The 2026 Sustainable Global Leaders Conference, together with the second Green Industry and Sustainable Consumption Expo, will be held from October 20 to 22 at the World Expo Park in Huangpu District, Shanghai, according to an announcement made on October 13.
At a news briefing held today, the organizers introduced that the conference will bring together more than 300 top guests from around the world, including representatives of United Nations agencies and multiple international organizations, Nobel Prize and Turing Award laureates, senior executives of leading domestic and international enterprises, and renowned think tank experts. Participants will engage in high-level dialogue on the real-world challenges and opportunities of global sustainable development, build cross-sector consensus, and summarize diverse and practical development approaches.
In addition, the conference will release several heavyweight reports in the sustainability field, host the second Green Industry and Sustainable Consumption Expo, showcase companies鈥?green practice achievements to the public, and specially arrange a number of interactive experiences for citizens, issuing a green lifestyle call to the public. [Limited-time ticket reservations are ongoing.]
Global business, government, and academic representatives gather in Shanghai to offer ideas for sustainable development
This year鈥檚 conference is hosted by the World Green Design Organization (WGDO) and Sina Group, co-organized by the Beijing Office of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation, and undertaken by Sina Finance and the Beijing Representative Office of the World Green Design Organization.
The conference features 22 sub-forums, covering topics such as macro strategy and the overall development landscape; climate, ecology, nature, and carbon neutrality; industry, supply chains, corporate globalization, and green practices; technology and future industries such as AI; capital, finance, and ESG governance; and society, talent, inclusion, and intergenerational development.
Multiple international organizations are participating. United Nations agencies including the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Population Fund, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and UN Women, as well as international institutions such as the World Gold Council, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, the World Green Design Organization, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Tennant (TNC), are all involved in setting the conference agenda and discussions.
It is worth noting that World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulo held a pre-conference dialogue with Sina Finance, praising China鈥檚 intelligent meteorological early warning solution 鈥淢AZU,鈥?which drew widespread attention, with 鈥渋nternational organization head praises Chinese solution鈥?trending on Weibo.
Stephen A. Orlins, president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations, will deliver remarks at the conference. Orlins has long been committed to promoting U.S.-China friendship, speaks fluent Mandarin, and is known as a 鈥淐hina hand.鈥?From 1976 to 1979, Orlins worked in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. During that period, he participated as a member of the U.S. legal team in advancing the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China. In 2005, Orlins began serving as president of the National Committee on United States-China Relations.
Scholars including 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Andre Geim, 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate Thomas Sudhof, and 2007 Turing Award winner Joseph Sifakis will also speak at the conference, bringing new thinking to sustainable development practices.
The conference has specially invited Alan Macfarlane, a professor of anthropology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom who is active on social media, and Xiang Biao, a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, to hold a dialogue on the topic of 鈥淎I and the Future of Humanity.鈥?br>
This conference brings together many representatives of industry-leading enterprises. Senior executives from Geely Holding, Yili Group, and Moutai Group will attend the opening ceremony and share on-site stories of their companies鈥?deep engagement in sustainable development practices. Companies including China Eastern Airlines, Changan Automobile, Anta Group, Fosun International, Greenland Group, Shanghai Airport, Far East Holding Group, and MetaX will exchange plans for technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and high-quality development based on the new development cycle of the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Executives from enterprises in banking, insurance, securities, funds, and other financial sectors will also attend the conference and discuss investment opportunities in sustainable development.
Multiple achievements showcased, building a world-class stage for sustainable development
At the Green Expo held concurrently with the conference, more than 30 companies will exhibit. The Green Expo is dedicated to building an international-level display platform for innovative technologies through the concentrated presentation of cutting-edge green technologies, innovative products, and solutions, and also hopes to bring sustainable concepts into real industrial and consumer scenarios.
As the core vehicle for the Sustainable Global Leaders Conference to reach industry and connect with the public, this Green Expo breaks down the barriers between high-end summits and the general public. With a dual-track curation approach of 鈥渋ndustry frontier + public experience,鈥?it transforms topics discussed at the forums, such as dual-carbon transition, circular economy, technology for good, and responsible capital, into display content that can be touched, experienced, and discussed, creating a sustainable achievements event that combines professional depth with public warmth.
