Event
Global Goals Summit 2026
2026-09-22 · Hybrid Summit · By Anna Hernandez
Building a Future of Resilience and Shared Prosperity
Why this Summit
Organisations are navigating economic uncertainty, political headwinds, growing reporting requirements and new regulation, while embracing innovations in AI, partnerships and finance to deliver greater impact with fewer resources. Amid these developments, it is important not to lose sight of our North Star: what future are we trying to build together?
The SDGs have provided a shared vision since 2015 and continue to guide global efforts towards 2030. With the current target period drawing to a close, the Summit explored what might come next. It considered what should define the post-2030 agenda, how to put people at the heart of progress, strengthen resilience and create shared prosperity, and the role business can play alongside government and civil society.
When and where
The Summit took place in September, timed with the UN General Assembly and Climate Week, in a hybrid format: in New York and online. The public hybrid day was on 22 September in New York, with further interactive sessions across Summit week. Participants around the world took part online.
What the Summit offered
Through a series of public and private interactive discussions, fireside conversations, hands-on workshops and community clinics, the Summit examined how business can move beyond responding to today's challenges and help shape a future of resilience and shared prosperity. Sessions enabled genuine exchange, with opportunities to roll up sleeves, share experience, and develop fresh ideas and new relationships.
Who the Summit brought together
At the Global Goals Summit, the programme brought together a carefully curated mix of senior leaders from business, civil society and government, alongside practitioners, partners and peers actively shaping how business contributes to a fairer, more resilient future.
The Summit brought together people with both influence and practical experience, creating space for trusted conversations, fresh perspectives and new relationships that could lead to meaningful collaboration.
Through a hybrid format combining the depth of in-person exchange with wider online participation, the Summit enabled connections with decision-makers, expert voices and diverse stakeholders from across the Business Fights Poverty community.
What past participants say
Based on 2,148 survey responses across our Global Summits from 2020 to 2026:
- 98% of participants say they learnt something valuable.
- 97% would recommend our Summits to colleagues.
- 97% rated them as "good" or "excellent".
- 97% say they feel more connected to others who share their interests.
The best hybrid meeting I've ever attended. Dorothea Arndt, Hand in Hand International
I learned new ideas and made new connections that increase the potential for our business to make a social difference. Rohan Chindooroy, AB InBev
Business Fights Poverty always designs an incisive program, featuring good speakers who convey substance, fresh and useful thought leadership, delivered with the organization's characteristic warmth. Ilze Melngailis, UN Foundation
I feel like I learned so much and had the chance to talk with so many wonderful folks. I'm grateful to have been a part of the room. Dustin Shay, Acumen
About the community
We are a global community of people, companies and organisations passionate about building an equitable and resilient future. We believe in the power of business to help improve the lives, livelihoods and learning opportunities of the most vulnerable people and communities. And we know that driving system-level change requires people to unite across traditional divides and come together in fresh and creative ways.
The Summit brought together leaders from business, government and civil society in September, in New York and online, to explore what comes after the SDGs and help shape a future of resilience and shared prosperity.
The Global Goals Summit 2026 brought together leaders from business, government and civil society and explored a renewed shared vision for business beyond 2030. The Summit fostered this conversation.
Summit sessions
In-person workshop & breakfast
What challenge should business leaders work on together?
A private-track opportunity for a partner-led workshop and breakfast with invited Summit participants.
Session focus
The session offered partners an opportunity to bring their challenge, convene the right people and shape a practical conversation.
Community Clinic
What should define the next decade of business and social impact?
An interactive global clinic opened the Summit with a collaborative discussion about the challenges and opportunities shaping the next decade. Participants shared perspectives on resilience, inclusion, livelihoods and responsible leadership, helping to identify priorities and questions that carried through the day.
Session focus
The clinic enabled participants to contribute their perspectives, hear how peers in different regions and sectors were approaching the future, and help shape the questions framing the wider Summit conversation.
Welcome
How do we build a future of resilience and shared prosperity, together?
The Summit welcome set the frame for the day, connecting the sessions around a shared ambition to build more resilient, inclusive and people-centred pathways forward, and considered the role of business, collaboration and innovation in shaping the next decade.
Session focus
The welcome provided a clear sense of the big questions behind the Summit, explained how the programme fitted together, and helped participants identify the themes most relevant to their own work.
Hybrid workshop
How Can We Prepare Early-Career Talent for a Changing World of Work?
This workshop examined the forces reshaping entry-level employment and widening the gap between education and first good jobs. It explored how employers, universities and leading workforce development organisations could work together to better prepare graduates for a fast-changing labour market.
Session focus
The workshop offered practical insights, enabled participants to compare approaches with peers, and identified partnership models that help early-career talent build the skills, networks and support they need to succeed.
Hybrid workshop
How Can Business Think Bigger and Do Better by Embedding Sustainability More Deeply for the Decade Ahead?
With the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda approaching the end of their target period, this session explored how organisations were prioritising their contribution to sustainable development and what this meant for strategy, stakeholder engagement and implementation. It considered how companies could better connect economic, environmental and social agendas, translate ambition into practical action, and help shape progress beyond 2030.
Session focus
The session enabled participants to benchmark their approach against peers, explore how environmental and social priorities could be addressed more effectively together, and contribute to the conversation about what sustainable development should look like beyond 2030.
Hybrid Workshop
How can people-centred business model design shape better outcomes?
As companies navigated rapid technological, economic and business model change, this workshop explored how choices about business design, technology adoption and value chains could shape outcomes for workers, suppliers, communities and consumers. It considered how more people-centred approaches could strengthen agency, expand opportunity and create greater resilience and shared value across the business ecosystem.
Session focus
The workshop explored practical choices companies could make to ensure new technologies and evolving business models create stronger outcomes for people, while supporting more resilient and successful businesses.
Networking lunch
How can purposeful connection spark stronger collaboration?
A curated opportunity enabled in-person participants to continue conversations, deepen relationships and connect across sectors. The lunch helped participants identify shared interests, build trust and surface practical opportunities for collaboration emerging from the Summit discussions.
Session focus
The lunch supported relationship-building with senior peers, follow-up on ideas while they were fresh, and the identification of potential collaborators, partners and opportunities to take forward after the Summit.
Private Lunch Session
How can cross-sector partnerships drive impact and support positive behaviour change?
A private, invitation-only lunch explored how unlikely allies can advance audacious goals. Drawing on examples from moderation, mega-events and road safety, expert panels examined how trusted partnerships, consumer engagement, and evidence-based approaches can shift social norms and encourage balanced choices.
Session focus
The roundtable enabled 30 select leaders from business, government, academia, and civil society to share experiences and exchange perspectives, and to identify opportunities for collective action.
Private Lunch Session
How can preparedness become a defining principle of humanitarian action?
This private leadership roundtable examined the capabilities, partnerships and investments needed to put preparedness at the heart of humanitarian action and help communities anticipate, withstand and recover from crises more effectively.
Session focus
The roundtable provided candid perspectives from leaders across sectors, deepened understanding of preparedness at scale, and supported relationship-building with organisations working across resilience, humanitarian response, technology and partnership.
In-person workshop & breakfast
What challenge should business leaders work on together?
A private-track slot was available for a partner-led workshop and breakfast with invited Summit participants.
Session focus
The opportunity enabled a partner to bring its challenge, convene the right people and shape a practical conversation.