What connects them is the question of whether our economies are prepared for the transformation already under way. Green transition is not only about reducing emissions, but also about whether we can build enough clean and reliable energy, finance new technologies, modernize infrastructure and create regulatory environments that give businesses confidence to invest. It is about whether policy can keep pace with innovation without creating unnecessary uncertainty. And it is about whether the institutions behind these decisions are stable, predictable and trusted.
This is where sustainability and competitiveness increasingly meet. At Climate Week, one phrase stayed with me: AI is energy is infrastructure is investment. It captures how interconnected the challenges have become. The growth of AI depends on data centers, data centers depend on energy, energy systems depend on infrastructure, capital, permitting and public policy. The same is true for climate tech more broadly. A promising technology alone is not enough. It needs financing, insurance, supply chains, regulation and eventually a market willing to adopt it.
The social dimension remains part of that same system. Climate resilience cannot exist without social resilience. Cities need to remain livable, employees need to be able to adapt to change, and the benefits of transformation need to be credible enough to maintain public support. This issue of Connection looks at sustainability through exactly this wider lens of energy security, climate technology, cities, workplace culture, institutional stability, community impact and the green transition. These are not separate ESG boxes, but rather the building blocks of a resilient economy. Increasingly, the countries and companies able to connect them well will be the ones best positioned to compete.
Zuzana Serinová, Policy Manager
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