The exhibition is both a showcase for cutting-edge technologies and a communication platform for domestic and international industrial partners to connect, negotiate, and seek cooperation opportunities, promoting the transformation of sustainability from conference consensus into industrial implementation actions and providing a Chinese sample and reference for global green transition practices.
In the cultural and artistic field, gold and jewelry brands such as Laofengxiang and JSD Zhuo Zhen Custom House will display unique craftsmanship. The brands will move beyond the traditional framework of jewelry display, focusing on innovative achievements in precious metal recycling and low-carbon improvements to intangible cultural heritage craftsmanship, interpreting 鈥淥riental aesthetics and sustainable coexistence,鈥?allowing audiences to see how traditional craftsmanship can shoulder the responsibility of resource protection in the contemporary era and explore sustainable transformation paths in the luxury sector.
Liangyuan Xinchuang, Honor, Hongke Zhixing, and Jurassic Beast Technology will bring performances featuring their robots, including scenario dramas. By integrating embodied intelligence and robotics technology with sustainable narratives, they will use immersive scenario dramas to portray a future vision of technology supporting ecological protection, smart operations and maintenance, and green production, intuitively demonstrating how hardcore technology can become a new engine for sustainable development.
China Eastern Airlines, Ping An of China, Weichai Power, Bloomage Biotech, and Geely Holding will showcase their respective sustainable development exploration results. Covering key pillar industries such as aviation transportation, financial risk governance, power equipment, biomaterials, and automobile manufacturing, they will collectively present the long-term practices of asset-heavy real economy enterprises and financial institutions in areas such as carbon reduction across the entire industrial chain, green supply chain transformation, bio-based materials research and development, climate risk management, and the implementation of new energy and intelligent low-carbon technologies, demonstrating the responsibility of large enterprises in advancing high-quality development through systemic change.
Meituan, McDonald鈥檚, Tuhu Car Care, and Xianyu will integrate sustainable development into daily life, allowing citizens to experience a new green lifestyle. The exhibition area focuses on everyday scenarios such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation, building experience spaces around public topics such as circular consumption, packaging reduction, old item recycling, and green car maintenance, making sustainability no longer a distant professional concept but a lifestyle that ordinary people can participate in and practice.
The overall exhibition area links multiple tracks including high-end manufacturing, financial services, consumer retail, frontier technology, and cultural creativity, forming a complete sustainable chain from upstream technology research and development to midstream industrial transformation and downstream mass consumption. Exhibiting companies include both industry leaders with years of deep cultivation and fast-growing scientific innovation upstarts. Entities of different sizes and fields appear on the same stage to jointly discuss the pain points, opportunities, and business models in the green transition process.
Professional visitors can conduct business matchmaking and case exchanges, while ordinary visitors can experience green products up close and participate in interactive experiences. With exhibitions as the link, the Green Expo connects the four segments of policy, capital, industry, and the public, promotes the exchange of green technology achievements and mutual learning of sustainable experience, continuously expands the reach and influence of sustainable development concepts, helps build an open and collaborative global sustainable ecosystem, and creates a world-class exchange and display stage for jointly addressing climate challenges and advancing harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature.
Theme morning run to enjoy the Bund scenery, 鈥淕reen Taste Life Festival鈥?invites public participation
To encourage public participation, this year鈥檚 conference specially features two activities, the 鈥淭heme Morning Run鈥?and the 鈥淕reen Taste Life Festival,鈥?encouraging attendees and the public to participate in green living.
The 鈥淭heme Morning Run鈥?starts at the Huangpu Riverside Greenway in Huangpu District and ends at the venue of the Sustainable Global Leaders Conference (the venue of the ESG Global Leaders Conference), with a total distance of 3.3 kilometers. Runners will jog along the Huangpu River waterfront throughout the route, practicing the concept of 鈥淲E WISH, let the world share health鈥?with their footsteps. The route connects multiple urban renewal ecological landscapes, including Miaoliang Road Rock Garden, Bansongyuan Road Riverside Green Space, Dongjiadu Historical Ferry, and South Bund Flower Bridge.
