10 Sustainability Business Events for 2020

Investing in your own and your employee’s skills can often be one of the best ways to also invest in your company. Being on top of the newest technologies, players on the market and solutions to problems can help you to optimise your own business. As most of us know, a great way to get insight into the newest developments is by going to events and conference where talks and networking make it both easier and more fun to find out what’s out there. One of the most prominent themes in business development is sustainability. According to IMD 62% of executives believe that having a sustainability strategy is necessary in order to be competitive today whilst another 22% believe it will be necessary in the future. Importantly, sustainability does not mean compliance. Although complying with environmental and societal rules and regulations is a must for businesses, it does not give the vital competitive advantage that sustainability can within marketing, costs and operations. Those advantages are discussed at the bottom of this article.

For now, we’ve gathered some of the most exciting sustainability events taking place across the globe in 2020:

Our Ocean 2020 – Palau, 17-18 August 2020.

Focusing on finding solutions to increasing the ocean’s resilience to climate change and safeguarding its health, this conference brings together global partners to discuss. There will be six areas of focus at the conference: climate change, marine pollution, marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, sustainable blue economy, and maritime security. It will be the 7th conference of its kind. Our Ocean 2020 encourages partnerships between governments, civil society and businesses in over 70 countries and have played a part in over a thousand commitments to help the ocean.

Green Shipping and Technology – Athens, Greece, 15-16 April 2020

Spread over two days the Green Shipping and Technology conference brings together shipping companies, industry professionals and sustainability experts to discuss how they can make their processes greener. The focus in 2020 is on how to build ships that are efficient and green as well as how technology, shipyards and ports can help each other to become more sustainable. Some of the biggest names within shipping and oil and gas will be present and are sponsoring the event, providing an excellent opportunity for networking and finding out what the big players are doing about sustainability and what’s available in the market.

2020 Sustainability Leaders – Berlin, 7-8 April 2020

Bringing together some of the world’s biggest companies, this two-day conference provides a space for a discussion on what they call the greatest challenges we face in the 21st century. The focus will be on four topics: climate action, reduced inequalities, responsible consumption and production and reporting with half a day dedicated to each. For each focus topic, there’ll also campfire discussion with 4-5 peers, double speed networking sessions and plenty of lounge seats that lend themselves to further discussions.

The Responsible Business Summit New York 2020 – New York, 16-18 March 2020

The Responsible Business Summit Europe – London, 26-28 May 2020

Convening over 750 senior brand leaders for an open discussion about how businesses can step up their ambitions in order to tackle and adapt to the changing climate. Their speakers are chief executives of some of the world’s biggest companies who will discuss ways in which business can create strategies that create market-level change on key climate risks, how to incorporate performance metrics into businesses, the return on investment of sustainability in business as well as how to utilise new technologies, to name just a few of the discussion points.

Mipim – The world’s largest property market – Cannes, 10-13 March 2020

The theme of this year’s real estate conference is ‘the future is human’, which will delve into how cities and their users can adapt to the changing needs of the people living with the cities in a sustainable, economic and socially inclusive way whilst also taking care of environmental and social challenges. GoBoat will be there for a panel discussion of how businesses and regional and national governments can work together to create more sustainable cities.

2020 National Sustainability Conference – Brisbane, 27-28 April 2020

The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Sustainable Solutions for a New Decade’ which will aim to inform attendees of the latest developments, research and insight in economic, environmental and community sustainability. The speakers include industry professionals and professors with experience within business, academics and NGOs. All speakers are seasoned sustainability experts.

GreenBiz: The Premier Annual Event for Sustainable Business Leaders – Phoenix, 4-6 February 2020.

Bringing more than 1500 sustainability leaders from business, government, academia and NGOs together this conference focuses on the sustainability business trends in order to stay ahead of the competition. GreenBiz provides an excellent space for networking whilst also covering a wide array of topics and subjects. Many of the speakers are at the forefront of sustainability work for some of America’s and the world’s biggest companies.

Sustainability Summit 2020 – London, 26 March 2020

Hosted by the Economist and taking a global perspective this conference brings together industry leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and researchers from around the world to find out what action can be done to ensure that temperatures don’t continue to rise. The focus will particularly be on what businesses can do to rise to the challenge covering topics such as sustainable fashion, veganism, the legal side of sustainability and eco-anxiety.

Expo 2020 – Dubai, 20 October 2020-10 April 2021.

The main theme of the 2020 Expo will be: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future with the following subthemes: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. A whole pavilion will be dedicated to sustainability exhibiting real life solutions from across the world. The Expo also aims to be one of the most sustainable World Expos ever and to leave a legacy of sustainability beyond the six months the Expo is on for. The energy for the Expo will be clean, they will reduce water consumption and the buildings have been built using sustainable building materials.

Building Green – Aarhus, 25-26 March 2020 – Hamburg, 3-4 June 2020 – Munich, 14-15 October 2020 – Copenhagen, 28-29 October 2020

With a specific focus on how to create sustainable buildings and architecture, these conferences bring together industry professionals to talk about what they’re currently doing to implement sustainable strategies to their own work. It’s considered to be a place where you can build a sustainable community and with four opportunities to join in, there’s plenty of opportunities to follow the development of sustainable buildings.

Business as a force for good

There are plenty of reasons why working towards a more sustainable business model is good for business including cutting costs by reducing waste and optimising resources, increasing talent, collaboration with others, marketing your company as a market leader within sustainability and increasing profits. Important for increasing sustainability within your business is that you, as a leader, are at the forefront of the change. It’s one of the best ways to not only motivate but also to encourage others to bring their own sustainability ideas to the business. To get started, sign up to a sustainability business event for you and your company. There are numerous sustainability events throughout the year, and hopefully our list can help make your choice a bit easier!