The annual World Economic Forum’s global gathering in Davos has been, for some time, a moment in the calendar to take stock and look ahead. This year was no different. Even if the stakes were higher, the geopolitical fractures were deeper, and evidence of the nature and climate crises is greater than ever.
Understandably, considering the wider global news cycle, the focus was on geopolitics and geoeconomics, and themes ranged from technological advances and AI, to GDP and jobs. But, as emphasized by André Hoffmann – co-chair of the World Economic Forum – in his opening remarks at a Nature Positive Initiative event, the themes of this year’s annual meeting were all heavily underlined by the requirement to build progress within planetary boundaries.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 was published just ahead of the annual meeting, with environmental risks making up half of the top ten over the next decade, with extreme weather events and biodiversity loss topping the list – a clear sign that despite some deregulation, deprioritization and other distractions, these omnipresent threats are still on the agenda and not going away. Read our comment here.
With that framing, the Nature Positive Initiative was pleased to participate on the sidelines of this high-level event. The team brought to the Davos arena a handful of sessions illuminating the need for aligned and concerted action to restore nature – our own lifeline through which all other business can take place.
Première of the new film ‘Becoming Nature Positive’
Inspiring a renewed hope was the highlight of the week on the nature agenda: the première of the new film ‘Becoming Nature Positive’ and the green carpet event that brought many leaders and nature champions together to celebrate its launch, hosted at GreenUp’s Climate Hub Davos.
Over 100 guests, from those starring in the film to partners and enthusiastic supporters, were invited to join a lively event, have their photo taken on the green carpet and watch the first ever screening of the film. It was our pleasure to capture some of their reactions, as we discussed opportunities to continue spreading its message across future screenings and outreach events.
Created both to inspire action and raise awareness, the film features a collection of some of the voices responsible for starting that ambition to halt and reverse nature loss, back in 2020, when the world came together to drive for greater ambition in the Global Biodiversity Framework, as well as numerous leaders driving the nature positive transition.
The popular event included remarks from André Hoffmann who set the scene, highlighting the importance of nature within the World Economic Forum’s agenda, followed by a panel moderated by Gemma Parkes featuring Marco Lambertini, Ilona Szabó and Dorothy Maseke. Following the screening, we were delighted to host a fireside chat between Paul Polman and Eva Zabey to hear their reactions to the film, which moved so many in the audience.
The event was livestreamed on GreenUp’s YouTube page, and you can watch the full film via Waterbear soon!
Nature Positive and InTent at Davos
As well as the film première, the Nature Positive Initiative held two events in partnership with InTent at Davos, taking a deeper dive on some of the biggest issues currently affecting the nature movement.
A debate on ‘Can a product, a company or a land/seascape be nature positive?’ brought to the fore the various competing priorities around how to communicate and demonstrate nature-positive outcomes. This lively event created space for genuine discussion and challenge from the debaters and from the audience – and attracted a wide variety of opinions from an even wider diversity of interests, which ensured a very lively discussion, a little friction, and a deeper understanding of the challenge and necessity of nature positive claims.
The event is part of the consensus-building process around claims that the Nature Positive Initiative is running through 2025-2026. We look forward to continuing this discussion through further workshops and a public consultation soon.
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The third event hosted by the Nature Positive Initiative, a closed-door roundtable discussion with Intent at Davos, brought the community together to take stock of the net zero and nature positive goals as we approach the critical milestone of 2030 when progress will be tracked and these ambitions reviewed. One year on from an intimate discussion at Davos 2025 on the political landscape, a small group came together to consider how to accelerate progress, keep showing the opportunity and business case for sustainability action, and raise ambition.
The Nature Positive Initiative would like to extend a big thank you to the teams at InTent and GreenUp for the opportunity to keep nature firmly on the agenda at Davos.
Nature Positive everywhere
Outside the main Congress Centre, we heard many voices standing up for science, for progress, for sustainability, for nature positive and for the natural world that sustains us. For the first time ever, Science House hosted by academic publisher Frontiers, was present in Davos and showcased numerous conversations bringing science into the heart of global dialogue. A new speakers’ corner in the centre of town, Monkey Rock in partnership with Climate Basecamp, created another critical opportunity to get nature and climate-related issues discussed in Davos.
The Nature Positive Initiative also capitalized on the opportunity to share exciting news about the second Global Global Nature Positive Summit in Kumamoto in Japan, taking place 14-16 July 2026. The high-level programme was launched at Davos, and there will be more updates soon on the official website. Already business leaders and government officials are confirming their attendance of the summit in July, such as H.E. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
We are ever grateful to the many partners who are all working together for a nature-positive future and to keep nature and climate on the agenda in Davos, including InTent, GreenUp, Climate Hub, We Don’t Have Time, Goals House, Arctic Basecamp and more. It’s more important than ever to bring the nature and sustainability agenda to the fore. We all need to be deeply concerned for what is happening in the world, but this must not lead to inaction, cynicism or fabricated optimism. The sustainability agenda is alive and progressing and our responsibility is to focus with even greater resolve to accelerate a net zero, nature positive, equitable future for all.
We need the voice of nature to be in Davos now more than ever, and to show momentum and progress on the sustainability agenda despite headwinds and setbacks.
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