At the Luxembourg Sustainability Forum 2026, 300 people in the room and 480 online explored why human and planetary health are inseparable, and what that means for business, cities and the way we work.
Organised by IMS – Inspiring More Sustainability, the 2026 Luxembourg Sustainability Forum was held under the banner “Healthy Futures – Better Health, Better Lives, Better Planet”. It welcomed 300 participants in person and a further 480 online during the afternoon, a strong showing.
The scientific case was set out by Sir Andy Haines, epidemiologist at the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health. Overshooting planetary limits already harms health through heat, food insecurity and mental strain, he explained. Adaptation is essential but must go hand in hand with emission cuts: “We need to adapt and mitigate; we need to integrate these strategies.” Anne Vergison of the Luxembourg Health Directorate brought the issue closer to home, citing the toll of heatwaves on mortality, unequal exposure to heat and the monitoring of emerging vector-borne diseases.
Solutions were as much about places as policies. First Alderman Maurice Bauer outlined the City of Luxembourg’s initiatives, from canteens and building materials to air quality and greening, including a tree-planting scheme run with IMS. Joanna Yarrow of Human Nature urged designers to make healthy, sustainable choices accessible: “People don’t aspire to sustainability, they aspire to a good life.” Lionel Fournier of Harmonie Mutuelle called for action on the social, environmental and economic factors that shape health.
The afternoon then turned to “inner ecology”. Aurelia Hack questioned how acceleration, hyperconnectivity and artificial intelligence erode our attention, while David Büchel, occupational psychologist at the Chamber of Employees, pointed to chronic stress and time pressure in Luxembourg’s workplaces. Freediver Anne-Sophie Mouraud, a competitor at the 2026 world championships, summed up the logic: to care for the planet, one must start by caring for oneself. Entrepreneur Matthieu Dardaillon offered a pointed business reflection: “We have confused more with better.”
Closing the forum, Sandrine Dixson-Declève, honorary president of the Club of Rome, called for a shift from “ego-system” to “ecosystem” and for measures of progress that go beyond GDP to capture individual and collective well-being.
For Luxembourg’s business community, the takeaway is plain: healthy people, workplaces and territories are not a by-product of sustainability but one of its strongest levers.
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