Climate & Sustainability Summit 2025
Back to Square Zero - Redefining Sustainability in Economics
7 November 2025, 15:00 – 18:00, Falling Walls Science Summit, Berlin
Join us at the world’s leading forum for breakthrough science to discuss where scientific evidence transforms into business impact.
BCG´s Climate & Sustainability Summit Back to square zero for sustainability? Breaking the wall of economic short-termism explores how economic systems must evolve to meet sustainability challenges in times of political uncertainty and scientific urgency.
Our curated speaker lineup and forward-looking agenda addresses the realities of climate science, the resilience of Europe’s climate leadership, and the role of businesses in turning climate action into a competitive advantage.
Join us at the world’s leading forum for breakthrough science to discuss where scientific evidence transforms into business impact.
BCG´s Climate & Sustainability Summit Back to square zero for sustainability? Breaking the wall of economic short-termism explores how economic systems must evolve to meet sustainability challenges in times of political uncertainty and scientific urgency.
Our curated speaker lineup and forward-looking agenda addresses the realities of climate science, the resilience of Europe’s climate leadership, and the role of businesses in turning climate action into a competitive advantage.
BREAKING THE WALL OF ECONOMIC SHORT-TERMISM
At Falling Walls, BCG brings the business lens: We connect breakthrough science with boardroom agendas.
We bring to light the pathways to scale. Together with CEOs, policymakers, and scientists, we will discuss what works already, what scales next, and how Europe’s leaders can convert sustainability into advantage.
Your Hosts
PROGRAMME
Part 1: POLITICS MAY HAVE CHANGED, THE SCIENCE HASN'T
This opening chapter brings together Johan Rockström, Maria Leptin, and Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt to discuss the stark realities of climate science and the urgency for action. Despite shifting political priorities, the facts remain unchanged. Policy perspectives from Frank Wetzel and Kai Monheim highlight how governments and global negotiations can drive real progress.
Michael Brigl, Head of Central Europe, BCG; Dr. Johanna Puetz, Climate & Sustainability Lead Central Europe, BCG
The State of the Planet – A Scientist’s Call to Action
Speaker: Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
There’s No Good News in Climate Science
Moderator: Michael Bröcker, Editor-in-chief, Table.Briefings
Speakers: Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council; Brian Schmidt, Nobel Prize winner in Physics; Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Moderator: Michael Bröcker, Editor-in-chief, Table.Briefings
Speaker: Frank Wetzel, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Speaker: Kai Monheim, CEO, CEMUNE | Center for Multilateral Negotiations
Part 2: HOW CLIMATE ACTION CAN BE A BUSINESS CASE
BCG’s Patrick Herhold and Jens Burchardt reassess the business case for climate action. They show that the economics of decarbonization are shifting fast—across many sectors, green solutions can drive growth and resilience as the green economy benefits from the second highest growth rate across sectors.
How Climate Action Can Be a Business Case
Speakers: Patrick Herhold, Managing Director & Senior Partner Munich, BCG; Jens Burchardt, Managing Director & Partner, Co-founder Center for Climate and Sustainability, BCG
Part 3: MARGIN WITH MISSION—WHAT COMPANIES CAN ACCELERATE
Executives from leading companies, green tech innovators, and senior economic experts explore how to turn climate ambition into measurable progress. Three deep dives look at scaling green tech, decarbonizing established businesses, and steering the energy transition—revealing how to execute the climate transition to support growth and competitiveness.
Where Green Growth is Real – How to Successfully Scale Greentech Businesses
Green growth is a multi-speed world. Simply put, technologies tied to electrons – such as renewables, batteries, heat pumps – are largely “in the money” and scaling, albeit not free from short-term scale-up challenges. Others, mostly centered on molecules and advanced technologies, such as low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture, and nuclear fusion, so far remain pre-commercial and will require technology advancement, adequate regulation, market creation, and investment signals.
This session explores what it takes to scale green solutions: How to advance technologies, create new markets, mobilize demand, and design policy and financing frameworks that allow both mature and emerging climate technologies to scale successfully.
Moderator: Patrick Herhold, Managing Director & Senior Partner Munich
Speakers: Frank Meyer, Member of the Board of Management, Robert Bosch GmbH; Saskia Bruysten, Partner & Co-founder, Carbon Equity; Lilian Schwich, Co-CEO I Co-Founder, cylib GmBH; Lucio Milanese, Co-Founder and CCO, Proxima Fusion
Decarbonizing Without Harming Growth – Success Stories for Reducing Emissions in Hard-to-Abate Sectors
Our economic prosperity is closely connected to the items and services that serve our daily lives. A key challenge is to decarbonize such products and services and services while retaining, and potentially enhancing their value propositions to customers, and their profitability to their current suppliers. This session looks at how companies in logistics, steel, and automotive are championing green innovation at the heart of their business. It explores how new products are shaping strategies, how companies balance ambition with delivery, and what it takes to turn sustainability and decarbonization efforts from a cost factor into a driver of growth and competitiveness.
Moderator: Johanna Puetz, Climate & Sustainability Lead Central Europe, BCG
Speakers: Michael Karrer, SVP for Sustainability & EHS, ZF Group; Guido Kerkhoff, CEO, Klöckner & Co SE; Katharina Tomoff, SVP Global | Environment, Social and Governance (ESG), DHL Supply Chain; Ulf Zillig, Vice President Group Research, Sustainability & RD Functions, Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Saving Cash and Carbon – Making the Energy Transition Faster and More Economic
Europe’s energy sector is in the middle of a massive transformation. The sector needs to bring down emissions, while at the same time accommodating increasing power demand from electrification and AI—requiring billions of investments in a very short time. The next phase of this transformation needs to better combine two goals at once: achieve emission reduction targets, while restoring affordability.
We believe it is possible to design a system where each reinforces the other. The goal of this panel is to navigate what we need to do to make this happen. It is also to deliberately showcase a well-founded consensus within the energy industry—beyond the current, often very loud political polarization.
Moderator: Jens Burchardt, Managing Director & Partner, Co-founder Center for Climate and Sustainability, BCG
Speakers: Veronika Grimm, Member of the German Council of Economic Experts, Supervisory Board Member at Siemens Energy AG; Stefan Kapferer, CEO, 50Hertz Transmission; Georg Stamatelopoulos, CEO, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG
Michael Brigl, Head of Central Europe, BCG; Dr. Johanna Puetz, Climate & Sustainability Lead Central Europe, BCG
FALLING WALLS SCIENCE SUMMIT
The Falling Walls Science Summit is a leading global forum for scientific research and dialogue. It brings together international scientists, innovators and policy makers to share prescient science breakthroughs, engage in robust debate and connect across disciplines.
Discover more information about the Falling Walls Science Summit and the Full Summit Programme.