Themes: Energy Transition & Innovation

This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme

Breaking the Plastic Deadlock

Tue 20 Jan 2026 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)

What if the real barrier to replacing plastics is not innovation, but our inability to collectively price risk, align demand, and finance scale—and the deadlock persists until industry chooses coordination over caution?

A private (by invitation only) dialogue session hosted by Velamar.

The global effort to move beyond plastics is at an impasse. Despite clear environmental urgency, widespread corporate commitments, and growing public pressure, progress toward scalable alternatives remains uneven and slow. The problem is not a lack of intent, technology, or pilot activity. It is that the underlying system economics, supply chains, risk allocation, and capital markets has not yet been rewired to support change at scale.

Breaking the Plastic Deadlock focuses squarely on this structural challenge. The session examines why viable alternatives to plastics continue to struggle to move from proof-of-concept to mainstream adoption, even among companies with the strongest incentives and resources to act. Participants will interrogate where value chains break down: cost curves that fail to converge, fragmented supply and offtake, regulatory uncertainty, and risks that are difficult to price, insure, or absorb on individual balance sheets.

Convened by Velamar, the session aims to surface the hard truths behind stalled progress and identify credible pathways through which industry, capital, and finance can jointly unlock scale, turning plastic reduction from ambition into execution.

This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme

From Disruption to Backbone: Building the Infrastructure of the New Energy Economy

Thu 22 Jan 2026 9:00 am - 10:30 am (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 3)

Is long-duration energy storage a disruptive technology waiting its turn—or the backbone infrastructure of a new energy economy, capable of replacing fossil dependence with resilient, investable systems at global scale?

A private (by invitation only) dialogue session hosted by Rocket Mountain Institute and LDES Council.

As global energy systems collide with rising demand, climate volatility, and renewed fossil investment, the question is no longer whether to transform—but how fast, and through what kind of infrastructure. This invitation-only business roundtable convenes senior leaders to examine the emergence of a new energy economy, where long-duration energy storage (LDES) is not a peripheral technology, but foundational infrastructure. Co-hosted by Rocky Mountain Institute and the Long Duration Energy Storage Council at the TPC House, the session creates a high-trust space for pragmatic, market-driven dialogue. Participants will explore how next-generation energy infrastructure—from storage and grids to industrial electrification—can unlock system resilience, enable renewable dominance, and reshape value creation across power, industry, and finance. Grounded in live deals and real procurement challenges, the discussion moves beyond disruption narratives to focus on bankability, standards, revenue certainty, and investment readiness. Ultimately, the roundtable asks how the private sector can lead the build-out of energy systems that are not only cleaner—but more resilient, investable, and economically transformative.

This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme

Restore Nature Day Panel 2: Circular Fibre Revolution, Financing a Nature Positive Industrial Transformation

Wed 21 Jan 2026 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Awakening House (Ochsner: Forum 2)

What if the greatest untapped financial resource is the waste we currently burn? Exploring India’s case for transforming residues into Next Gen fibres that could deliver one of the most powerful climate-positive industrial shifts of this decade as a model that can contribute to the future green economy.

India is positioned to turn two major environmental liabilities—nearly 100 million tonnes of burned crop residue and millions of tonnes of textile waste each year—into the backbone of a circular fibre economy. These waste streams, which currently drive air pollution and economic loss, can be transformed into Next Gen fibres that replace forest-derived materials and cut land use by up to 100%, biodiversity impacts fivefold, and 4 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of fibre.

With existing non-wood pulp capacity and a globally significant textile sector, India could produce 10+ million tonnes of circular fibre annually—serving brands representing US$2.1 trillion in purchasing power that have committed to ending deforestation. A US$2 billion blended-finance platform can catalyse the infrastructure, feedstock systems, and mill investments needed for a nationwide scale-up. This is a chance for India to lead a climate-positive industrial transformation that strengthens livelihoods, reduces pollution, and becomes a global model for circular materials.

Join and co-create a blended investment platform that converts agricultural and textile waste into a circular fibre industry—building climate resilience, advancing livelihoods, and reshaping global textile and packaging supply chains.

This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme

Oceans Day Panel 5: The Blue Action

Wed 21 Jan 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)

How do we ensure that innovation serves ecosystems and communities — not just markets? What stands in the way of scaling regenerative ocean solutions: capital, incentives, or mindsets? 

This session is co-curated by OceanX and TPC (Tsao Pao Chee).

This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme

Reimagining Systemic Change & Nature Regeneration

Thu 22 Jan 2026 9:00 am - 10:30 am (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Inspiration Room)

What if incubation shifted from scaling ideas to cultivating regenerative conditions—where innovation, investment, and resource flows are intentionally designed to restore planetary well-being, not merely accelerate growth or profit?

Now more than ever, we need bold innovation that transcends boundaries and transforms systems at their roots for a healthier planet. The question is: who will nurture it, and how?

Incubation has become the go-to answer, from Silicon Valley to grassroots hubs, but deep transformation demands more. Many existing incubators are playing a powerful role in bringing new ideas to life. But as the world now recognises, our challenges are interconnected and complex, and therefore there is a growing need for new models of incubation, ones capable of addressing the root causes of nature-society problems, and not just their symptoms, and doing so in alignment with planetary well-being.

In this session, you will join an Alternative Incubation Lab; a space of imagination and experimentation, where deep listening meets creative thinking, dialogue and collaboration. The Lab is designed as an interactive, action-oriented session to make this conversation visible, cut through the noise of polycrisis and catalyse action, replacing paralysis with possibility. 

Blending indigenous wisdom, systemic design and unconventional partnerships, we will draw on existing research1, and engage in collaborative futuring exercise to design incubation models for regenerative futures. We will also discuss what investing in innovation means when it becomes regenerative.

This conversation forms part of a Davos Accredited Programme

Oceans Day Panel 1: Unlocking the Blue Economy, Science, Innovation, and Investment for a Sustainable Ocean Future

Wed 21 Jan 2026 11:00 am - 12:00 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Flourishing House (Rätia Center: Forum 1)

How do we ensure that innovation serves ecosystems and communities — not just markets? What stands in the way of scaling regenerative ocean solutions: capital, incentives, or mindsets? 

The ocean is one of the world’s greatest — yet most fragile — economic systems, covering 70% of the planet and valued at more than $24 trillion in natural capital. Realising this potential requires more than scaling economic opportunity; it demands a new model of investment that restores ecosystems, protects biodiversity, and strengthens the communities that depend on the ocean. 

This panel brings together leaders who are redefining how science, innovation, and investment can work in concert to regenerate — not simply sustain — the ocean. Rather than asking how we can access the blue economy, this discussion explores how capital, technology, and industry can converge to keep the ocean healthy while unlocking long-term prosperity. 

Through perspectives spanning marine science, business, and impact investment, the session examines what it will take to transition from extractive value chains to a blue economy that is economically resilient, ecologically safe, and socially inclusive — one that safeguards the planet’s future rather than trading against it. 

What would it take for industry, finance, and science to share risk — rather than shift it?