On 16 April, Livonia Partners hosted the Sustainable Growth Forum 2026 in Vilnius, bringing together investors, policymakers, founders, and operators to discuss how sustainability can strengthen long-term competitiveness, resilience, and value creation.
The discussions focused on a practical question: how to turn sustainability ambitions into commercially viable and scalable business models.
The forum opened with a keynote by Emma Harvey-Smith from the Green Finance Institute, who highlighted that while significant capital continues to flow into the energy transition, the key challenge remains the availability of investable, scalable, and de-risked opportunities.
This theme continued in the Resilience session with Audrius Šilgalis, Tadas Gudaitis, Tomas Garuolis and moderator Nadežda Kudriavceva-Bausienė, where the discussion focused on the alignment of regulation, financing, and industrial competitiveness. Speakers emphasized the importance of developing financing structures that support the “missing middle” and noted that defense capabilities and the green transition should be viewed as complementary priorities.
In the Transformation session, Marco Swan of the Science Based Targets initiative addressed the role of leadership during periods of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. Despite increasing scrutiny around ESG, the discussion highlighted that companies and investors continue to integrate climate considerations into strategy, operations, and capital allocation decisions.
This was followed by a discussion with Marco Natoli, Massimiliano Riva, Loreta Nacajiene and Eleonora Sakalauskaitė on how institutional investors are approaching sustainable growth, resilience, and long-term value creation. The panel also discussed how rising energy demand, including AI-related infrastructure, is increasingly influencing investment decisions.
The conversation then shifted towards implementation and business outcomes, with Rebecka Löthman Rydå, Povilas Pečiulis, Rūta Laukien and Ernests Bordāns discussing how circularity, efficiency improvements, and resource optimization can strengthen competitiveness and support sustainable growth.
In the Impact session, Thomas Plantenga, CEO of Vinted Group, shared perspectives on scaling circular business models and building commercially successful sustainability-driven platforms. The discussion highlighted the importance of focusing on initiatives that strengthen both economics and long-term business resilience.
Ebba Grythberg discussed the challenges of integrating sustainability into companies that were not originally built around sustainability principles, emphasizing the importance of internal decision-making, operational focus, and leveraging existing strengths within organizations.
The forum concluded with a discussion among founders and CEOs — Sergio Azzolari Montoldi, Laimonas Noreika and Jonas Elvikis — on the realities of building growing businesses under resource and operational constraints. The panel highlighted that effective sustainability integration requires prioritisation, focus, and a clear connection to long-term growth and competitiveness.
We thank all speakers and participants for contributing to a practical and thoughtful discussion on sustainable growth, investment, and long-term value creation.
The conversations reinforced that sustainable growth will increasingly depend on the ability to connect capital, operational execution, and resilient business models across the Baltics and Europe.