ESG Forum: Portugal 2026

Agenda

10.00am-11.00am Arrival and registration

11.00am-11.05am Welcome address

• • Francisco Castro, research editor, Legal 500

11.05am-11.15am Opening brief: ESG priorities shaping Portugal in 2026

This opening presentation will frame ESG as a business‑wide priority shaping strategy, capital flows and governance across Portugal. It will provide a concise overview of the regulatory landscape, highlighting key EU frameworks, and assess how recent developments are influencing disclosure practices, due‑diligence expectations and corporate accountability in the Portuguese market. It will also examine sustainable finance as a major accelerator of ESG integration, outlining how lenders and investors are embedding sustainability criteria into financing terms and how this is reshaping corporate behaviour, data quality demands and project execution. In all, its aim is to set a clear, market‑facing foundation for the discussions that follow at the ESG Forum: Portugal 2026.

11.15am-11.55am How corporate governance and sustainable finance are shaping Portugal’s energy transition

Portugal’s energy transition is accelerating, and with it comes a growing need for governance structures and financing models capable of supporting complex, capital‑intensive projects. This panel will examine how corporate governance and sustainable finance are shaping the country’s transition landscape—both enabling progress and, at times, creating friction.

The discussion will explore how boards and executive teams are adapting oversight and decision‑making frameworks to manage transition‑related risks. It will consider how responsibilities are distributed across legal, compliance, sustainability, procurement and project delivery functions, and how General Counsel teams are embedding ESG requirements into contracts, approvals and project governance to ensure regulatory alignment and commercial discipline.

Sustainable finance will be addressed from a practical perspective, focusing on how financing structures influence project design, risk allocation and supply‑chain diligence. Panellists will discuss how lenders’ expectations around contractor performance, ESG metrics and transparency increasingly shape governance decisions from the outset.

On the execution side, the panel will assess the operational constraints that continue to challenge Portugal’s transition ambitions, including permitting and licensing timelines, grid capacity limitations, contracting models and delivery risk. Drawing on anonymised case themes, speakers will highlight what has accelerated project execution and what has slowed it down.

Finally, the conversation will consider the role of EU‑level frameworks—whether they function primarily as compliance hurdles or as strategic opportunities to unlock investment and harmonise standards. Together, these insights will offer a concise, cross‑functional view of how governance and finance are influencing Portugal’s ability to deliver its energy transition at scale.

11.55am-12.10pm Coffee break

12.10pm-1.00pm Litigation, liability, and the new enforcement era for sustainability claims (across sectors)

As regulatory scrutiny intensifies across Europe, organisations in every sector are facing a new enforcement era for sustainability‑related claims. This panel will examine the growing landscape of ESG‑driven disputes, investigations and liability exposures, with a focus on how greenwashing, inaccurate disclosures and misleading sustainability statements are rapidly evolving into core legal and reputational risks.

The discussion will explore the typical trigger points that give rise to litigation and regulatory action, from sustainability reports and corporate websites to marketing materials, investor presentations and product or service claims. Panellists will assess how these touchpoints are being tested by regulators, competitors, consumers and NGOs, and what this means for corporate risk management.

Recent case law developments will be analysed for their practical impact in Portugal, including how courts and regulators are interpreting sustainability‑related representations and the evidentiary standards emerging around ESG disclosures and due diligence obligations. The conversation will also address the increasingly relevant question of directors’ personal exposure, examining when governance failures, oversight gaps or misleading statements may translate into direct liability.

Our expert speakers will provide a cross‑sector view of how legal, compliance and sustainability teams must adapt to a more assertive enforcement environment – one in which sustainability claims are no longer treated as aspirational messaging but as statements capable of creating binding legal obligations.

1.00pm-1.05pm Closing remarks 

• • Francisco Castro, research editor, Legal 500

1.05pm-2.00pm Networking and light lunch