The 21^st Summit programme

India’s rapidly expanding digital economy, driven by cloud computing, AI, data localisation, and digital public infrastructure, is accelerating the growth of data centres across the country. As computing densities increase, so do the demands on energy and water resources, making cooling systems a critical focus area for sustainable data centre development. Resource-efficient cooling technologies, intelligent hydronic systems, water reuse solutions, and AI-enabled monitoring offer significant opportunities to optimise both energy and water consumption while improving operational reliability and resilience.

This session will explore how resource-efficient cooling can serve as a strategic enabler of sustainable digital growth by integrating advanced technologies, water stewardship practices, and digital optimisation into next-generation data centres. The discussion will examine policy, technology, and business interventions needed to build globally competitive, resilient, and resource-efficient digital infrastructure, while positioning India as a global leader in sustainable data centre development.

As India faces growing climate challenges, the need for actionable, data-driven insights has never been greater. This session explores how climate intelligence can help governments, businesses, and cities make informed decisions and strengthen resilience.

The discussion will showcase innovative solutions that help stakeholders understand climate risks, forecast urban flooding, and assess the impact of hazards such as water stress and extreme heat. By combining advanced analytics, AI, and local insights, these tools enable better planning, faster response, and more effective risk management.

As climate resilience becomes a business and development imperative, organizations need forward-looking intelligence to protect assets, ensure continuity, and build a more sustainable future.

India stands at a pivotal moment in its agricultural transformation journey. While thousands of successful pilots have demonstrated the potential of precision agriculture, climate-smart farming, digital advisory systems, and regenerative practices, the real challenge now is scaling these innovations to reach millions of farmers. As climate volatility, water stress, and supply chain disruptions intensify, agriculture must deliver not only higher productivity but also greater resilience, sustainability, and improved farmer livelihoods.

This session will explore how India can move from fragmented success stories to system-wide transformation. Bringing together perspectives from policy, technology, finance, markets, and industry, the discussion will examine how proven solutions can be adopted faster, scaled more effectively, and embedded within agricultural ecosystems. A key focus will be on ensuring that sustainability becomes a driver of productivity, profitability, and competitiveness rather than a compliance obligation.

The conversation will seek actionable pathways to build a future-ready agricultural system that enhances farmer incomes, strengthens food security, conserves natural resources, and positions India as a global leader in sustainable agriculture. The central question is: How can India transform smart and sustainable agriculture from isolated pilots into the new foundation of agricultural growth and resilience?

 Why do well-intentioned sustainability initiatives stall at the pilot phase? With the global economy currently only 6.9% circular, true circularity requires moving past isolated tweaks to reshape an interconnected web of supply chains, regulations, and consumer behaviours.

 This session explores how systems thinking bridges the gap between circular principles and mass industrial adoption. We will break down how to map complex value chains, anticipate unintended consequences, and align cross-industry incentives to drive transformation at scale. Join global experts to discover actionable, systemic frameworks that transition fragmented eco-efforts into a resilient, closed-loop economy.

Sustainable finance has evolved from a niche concept into a defining force in global capital markets. Today, the scope extends beyond individual business to the entire supply chains, recognising that long-term business resilience depends on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of suppliers, distributors, and MSMEs. As Scope 3 emissions account for a significant share of corporate carbon footprints, businesses are increasingly collaborating with financial institutions to support their supply chain partners through innovative financing solutions. By enabling access to sustainability-linked finance, providing ESG capacity-building support, and incentivising responsible business practices, companies are helping suppliers invest in cleaner technologies, improve resource efficiency, strengthen ESG performance, and build long-term resilience.

This session will bring together industry leaders, and investors to explore how collaborative financing models are accelerating value chain transformation. The discussion will showcase emerging financing mechanisms and industry partnerships that are enabling suppliers and MSMEs to access sustainable finance, reduce Scope 3 emissions, and build resilient, competitive, and future-ready value chains.

Nature is increasingly recognized as a critical pillar of long-term business sustainability as companies acknowledge that nature-related risks can significantly impact operations, supply chains, financial performance, and business resilience. At the same time, evolving regulations on biodiversity conservation, species protection, and nature-related trade, coupled with growing investor scrutiny and the rise of nature finance, are driving businesses to take a more proactive approach to nature stewardship.

In response, leading companies are integrating nature-based solutions, biodiversity considerations, and nature-risk management into their business strategies to enhance resilience, create value, and support sustainable growth. This session will explore how businesses are addressing nature-related risks and identifying new opportunities, while leveraging global and national frameworks such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), India’s National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) to drive action, strengthen accountability, mobilize investment, and accelerate India’s transition towards a nature-positive economy.

India’s clean energy transition is entering a new phase. As of 31 July 2026, India had reached 300.50 GW of non-fossil-fuel-based installed capacity, with non-fossil sources accounting for more than 54% of total installed capacity. With India now over 60% of the way toward its 500 GW non-fossil-fuel capacity target for 2030, the focus is shifting from capacity addition to the reliable, flexible and cost-effective integration of a more diverse energy mix.

As the energy landscape expands beyond solar and wind to include biomass, waste-to-energy, waste-heat recovery and green hydrogen, growing industrial demand will require significant renewable power and supporting infrastructure. The National Green Hydrogen Mission is expected to further accelerate demand for clean energy.

