As Greta Thunberg declared at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2020, “Our house is on fire.” From scorched landscapes to melting ice caps and polluted oceans, the impacts of climate change are clear and immediate. Yet despite the warning signs, progress to limit global warming remains slow and inadequate. Now, as the world grapples with the disruption of covid-19—a crisis that at once threatens climate action and reinforces the need for collective efforts—businesses and governments are realising that they can’t simply return to normal. But can this disruption spur positive action?

The Economist’s Sustainability Virtual Week (Oct 5th- 9th) will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and researchers to assess what businesses in particular—but also governments and NGOs—can do to rise to the challenge. How can solutions be scaled up to meet internationally agreed goals? Can the disruption of covid-19 accelerate progress? How can we scale solutions, alter behaviours and collaborate better?

New for 2020

“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” warned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its report of October 2018. From energy, oceans and land use to manufacturing, transport and cities, climate change is affecting all aspects of human life, and every industry must rise to the unprecedented challenge.

Over the past four years, The Economist’s Sustainability Summit has tracked the evolution of the sustainability imperative from a “nice to have” perk to a core component of business strategy. Amid the disruption of covid-19, Sustainability Virtual Week will ask how businesses and governments can harness the disruption for good.

Across our virtual platform we will host over 1,000 attendees to assess the efforts under way to meet the ambitious target of reducing global net human-caused carbon-dioxide emissions to zero by 2050. Through panel discussions, roundtables and interviews we will ask how solutions can be scaled up and examine how sectors can work together for collaborative advantage.