Earth Week 2026: The Network in Action

Organising Earth Week taught me something I did not expect: that the hardest part would not be the logistics, but keeping up with the generosity of the people around me.

 Across two days and two campuses, we brought together practitioners who showed up not to give polished keynotes but to have genuine exchanges.  

In Singapore on Wednesday, Luc Des Vallières of Plastic Odyssey opened the day with a keynote that was practical, uncomfortable, and honest about how far ambition still is from implementation. The Green Finance Panel that followed, "The Transition Trade," brought together voices from BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, and IIX to examine how capital markets are actually responding to the energy transition, not how they say they are. 

In the evening, two simultaneous panels pushed further: the Consulting panel, "Rhetoric and Reality," put the question of professional accountability squarely on the table, while the Energy panel, "Beyond the Pledge," explored what the non-linear reality of energy transition looks like across APAC.

In Fontainebleau on Thursday, the Circularity, Luxury and Fashion Panel examined what genuine circularity requires from an industry built on newness, and the Sustainability Leadership Roundtable brought senior practitioners from RWE, Enablon, and Lohmann into conversation with students about what leadership in this space actually demands. 

The day ended with Forest Bathing near campus: a deliberate counterpoint to the intensity of the panels, and a reminder that the environment we are all discussing is not an abstraction.

The sessions were recorded, and we will be making them available so that everyone who could not be in the room can still benefit from the generosity these speakers showed us.

 None of it happened because of a committee. It happened because when you put a question to the INSEAD network, people say yes.  

Alumni who cleared their schedules. MBAs who stepped in as moderators made every panel sharper. The Hoffmann Institute, whose support gave the whole programme weight and credibility. People who had no obligation to show up, who showed up anyway.

As I step into what I thought would be the final chapter of an already rewarding journey, this experience has shown me that, indeed, INSEAD is the gift that keeps giving. The year we spend on campus has helped us put down roots that anchor us in this bountiful ecosystem that we will go on to both benefit from and give back to. I look forward to growing with all of you.