Seventeen senior leaders from 14 countries, most of them PAGE partner countries, gathered at the University of Oxford for the first edition of Future-Proofing Business and the Economy, an executive training programme delivered jointly by PAGE, through UNITAR, and the Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. They came from government, parliament, business, trade unions, academia and international organisations.
21-23 September 2026, Oxford, United Kingdom
Leading Through Uncertainty: PAGE and Oxford Smith School deliver first Future-Proofing Business and the Economy executive training programme
Where research meets policy practice
Leaders today must make decisions amid multiple transitions, climate and nature risks, trade disruptions and geopolitical tensions. The programme helped participants explore how economies and organisations can stay competitive, resilient and inclusive in an uncertain, multipolar world, and how best to steer economic transformation from within their own institutions.
Three weeks of online modules on Reshaping our Economies (covering economies in transition, a just transition and ways to finance the transition) prepared participants for three intensive days in Oxford. There, research from the University of Oxford met the policy expertise of PAGE’s five UN agencies – ILO, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO and UNITAR – showing how the latest policy and economic thinking is being applied in countries around the world. Eleonora Salluzzi, a participant working for the International Trade Centre, described this mix as “a strong bridge between academic knowledge and its application in practice”.
Participants leave Oxford with new thinking and practical tools
A post-training survey confirmed that participants found the programme highly useful and directly relevant to their work, rating it 4.88 out of 5, and that they all intend to apply what they learned. Some came away with a change in outlook: that a new economic paradigm is possible, that a fast transition makes economic sense, and that working in silos will not deliver net zero. Others valued practical tools, from just transition frameworks that link climate action with social protection to circular economy strategies for mining and critical minerals. Many also valued exchanging with peers from very different countries and finding they shared many of the same challenges.
Jenitha Badul, who coordinates green economy programmes at South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, first heard about the course through the PAGE Bulletin.
“My engagement with key experts within the related areas of work has enhanced my knowledge tremendously (…) and provided an opportunity for future collaborations. I would highly recommend the course.” – Jenitha Badul, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, South Africa
From learning to action
Interactive workshops led by UNITAR with UNEP, UNDP and UNIDO helped participants apply what they learned to their own organisations. The workshops culminated in a Leadership Challenge, in which each participant committed to a personal “Future-Proofing Action Plan” for the next 6–12 months.
Participants have clear ideas of where this could lead. The Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions expects the programme to help bring just transition principles into national tripartite dialogues, supporting labour rights and green job initiatives that reach more than 200,000 trade union members. In Peru, a participant from the Ministry of Economy and Finance expects it to inform the country’s multi-annual macroeconomic framework, while government participants from Brazil plan to apply it to rural credit for agriculture and to national industrial policies.
For Mahesh Kumar Devaraja, of India’s Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), who joined to learn how to strengthen evidence-based policy, the next step is already taking shape on his own campus.
“My goal now is to advance LBSNAA’s Net Zero Living Lab, turning our campus into a practical, scalable model of sustainable governance that can be replicated across other institutions.” – Mahesh Kumar Devaraja, Deputy Director (Senior) & Director, Centre for Disaster Management, LBSNAA
From emerging trends to tools for implementation
The programme combined research from the Oxford Smith School with the policy expertise of PAGE’s agencies. Oxford faculty set out the forces reshaping economies and the tools to respond to them: climate change as a source of economic risk and opportunity, the case for a new economic paradigm, how technologies progress and diffuse, the design of climate policies, environmental markets, and circular economy strategies for a resource-constrained world. On the final day, Oxford sessions turned to leadership in practice: designing credible sustainability strategies, tracking progress and managing climate liabilities.
PAGE agencies showed how this thinking is being applied in countries. Smail Alhilali and Ozumini Iti (UNIDO) examined how circular economy and green industrial approaches can make supply chains more resilient as carbon border adjustment mechanisms and sustainability standards reshape market access. Reina Otsuka (UNDP) explored how digital transformation can speed up the green transition, Božena Destin Bobková (UNEP) showed how coherent, sequenced economic and public finance policies can build resilience to environmental risks under tight fiscal constraints, and Hae Kyeung Chun (ILO) looked at why anticipating skills needs matters for competitiveness and inclusive growth. Amrei Horstbrink-Gavillet (UNITAR) chaired the panel on delivering a just transition and a session on leading the transition, and facilitated interactive workshops with colleagues from UNEP, UNDP, and UNIDO. UNITAR and Oxford also facilitated two panel discussions, with contributions from the three agencies.
“Sustainability, resilience and people cannot be treated as additional considerations once growth has been achieved; they need to be part of the foundations of sustainable growth and development itself.” – Božena Destin Bobková, Senior Economist, PAGE
Looking ahead
Future-Proofing Business and the Economy is expected to run annually, building on the partnership established with the Oxford Smith School in this first edition. More information on a 2027 edition will be provided later this year.
