:World Sustainable Development Summit

{{Short description|Annual conference organized by the Energy and Resources Institute}}

{{Infobox event

| title = World Sustainable Development Summit

| image = File:World Sustainable Development Summit Logo.png

| image_size = 220px

|date = {{start and end dates|2025|03|5|2025|03|7}}

| place = India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, India

| website = [http://wsds.teriin.org Official site]

| organizers = TERI

|caption=The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is TERI's annual flagship event.}}

The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is an annual conference organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an independent research institute with multidimensional capabilities. It was instituted in 2001, as the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS). WSDS 2025, which is the 24th edition of the Summit, focused on the umbrella theme: Partnerships for Accelerating Sustainable Development and Climate Solutions. The 24th edition of the Summit will take place from March 5–7, 2025 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India. WSDS brings together political leaders, decision-makers from bilateral and multilateral institutions, business leaders, high-level functionaries from the diplomatic corps, scientists and researchers, media personnel, and members of civil society on a common platform. Over the years, the Summit series has witnessed the participation of 58 Heads of State and Government, 137 Ministers, 13 Nobel Laureates, 2045 Business Leaders, 3373 Speakers, and 40362 Delegates.

Features of the World Sustainable Development Summit 2025

1. Sustainable Development Leadership Award (SDLA): Awarded every year since 2005 to an eminent global leader, the award felicitates their contributions in the field of sustainable development.

2. Ministerial and High-level sessions: Part of the plenary segment of WSDS, these sessions have panel discussions designed around select themes of environmental importance linked with the overall theme of the Summit. Special addresses include Ministerial Addresses, Science Leadership Addresses, and Leadership Addresses. Speakers include policymakers, business leaders, and academics.

3. Thematic Tracks: The thematic tracks allow for discussions on finer nuances of the Summit's focus areas. These tracks engage domain experts and practitioners to provide feasible solutions to the challenges faced by the local and global communities in maintaining the balance between securing environmental sustainability and development.

4. Act4Earth: The Act4Earth initiative was launched in the valedictory session of WSDS 2022.

5. Stakeholder Dialogues: As part of the Act4Earth initiative, a series of Stakeholder Dialogues will be organised in the months of April and October 2024. The sessions will be on the topics of- SDG-Climate Synergies; Green Public Procurement and Climate Finance.

6. CEO Forum: A platform for industry captains to brainstorm ideas for conducting businesses in a sustainable manner.

7. Youth Connect: A platform to sensitize young students at the school and graduate level about issues of sustainable development and climate change by securing their participation in the Summit's discussions.

Act4Earth

The Act4Earth Initiative was launched at WSDS 2022’s valedictory session. As part of the initiative, TERI will engage in research activities that intend to identify and analyze practices with the potential for maximum impact across various sectors and systems while being fairly implementable by government and relevant state actors. By reaching out to policymakers, experts, and key stakeholders, the initiative will solicit their input and feedback to come up with policy recommendations aimed at furthering climate action and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).{{Cite web |title=World Sustainable Development Summit - WSDS 2024 |url=https://wsds.teriin.org/2024/about-act4earth.php |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=wsds.teriin.org}}

Delhi Sustainable Development Summit

Since 2001, TERI has annually organized the WSDS, earlier known as the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, an international platform to facilitate the exchange of knowledge on all aspects of sustainable development. The event brought together various heads of state and government,{{Cite web|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/eco-news/world-leaders-to-gather-for-delhi-sustainable-summit_601512.html|title=World leaders to gather for Delhi sustainable summit|date=2010-02-04|access-date=2016-07-18}} thought leaders, policy-makers and members of industry and academia to deliberate on myriad issues.{{Cite web|url=http://www.environment.gov.mv/v1/news/minister-dr-mariyam-shakeela-calls-for-collective-international-commitment-dedication-and-steadfast-efforts-to-achieve-a-green-global-economy/|title=Minister Dr. Mariyam Shakeela calls for collective international commitment, dedication and steadfast efforts to achieve a green global economy {{!}} Ministry of Environment and Energy|website=www.environment.gov.mv|access-date=2016-07-18}}

The Summit series has emerged as the premier international event on sustainability that focuses on the global future, but with an eye on the actions in the developing world which could bend our common future.

Sustainable Development Leadership Award

In 2005, The Energy and Resources Institute established the Sustainable Development Leadership Award to felicitate the efforts of global leaders in the field of sustainable development. The award winners are as follows:{{cite web|title=Sustainable Development Leadership Award|url=http://dsds.teriin.org/2015/sdla.php|publisher=Delhi Sustainable Development Summit}}

class="wikitable"

! Year !! Name !! Nationality !! Position then

2005

| Shoichiro Toyoda || {{Flag|Japan}} || Honorary Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation

2006

| Ernesto Zedillo || {{Flag|Mexico}} || Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization

2007

| Arnold Schwarzenegger || {{flag|United States}} || Governor of California

2008

| Maumoon Abdul Gayoom || {{Flag|Maldives}} || President of the Maldives

2009

| Ban Ki-moon || {{Flag|South Korea}} || Secretary-General of the United Nations

2010

| Yukio Hatoyama || {{Flag|Japan}} || Prime Minister of Japan

2011

| Manmohan Singh || {{Flag|India}} || Prime Minister of India

2012

| Tarja Halonen || {{Flag|Finland}} || President of Finland

2013

| James Alix Michel || {{Flag|Seychelles}} || President of Seychelles

2014

| Anand Mahindra || {{Flag|India}} || Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra

2015

| José Manuel Durão Barroso || {{Flag|Portugal}} || Former Prime Minister of Portugal and Former President of European Commission

2016

| Pawan Kumar Chamling || {{Flag|India}} || Chief Minister of Sikkim state

2019

|Frank Bainimarama || |{{Flag|Fiji}} || Prime Minister of Fiji

2020

|Jeffrey Sachs || |{{Flag|United States}} || University Professor, Columbia University

2022

|Michael Rubens Bloomberg ||{{flag|United States}} ||Chair of the Defense Innovation Board

2025

|Bharrat Jagdeo ||{{flag|Guyana}} || Vice President of Guyana

2025

|Marina Silva ||{{flag|Brazil}} || Minister of the Environment and Climate Change

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

  • [https://wsds.teriin.org/2025/ World Sustainable Development Summit - WSDS 2025]