Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2026 to Focus on Planet, Technology and Investment .

New York, USA, 17 September 2026 – Close to 1,000 leaders from government, business, international organizations, civil society and academia will gather in New York for the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2026 (SDIM26), from 21 to 24 September. Taking place alongside the 81st United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week, the meetings will focus on how to foster resilient growth, build new partnerships that mobilize capital for the greatest impact, and responsibly deploy artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies to create economic and societal value.

With global growth under pressure from geopolitical uncertainty and rapid technological advances opening new opportunities, SDIM26 will convene high-level leaders in action-oriented working sessions bringing together the Forum’s long-standing communities. Discussions will focus on identifying where progress is possible and turning dialogue into collective action, with a particular focus on long-term impact and building momentum towards the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2027.

“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, World Economic Forum. “This is precisely when cooperation matters most. As debate becomes increasingly polarized, SDIM26 provides a space where different perspectives can be heard and common ground explored.”

Participants will include close to 100 government and international organization leaders, more than 500 business executives and over 100 civil society leaders, alongside representatives from academia.

Top political leaders partaking in the meetings include: Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson, African Union Commission; Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament; José Manuel Restrepo, Vice-President of Colombia; João Paulo Capobianco, Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Brazil; Hadja Lahbib, Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, European Commission; Moh Jumhur Hidayat, Minister of Environment of Indonesia; Roberto Velasco Alvarez, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico; Hwang Jong-woo, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea; Pemmy Majodina, Minister of Water and Sanitation of South Africa; Mehmet C. Oz, Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, USA; Jasem Al Budaiwi, Secretary-General, Gulf Cooperation Council; Lee Maiyani Kinyanjui, Cabinet Secretary for Trade, Investments and Industry of Kenya; Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister of Finance and Revenue of Pakistan.

Leaders from the international organization community include: Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF); Alexander De Croo, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Anna Bjerde, Managing Director, Operations, World Bank Group; Barham Salih, High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR; Ilan Goldfajn, President, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO); Tom Fletcher, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA).

Featured Forum communities include the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, First Movers Coalition, Faith in Action, the AI Global Alliance, Global Coalition for Digital Safety, InvestFrontier, the Resilience Consortium and UpLink. Select sessions and plenary moments will be livestreamed here to engage both in-person participants and global online audiences.

The programme will include sessions on the future of humanitarian action and impact investment, inclusive economic growth, the green and blue economies, climate action, the global gender gap and AI’s role in the economy. New Forum research will be published during the week, including the Chief Economists’ Outlook and Chief Sustainability Officers’ Outlook, and reports on green and resilient data centres, valuing impact and the effects of extreme heat on workers.