Companies and professionals looking to manage sustainability goals and ESG risks had to manage a variety of regulatory and policy changes in 2025. Regional fragmentation has emerged as U.S. states introduce their own climate disclosure rules while the Securities and Exchange Commission looks to reverse course on climate risk disclosures at the federal level, and the European Union works to simplify its landmark corporate sustainability disclosures.
Sustainability executives navigating this uncertainty will continue to look to their peers and industry leaders to share insights that can aid decision-making at their own organizations. As the calendar of events for this year begins to take shape, agendas unveiled so far focus on navigating policy turbulence and the ongoing energy transition, as well as focusing on advancing circularity and decarbonization. Artificial intelligence — both in terms of its energy resource needs and potential sustainability applications — also remains a hot topic.
Here are some of the notable ESG and sustainability conferences that are scheduled for 2026.
Top ESG and sustainability conferences in 2026
Cleantech Forum North America
Jan. 26-28
Paradise Point Resort & Spa
San Diego
Cleantech Forum North America brings together up to 700 corporates, entrepreneurs and professional services, government, academic and nonprofit experts. The event focuses on sustainable innovation and connecting corporations and investors to increase business growth and impact. The 2026 agenda features sessions focused on navigating market disruptions and climate capital needs in the U.S., in addition to artificial intelligence and its role in clean tech.
Greenbiz26
Feb. 17-19
JW Marriott Desert Ridge
Phoenix
Greenbiz26 is for sustainable business professionals and leaders from all sectors and job functions, including chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers,, heads of legal, supply chain, human resources and investor relations. The conference, hosted by Trellis, includes experts from a variety of sectors sharing sustainability strategies and insights for decarbonization, disclosure, nature and more. This year’s conference will feature themes on advancing circularity, decarbonization, transition finance, scope 3 emissions and more.
Wall Street Green Summit
March 10-11
Cornell Club
New York
Climate activist Peter Fusaro’s Wall Street Green Summit returns this year for its 25th anniversary, making it one of the longest running sustainable finance events in the world. Next year’s agenda focuses on climate tech investments, energy security and the transition, carbon markets, clean energy solutions and more.
Responsible Investment Forum: New York
March 18-19
New York
The Responsible Investment Forum, hosted by business intelligence firm PEI Group, brings together around 500 sustainable finance professionals and institutional investors for conversations on decarbonizing portfolios, moving from sustainability strategies from “ESG to ROI” and the evolving regulatory landscape. The two-day conference is expected to draw a crowd of institutional investors, fund managers and other industry experts.
DC Climate Week
April 20-26
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. held its first-ever climate week last year, and the event will return to the nation’s capital in 2026. Themes and speakers for the event have yet to be announced, but a portal for event organizers to add their own DC Climate Week events to the calendar is open. Here’s a roundup of ESG Dive’s coverage from the inaugural DC Climate Week.
Engage for Good 2026
April 21-24
Palm Springs, California
The Engage for Good conference will gather corporate leaders, nonprofits, consultancies and tech providers to deal with shifting expectations and ongoing scrutiny on “the role of business in driving social impact.” The event aims to pull in professionals working on corporate social responsibility, ESG and DEI at their companies, with announced speakers including B Lab U.S. & Canada CEO Jorge Fontanez, Walmart Foundation President Julie Gehrki and ESPN Vice President of Corporate Sponsorship Kevin Martinez.
2026 Corporate Citizenship Summit
April 23-24
New York Marriott Marquis
New York
The Conference Board will host a sustainable impact-focused conference, the Corporate Citizenship Summit, in April “to explore how business can lead with purpose and drive positive change,” according to its website. The event is expected to convene professionals focused on sustainability, governance, ESG strategy, corporate citizenship and employee engagement for two days of discussions in New York City. The summit will focus on global regulatory shifts, increased AI adoption, decarbonization and nature-related risks, among other trends, per the Conference Board’s website.
Responsible Business USA 2026
May 5-6
Boston
Responsible Business USA 2026, hosted by Reuters, will move its gathering of CEOs, senior sustainability, legal, communications and finance executives to Boston, Massachusetts, this year. The event plans to convene sustainability-focused executives across a wide range of sectors and industries and talk about corporate compliance with a myriad of ESG regulations, advancements in circularity, collaboration across departments to maximize decarbonization and leveraging AI for reporting. Speakers will include eBay Chief Sustainability Officer Renee Morin and Hanes Brands Chief Sustainability Officer Teddy Mendoza.
Sustainable Brands 2026
June 8-11
Town and Country Resort
San Diego
Sustainable Brands is shifting its annual San Diego conference from the fall to summer this year, which the company said is designed to give attendees “more time to integrate key insights into their annual planning cycles.” The theme for this year’s event is “All Rise,” representing a call to work collaboratively on sustainability issues.The conference gathers corporate sustainability, brand and innovation leaders from the C-suite and down.
Trellis Impact 26
June 23-26
Moscone Center
San Francisco
In 2025, Trellis combined three of its annual conferences — Bloom, Verge and GreenFin — into a singular event, Trellis Impact. The typically siloed conferences on corporate biodiversity (Bloom), climate tech (Verge) and sustainable finance (GreenFin) are expected to gather more than 4,000 industry professionals, collectively. Trellis will also add its annual conference on circular supply chains — Circularity — into the mix this year, a Trellis spokesperson told ESG Dive.
Climate Week NYC
Sept. 20-27
New York
Climate Week NYC’s 2025 iteration centered around the theme “Power On” and hosted more than 1,000 events around New York City. This year’s annual climate event, like previous editions, is timed to coincide with the week of high-level discussions taking place at the United Nations General Assembly. Though a detailed agenda for 2026 has yet to be announced, the event website states it will continue to gather leaders and experts to “accelerate climate action at scale.”
Net Zero USA 2026
October
California
Net Zero USA 2026, hosted by Reuters, will gather over 200 sustainability leaders with the aim of initiating meaningful discussions on how companies can slash scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions across operations. The event will also focus on how companies can collaborate with suppliers to decarbonize their supply chains and leverage green tech to transition to a low-carbon economy. The dates haven’t been finalized yet, but NZUSA 2026 is slated to take place next October.
Speakers for last year’s iteration included Cisco CSO Mary de Wysocki, Compass Group Vice President of Sustainability Gwenyth Rampton and Everlane Director of Sustainability Katina Boutis.
UN 2026 Climate Change Conference (COP31)
Nov. 9-20
Antalya, Türkiye
The United Nations’ annual climate change conference, COP31, is set to take place in Türkiye, under a unique agreement. Türkiye and Australia have agreed to share the COP 31 presidency, with Australia designated as the “President of negotiations.” However, the conference is likely to happen without the United States’ involvement. President Donald Trump has pulled the U.S. from the Paris Agreement and several international cooperation initiatives on climate change broadly, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which convenes the annual global climate event.
