives.

The CEO Forum has, over the years, evolved into a trusted platform for candid dialogue between business, policy and thought leaders. The 2025 edition, themed “Partnerships for Accelerating Sustainable Development and Climate Solutions,” underscored the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration to enable industrial decarbonization, build climate-resilient value chains, and unlock inclusive, low-carbon growth pathways. Reflections from these discussions continue to inform TERI’s work on policy engagement, coalition-building, and capacity development, and provide a strong foundation for the conversations planned for 2026.

To view highlights from the CEO Forum 2025.

Highlights from the business convenings at WSDS 2025

Looking ahead, CEO Forum 2026 will seek to move the discourse from ambition to action. It will challenge leaders to reimagine business models, governance structures, and partnerships that are fit for a rapidly changing world, and to consider how vision, voices and values can come together to accelerate climate action and advance sustainable development at scale. The deliberations from the forum will feed into TERI’s ongoing engagement with industry, government, and civil society, supporting actionable pathways aligned with India’s development priorities and global climate commitments.

Dr Vibha Dhawan

Director General, The Energy and Resources Institute

“India’s infrastructure transition must be built at scale and built clean. With affordable renewables and emerging solutions like green hydrogen, bold leadership can drive structural transformation across industry.”

Mr Mahendra Singhi

Distinguished Fellow and Governing Council Member, TERI

“Sustainability is no longer a boardroom slogan—it is a real pathway for excellence, and clean and intelligent technologies will define the future of competitive industry.”

Sanjay Kumar Singh

Director – Strategy & External Relations, Jindal Steel Ltd.

“The steel sector must grow to power India’s development, but growth cannot come at the cost of sustainability—our challenge is to build three times more steel with far less carbon.”

Dr Virinder Sharma

Member (Technical), Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM), Government of India

“Clean air is not a compliance issue—it is a strategic necessity for business competitiveness, worker health, and the future of Delhi-NCR.”

Dr Dhruba Purkayastha

Senior Fellow, Industrial Transition Accelerator, Mission Possible Partnership

“India stands at a pivotal moment where green industrialization is not a burden but an opportunity and with the right policies, we can turn plans on paper into plants on the ground.”

Mr Sourav Roy

CEO, TATA Steel Foundation

“Dialogue is not a single conversation—it is the long, patient work of building trust with communities whose wisdom is essential to solving our most complex sustainability challenges.”

Mr Andrew Prag

Managing Director – Policy, We Mean Business Coalition

“Businesses across the Global South are ready to lead the clean transition, and what they need most is stable, predictable policy signals—not instructions from the Global North.”

Ms Usha Subramaniam

Country President, Grundfos

“Two thirds of the country’s future infrastructure is yet to be built, making this a defining moment for integrating resilience, competitiveness and environmental security into decision making. Water and energy are often treated in silos, with energy receiving greater attention due to its visibility, while the hidden energy intensity of water-related applications remains overlooked.”

Mr Chitranjan Kaushik

CEO, Ecofirst Services Ltd

“The market is not just ready but hungry for energy transformation, with new technologies from solar films to building-integrated photovoltaics pushing clean energy far beyond the rooftop.”

Mr Sanjay Swarup

Chairman & Managing Director, Container Corporation of India Ltd.

“By moving 95% of our cargo through rail and adopting LNG and EV technologies, we have already saved two lakh tonnes of CO₂—showing how logistics can scale while staying green.”

Mr Abhishek Ranjan

CEO, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd – BRPL

“Scale and sustainability are not at odds when expansion is powered by renewable energy, smart storage, and rapid deployment of clean technologies.”

Dr Vikas Kumar

Managing Director, DMRC Ltd

“A metro system becomes truly sustainable only when its network reaches every citizen within walking distance, enabling a shift to clean public transport at scale.”

Mr Kranav Sharma

Technical Manager - Industrial Innovation, VERRA

“Carbon offsets are not a replacement for real action—they are a complementary tool that only works when companies first do everything possible to reduce their own emissions.”

Mr Dylan Tanner

Executive Director and Founder, InfluenceMap

“Climate issues are no longer ESG topics—they are mission-critical business issues that demand clear standards, strong policy engagement, and credible transition plans.”

Mr O. P. Sinha

Chairperson, OTBL (ONGC-TERI Biotech Limited) and Director (Exploration), ONGC Ltd

“India is in the midst of an energy revolution, and our success in biotechnology-driven ethanol blending has cut fossil fuel imports while proving that innovation can fundamentally reshape the economy.”