If you work in ESG or sustainability, November 2026 probably already has a circle around it. COP31 opens in Antalya, Türkiye, and in the middle of the first week sits one of the busiest business gatherings on the calendar: the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026.
Maybe you’re planning to go. Maybe you’re deciding whether it’s worth the travel budget. Or maybe you can’t attend at all, but you still need to know what will be said there, because your board, your investors or your clients will be talking about it afterwards. This guide is for all three of you. It covers the practical details, what the forum is trying to achieve, and how to turn it into something useful for your own sustainability reporting work.
Independent guide by The One Percent – D1Percent.com We are not the organizers of this event. Details are taken from the organizers’ own pages and COP31 sources, and were last checked in October 2026.
Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026 at a glance
| Event | Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026 (17th annual edition) |
| Dates | 10–11 November 2026 |
| Venue | Sueno Hotels Deluxe Belek Convention & Meeting Center, Belek, Antalya, Türkiye |
| Part of | The Climate Action Innovation Zone at COP31 |
| Organizer | Climate Action, with IIGCC as a partner |
| Who it gathers | Corporate leaders, investors, policymakers, and subnational leaders; organizers describe 150+ speakers and more than 2,000 senior leaders |
| Format | Mainstage plenary, track stages, deep-dive roundtables, keynotes, and Chatham House Rule discussions |
| Official page | events.climateaction.org/sustainable-innovation-forum |
COP31 itself runs from 9 to 20 November 2026 in Antalya, with Türkiye hosting and Australia leading the negotiations. The forum falls in the first week, ahead of the World Leaders Summit and the COP31 Business Summit.
What is the Sustainable Innovation Forum?
For 17 years, this forum has been the place where business shows up at the climate conference. It is not a negotiation. It is the room where companies, investors and governments compare notes on what is actually being delivered.
The 2026 edition is organised around six thematic axes of the Global Climate Action Agenda and the COP31 Presidency’s 10 priority themes. Those priorities include clean energy transition, green industrialization, climate-resilient cities, food security, zero waste, and a “climate implementation bridge” focused on finance.
The organizers describe four aims: accelerate delivery of the Global Climate Action Agenda, bring together capital with a delivery record, support electrification targets, and turn dialogue into deals. One more line is worth reading twice: the forum wants to “demonstrate proof of progress”, meaning projects underway, capital deployed and measurable results.
That last point matters for anyone who writes sustainability reports. The tone of the room is shifting from pledges to evidence, and evidence is exactly what a credible report is made of.
What to expect in the programme
At the time of writing, the official 2026 programme had not been published; the organizers say it will be announced soon. Based on the format and last year’s edition, you can reasonably expect:
- Keynotes, fireside interviews and panel debates on the main stage
- Track sessions on topics such as renewable energy, adaptation and resilience, nature, critical materials, energy efficiency and sustainable finance
- Smaller deep-dive roundtables, some run under the Chatham House Rule, which tends to produce franker conversation
- Plenty of structured networking, since the stated goal is partnerships and deals
Check the official agenda page for updates, because speaker and session lists will change as November approaches. We have not confirmed ticket pricing, so please check the registration page directly.
Who will find it most useful
You do not need to be a senior executive to get value from it. Here is how different roles tend to benefit.
ESG and sustainability reporting leads. Listen for where regulators, investors and standard setters say disclosure is heading. Pay attention to how speakers talk about evidence, assurance, and the link between climate data and financial decisions.
CFOs and finance teams. The finance and investment sessions are where capital allocation, transition finance and climate risk come together. If your company is working toward IFRS S1 and S2, this is useful context.
Sustainability and operations managers. The track sessions are usually where practical implementation lives: what decarbonising a plant, a fleet or a supply chain actually takes.
Gulf-based companies. Many UAE and Qatar businesses are working through overlapping exchange, regulator and client expectations at once. Hearing how global peers frame the same pressures can help you decide where to invest first.
Consultants and advisers. The conversations around delivery, assurance and credible targets are a good signal of what clients will ask for next year.
How to prepare so the trip pays for itself
A forum like this can become a blur of business cards. A few small steps help.
- Name your goal before you go. Are you learning about regulation, meeting investors, benchmarking against peers, or finding solution providers? One clear goal beats five vague ones.
- Bring your reporting questions. Write down the three things your team is stuck on: Scope 3 data, materiality, assurance, framework overlap. Sessions make far more sense when you arrive with real questions.
- Map the agenda against your own framework. If your reporting follows GRI, ADX or SCA requirements, or you’re moving toward IFRS S1/S2, note which sessions touch those topics first.
- Plan your follow-up before the event. Decide in advance who in your team will receive the notes, and what you will do with them within two weeks.
Carrying it back into your reporting
The most useful thing you can bring home is not a slogan but a clearer view of what your report needs to prove. These guides may help you turn conference insight into reporting work:
- If your disclosures run through exchanges and regulators in the UAE, our UAE regulatory ledger on SCA, ADX, DFM and Decree No. 11 shows what applies to whom.
- If you are an ADX-listed company, our guide to ADX sustainability reporting walks through the exchange’s guidance and the next deadline.
- If your operations or lenders reach into Qatar, the Qatar ESG regulatory landscape explainer covers QFMA, QSE and QCB.
- For the investor-facing layer, our IFRS S1 and S2 reporting guide explains where the standards are mandatory today.
- And if you want the foundation underneath all of it, the GRI Standards guide for UAE and Qatar businesses is a good starting point.
If you can’t attend
Not everyone can travel, and that is fine. A few ways to stay close to what happens:
- Follow the organizers’ official channels for session summaries and outcomes after the event
- Watch for post-event reports from partners such as IIGCC
- Ask a colleague who is attending to share notes against the questions you wrote down
- Keep an eye on COP31 announcements through the official COP31 Türkiye site and the UNFCCC
FAQ
What is the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026?
It is the 17th annual Sustainable Innovation Forum, a business-focused gathering held alongside COP31. It brings together corporate leaders, investors, policymakers and subnational leaders to advance climate action delivery.
When and where is the Sustainable Innovation Forum 2026?
It takes place on 10–11 November 2026 at the Sueno Hotels Deluxe Belek Convention & Meeting Center in Belek, Antalya, Türkiye.
Is the forum part of the official COP31 negotiations?
No. It is organized by Climate Action as part of the Climate Action Innovation Zone and sits alongside COP31 rather than inside the formal negotiations. It runs ahead of the COP Presidency’s World Leaders Summit and the COP31 Business Summit.
When is COP31?
COP31 runs from 9 to 20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye.
Who attends the Sustainable Innovation Forum?
Business and finance leaders, investors, government representatives, subnational leaders and civil society. The organizers describe more than 2,000 senior leaders and 150+ speakers.
How do I register?
Register or ask for updates through the official Sustainable Innovation Forum page. We could not confirm ticket pricing, so check there for current options.
Why does it matter for ESG reporting?
Because the conversation is moving from commitments to proof. Investors, regulators and clients increasingly want evidence of delivery, and that shapes what they expect to see in sustainability reports.
Preparing your reporting story before COP31?
If COP31 is prompting questions about your own disclosures, such as what applies to your company, how the frameworks fit together, or where your data would not hold up, a short conversation can bring clarity. D1Percent works with companies across the UAE and Qatar on exactly this. Book a Free Compliance Assessment and we’ll map where you stand before the questions start arriving.
This article is independent and for general information. Event details are taken from the organizers’ and COP31’s published pages and may change; always confirm dates, venue, programme and registration directly with the organizers.