CEO Forum at WSDS 2025

The TERI Council for Business Sustainability hosted the CEO Forum 2025, bringing together a powerful cohort of global climate thinkers, business leaders and institutional heads to chart pathways for enhanced private sector participation in accelerating sustainable development and climate action in India and globally.

The discussions underscored the need for collaborative, cross-sectoral leadership to enable industrial decarbonization, build climate-resilient value chains, and shape inclusive, low-carbon growth. Leaders from organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Mission Possible Partnership, LinkedIn, IFAD, We Mean Business Coalition, and Invest India, along with senior executives from Tata Projects, Signify Innovations, ONGC, Avaada Group, and Fourth Partner Energy, contributed rich perspectives on the interplay between climate science, business strategy, and real-economy transition pathways.

One of the key highlights of the evening was the formal launch of the Chief Sustainability Officers (CSO) Competency Framework, co-created by TERI and leading industry stakeholders, aimed at institutionalizing sustainability leadership and building future-ready organizations.

The forum also featured reflections on the key outcomes from COP29, highlighting implications for Indian businesses and the critical opportunities emerging in the global climate and development landscape – particularly in the lead-up to India’s presidency of COP33.

The CEO Forum reaffirmed the importance of business as a solution partner in India’s climate journey and emphasized the need for deeper partnerships between government, industry, and civil society to deliver impact at scale. The deliberations from the evening will feed into TERI’s ongoing work to foster actionable coalitions, policy engagement, and capacity building initiatives aligned with India’s net-zero aspirations.

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