Bringing together leaders from the energy sector, industry and government, this session will explore how India can build a resilient, competitive and low-carbon energy system. Discussions will focus on renewable energy integration, diversification of the energy mix, evolving industrial demand, and the policy, financing and infrastructure frameworks needed to support the transition.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming sustainability from a reporting exercise into a strategic decision-making capability. From predictive analytics and intelligent automation to generative AI and agentic workflows, AI is enabling faster, smarter, and more connected sustainability action.

This session will explore how AI can accelerate action across carbon management, resource efficiency, climate resilience, sustainable operations, and responsible supply chains, while strengthening governance and fostering collaborative innovation to address complex sustainability challenges.

As sustainability expectations from customers, regulators, investors, and global markets continue to evolve, suppliers are increasingly required to strengthen their ESG performance and align with responsible business practices. This fireside chat will bring together supplier organizations to share their sustainability journey and discuss how they are preparing to meet emerging ESG requirements across value chains. The session will explore key challenges, opportunities, and practical approaches being adopted by suppliers as they transition from traditional vendors to strategic partners in building resilient and sustainable supply chains.

India took the lead in making Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) a statutory requirement, and this mandate has now completed 12 years. Over these years, CSR has evolved from a compliance to a more strategic driver of sustainability.

This session will highlight the transformation of the CSR ecosystem across sectors, scale & diversity of impact and will explore how companies are adopting innovative approaches while shaping the future of CSR in the decade ahead.

As India advances towards the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047, sustaining economic growth while achieving net-zero ambitions will require robust institutions, coordinated policies and industry-led action. Anchored by the work of the India Sustainability Task Force (ISTF) under CII, this session will convene policymakers, regulators, financial institutions, industry leaders and academia to deliberate on the outcome of the work done under ISTF. The session will also mark the launch of the CII India Sustainability Task Force Report, presenting strategic recommendations on corporate sustainability roadmap and suggested policy frameworks across thematic areas of green taxonomy, green finance mechanisms, carbon markets, sustainability disclosures, MSME supply chains and enterprise action to support a competitive, resilient and sustainable India.

India’s Carbon Credit Trading Scheme has moved from design to delivery. GHG emission intensity targets have been notified for eight energy-intensive sectors, placing binding obligations on roughly 490 entities for compliance years 2025–26 and 2026–27 against an FY2023–24 baseline, with draft targets for iron and steel under consultation. With the Indian Carbon Market portal live and certificate trading expected through 2026, early 2027, carbon markets are rapidly evolving from a climate policy instrument to a strategic business opportunity and a potential source of domestic carbon finance at scale for industrial decarbonisation and sub-national state transitions.

As India advances the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS), industry is at a defining juncture, balancing domestic compliance requirements with emerging global trade and carbon regulations such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). There is a unique opportunity to design a market that balances environmental integrity, economic growth, and industrial competitiveness.

The discussion will draw key lessons from established carbon markets across Europe, Asia, and other regions. It will explore potential opportunities and challenges for States and Indian industries under a compliance carbon market, alongside the growing role of voluntary carbon markets in supporting corporate climate and net-zero strategies. It will also examine the opportunity of turning a compliance obligation into investable capital for manufacturing units and for the regions that host them.

India’s transition towards sustainable mobility will require multiple clean fuel pathways to scale alongside enabling policy, infrastructure, technology, and market ecosystems. As demand grows across passenger and freight segments, the focus must shift towards an integrated and economically viable clean transport ecosystem. This requires coordinated action across government, automotive and energy industries, fuel and technology providers, and large mobility users. The transition must also balance energy security, affordability, air quality, emissions reduction, and industrial competitiveness. The session will bring together perspectives across the mobility and energy value chains to explore how India can accelerate cleaner transport solutions and build the systems, investments, partnerships, and market conditions needed for sustainable scale.

Up to 90 % of an organization’s carbon footprint lies within Scope 3 emissions—hidden deep inside global supply chains. Achieving true net-zero requires moving past isolated pilots toward systemic, large-scale value chain transformation.

This session tackles the ultimate sustainability challenge: how to decarbonize complex global supply networks in a fragmented regulatory landscape. Industry leaders and sustainability pioneers will share proven strategies to enhance data visibility, incentivize supplier action, and implement scalable interventions. Discover how to leverage digital tools, standardize metrics, and foster radical cross-sector collaboration to transform Scope 3 management from a compliance burden into a powerful engine for competitive advantage and global climate impact.

Extreme heat is rapidly becoming a defining challenge of climate change, disrupting productivity, industrial operations, agriculture, supply chains, and public health worldwide. Its impacts are uneven, creating a “heat divide” between those with and without resources to adapt to the physical climate risks. The ILO warns heat stress could cost 80 million jobs and US$2.4 trillion annually by 2030. This session will explore how industries such as agriculture, textiles, logistics, and construction, alongside policymakers, and experts can address climate change for economic continuity, social equity, environmental sustainability and the future of work in a warming world.

The session will examine how national regulations can align with global sustainability frameworks while bridging the gap between commitments and on-ground outcomes. It will explore ways to strengthen policy design and enforcement, especially in emerging economies, and assess gaps in current global agreements. The discussion will also highlight the need for harmonized standards and the role of voluntary frameworks and corporate action. Additionally, it will look at how digital tools like AI and blockchain can enhance monitoring and accountability.