Transform 2026

A note from Verdantix's CEO, David Metcalfe, on the current state of play for businesses and their approaches to sustainability, operationalising sustainability transformations, and the power of cohesive collectives

Transforming Operations – Vision to Enablement

Insights from the perspective of a CEO and their pathway to enabling transformative success throughout their organisation.

How to develop a business that considers risks, and opportunities and effectively embeds sustainability in a forward-looking approach.

Digital strategies for decarbonization are in flux. This session charts how evolving decarbonization strategies will impact digital solutions: their adoption, use, and market positioning. Join us to discover what the future holds for the broad – but embattled – digital decarbonization market.

As global appetite to consume ever-rises, and geopolitical instabilities shake up energy security, highlighting the fragility of the energy ecosphere, it is becoming apparent we need to accelerate the transition to green energy both to ensure future resilience, but also to combat net zero and decarbonization targets.

Transition vs Addition/Petro vs Electro: how varying territories' energy pathways dictate strategy  Electrification and other renewable projectsEfficiency projects at scaleThe GridHow do we balance energy security and decarbonization?

AI & Sustainability Integration: how do we marry the two and negate the impacts on the environment? Shreya Surana, Global Digital Manager, PhilipsSustainability Policy Shifts: Is the omnibus bill bad for sustainability outcomes? / Does the rollback in policy mean that we don’t need to transform?     Climate Resilience: With no prospect of global emissions falling in the next five years, and governments publishing climate adaptation plans, should companies transform their climate resilience strategies?AI governance: What is the CRO or Risk Management team’s role in AI governance?  Hakki Sarp, Enterprise Risk Manager, Enterprise and Cyber Risk Management, QIAGENSupply chain due diligence: Have supply chain due diligence regulations in the EU been undermined so much that focusing on sustainable procurement is no longer required?        CSRD: Does the delay and simplification of the EU CSRD mean that finance and compliance managers are off the hook for sustainable finance reporting?      EHS Strategy: Do sustainability reporting policy changes require EHS leaders to change direction in 2026? Aamer Shamim, Sr. Director Global EHS&Facilities, Fluence – A Siemens and AES Company Supply chain Transformation: Do firms need to transform their supply chain sustainability programmes in 2026 so they align with tariffs and incoming regulations?  Petrostates vs Electrostates : What will happen in the battle between petrostates (Gulf, US, Canada, Russia) and electro states (China, most of the EU, India)?        Environmental Compliance: Are there new environmental issues and regulations that require the transformation of environmental compliance in 2026? (PFAS) James Robey, CapGeminiLeading through uncertainty: Given the geopolitical landscape and its inevitable impacts on sustainability strategy, how do you, as corporate leaders, deal with such uncertainties? Alex Caicis, Head of Sustainability and ESG Communications - iu GroupRisk vs value in Sustainability: Are organisations pushing the sustainability focus onto risk management vs. value Creation          Ensuring Safety Standards: How can we implement changes to process or equipment without compromising safety standards? Phil Clarke, Head of H&S, Care UKSustainability Leadership: Beyond the Nods and Slides: Making Leaders Own Sustainability – From Passive to Active Contribution. Wolfgang Edel, Director Business Development Sustainability, BrenntagAI & EHS: Are we looking for AI to enhance current processes or an AI-first embedded tool, and how does the rollout of tools like AI impact the future of EHS roles?     Supply Chain Risk: Why AI Won’t Fix Supply Chain Risk (But Data Might). JP Stevenson, Chief Revenue Officer at EiQ by LRQATwin Transformation: Digital & Sustainability – the convergence of digital and sustainability agendas. Girish Kumar, Nirmalaya Banerjee, TCS and Dr. Diane Zandee RC, Designation: Assistant Professor, Nyenrode Business University | Circular Economy, Finance & Transitions

Feedback discussions from cross-function roundtable discussion findings with Verdantix Senior Advisor & Title Networking Partner.

As thousands of additional firms disclose their CSRD data, fund managers, banks, and equity analysts will have even more non-financial data in 2026 to compare and contrast company performance on climate and ESG metrics. During this panel, you will hear from three sustainable finance leaders who will share their perspectives on what it means to be a strong performer on climate and ESG metrics viewed through the lens of investment and lending preferences.

Sustainability reporting is becoming more rigorous as regulations and investor expectations demand auditable, investor-grade data. This session explores how these pressures are drawing CFOs into sustainability decisions and why software is becoming essential for managing sustainability data effectively.

Solution Spotlight: The Intelligence Imperative: A New Operating Model for Risk, Compliance & ESG

The convergence of EHS, compliance, and ESG accountability has created an enterprise risk equation that legacy systems were never designed to solve. This session examines how agentic AI systems don't just inform decisions but drive them. This is fundamentally changing how organizations detect risk, maintain compliance, and sustain ESG performance at scale. Drawing on real-world architecture and live demonstration, this session challenges leaders to move beyond data collection and toward continuous operational intelligence

From Pilot to Production: Operationalizing AI at Scale 

Adoption of Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating and offers many opportunities to improve business processes, drive positive outcomes, and gain efficiencies. But how do you successfully operationalize AI within existing workflows? How do you implement the right governance, human oversight, and guardrails? And how do you avoid "pilot purgatory" to make a successful transition to production? This fireside chat will explore how organizations can turn their AI vision into reality. Learn more about:

How to establish the priorities on your AI roadmapHow to determine the value of your AI investmentHow to address roadblocks and obstacles to adoptionHow to ensure success by managing risks

Raising the Bar: How AI Expands What’s Possible in EHS & Sustainability 

Speaker: Amanda Smith, Executive Vice President, Product Strategy, Cority 

EHS and sustainability performance has hit a plateau. Human heroics and siloed technologies carried us far, but they can no longer drive meaningful reductions in severe incidents or close the gaps in environmental performance. It’s not a failure of effort. It’s a signal that our systems have reached their limits. 

This session explores how AI-driven, connected intelligence creates the clarity and foresight organizations need to move beyond the plateau. It challenges long-held assumptions and shows how modern, governed AI can reveal hidden patterns, strengthen decisions, and raise the bar for what “good” looks like. 

Topics include: 

• Why performance has stalled and what is truly holding organizations back 

• How AI exposes risks and relationships people and legacy systems cannot 

• What converged EHS and sustainability intelligence looks like in practice 

• The human impact of earlier signals and clearer decisions 

If the first few months of 2026 have taught us anything, it’s that volatility is a new constant.

The impact of a combination of conflict, supply-chain issues, and energy-price spikes to shifting tariffs and growing geo-political tensions, means that it nearly impossible to forecast how the operating environment will look in even a year’s time.

This session will introduce the Verdantix Dislocation Index. The Index measures how far a country’s current operating conditions have diverged from their historical patterns over the past 30 years and examine the structural changes that are causing this instability globally. The Dislocation Index provides the structure needed for scenario planning and to help business leaders build operational resilience and agility so that they can survive and prosper in an increasingly hostile environment.

Discussing the intersection of sustainability, climate, and geopolitics, this session looks to highlight how the global stage is impacting leaders’ day-to-day and long-term strategies, as we see a distinct shift away from multilateral co-operation and a general deprioritization of environmental commitments.

 From multilateral to unilateral, why are we shifting away from cooperative action, and what are the impacts?Overcoming trade restrictions and protectionist policies How varying operating areas and territories are impacting strategiesWhen global sustainability efforts become fragmented, where can we find sources of strength and resilience?