It links the natural ecology of the Huangpu River bank, industrial relics, memories of the old city, and modern green renewal landmarks into a line. Facing the river breeze, participants will witness the urban ecological transformation under Shanghai鈥檚 One River One Creek renovation.
All guests participating in the theme morning run will receive a specially designed 鈥淏eautiful Circle鈥?medal. The front of the medal features a runner as the main subject, with dynamic and colorful flowing lines like the ripples of the Huangpu River, echoing this Huangpu Riverside morning run event. The back uses concentric circle lines to outline a world map, with layers of swirling colored rings symbolizing global circulation and interconnected coexistence, echoing the global perspective of sustainable development, implying that the Earth鈥檚 cycle is sustainable, and representing that forces from all countries and sectors are working together to build a green and resilient future. It highlights the event鈥檚 vision: health is the foundation of sustainable development, and health benefits should reach the world.
The 鈥淕reen Taste Life Festival鈥?brings together dozens of high-quality sustainable cultural and creative brands and nearly fifteen premium food brands. In the form of a market, it creates an experience gateway for the public that connects professional content with daily life, allowing the public to experience recycling and practice conservation and energy saving while 鈥渂rowsing, playing, and eating,鈥?truly turning sustainability into a tangible lifestyle.
The public can sign up to participate in assembling eco-friendly desktop storage ornaments using zero-formaldehyde wheat straw boards, and take part in waste fabric batik courses, giving old items a renewed life. They can also witness discarded plastic bottles being transformed into safe food-grade recycled plastic to form decorations, and personally make their own keychains and bead strings.
In addition, in the mini-stage area, multiple comedy teams will bring improvisational comedy performances themed on sustainability, interpreting green topics with humor and prompting audiences to rethink daily environmental protection amid laughter.
To document the touching moments of natural beauty, urban transformation, and green living, the life festival will also specially hold the 鈥淭his Moment Is Worth Sustaining鈥?photo exhibition, displaying sustainable-themed visual works collected from the public, so that 鈥渢he moment that touches you can move more people.鈥?The photo exhibition is jointly produced by Weibo Photo Year and the China Wildlife Image Annual Competition, dedicated to conveying green lifestyles and care for the Earth through light, shadow, and lenses, allowing every visitor to become a witness and sharer of sustainable stories.
Green development, participation by all. At the Meituan booth, the public can pedal a Meituan bike and use kinetic energy to charge a phone, witnessing the profound value of low-carbon travel for the Earth, and have a chance to obtain a Meituan shared bike weekly card; at the Moutai booth, the public can taste special cocktails made by a robotic arm with Moutai liquor as the base; at the Yili booth, the public can participate in three interactions: 鈥淪pot the Difference, Time Machine, and Beautiful Notes,鈥?publish on-site photos with a hashtag check-in, and have a chance to receive a bottle of Yili Satine organic milk.
The conference also specially launches a 鈥淐ollect Stamps and Check In for Great Gifts鈥?activity. Visitors can hold a check-in map, go to various check-in points throughout the venue, complete designated tasks, and collect exclusive stamps. After collecting six stamps, they can go to the conference prize redemption area to participate in a lucky draw and win a variety of great gifts.
This conference has also received strong support from the business community. The global chief strategic partner is Moutai; honorary partners are Orient Securities, Ping An of China, and Yuyuan Inc.; joint partners are CICC, Huisheng Clean Energy, China Pacific Insurance, Laofengxiang, and Meituan; special partners are Hisense, Alibaba, Weichai Power, China Europe Fund, Fullgoal Fund, Guosen Securities, Industrial Securities, Industrial Bank, and Bank of Ningbo. The designated low-carbon dairy product is Satine, the designated vehicle is Geely Automobile Group, and the designated airline service provider is China Eastern Airlines.
From October 20 to 22, starting from the World Expo Park, embark on a thoroughly enjoyable green journey. [Limited-time ticket reservations are ongoing.]
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