Filipino sustainability champion named to World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders 2026

Filipino sustainability advocate Carlo Chen-Delantar has been named to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Young Global Leaders (YGL) Class of 2026, joining a select group of under-40 leaders recognized for shaping the future across industries and regions.

Chen-Delantar is the only Filipino included in this year’s cohort, which features 118 leaders from 54 countries.

“I am deeply grateful for this recognition and humbled to be in the company of so many remarkable leaders. But I also feel the weight of how much work remains. I have seen what it looks like when communities bear the cost of environmental degradation without the systems or resources to recover from it. That reality is what drives me and the work done by Sustina,” Chen-Delantar said in a statement.

“We are still building the foundations that will determine whether sustainability becomes real for the people who need it most,” he added.

The YGL community, established by the WEF in 2004, selects fewer than 120 leaders annually from thousands of global nominees.

Its alumni include prominent figures such as Amal Clooney, Jacinda Ardern, Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelensky, and business leaders like Sergey Brin and Jack Ma.

Chen-Delantar follows a line of Filipino changemakers recognized by the forum, including Masungi Georeserve’s Ann Dumaliang, who was part of the Class of 2025.

In total, only over 20 Filipinos have received the distinction, including Senator Bam Aquino in 2006, Karen Davila in 2010, and Cherrie Atilano in 2020.

A partner and head of sustainability at Gobi Partners, Chen-Delantar oversees sustainability initiatives across a venture capital portfolio managing $1.7 billion in assets, with more than 400 companies across 20 funds.

Since 2021, he has led the deployment of over $200 million in investments across 17 Asian markets, becoming the first from the venture capital sector with a dedicated sustainability mandate to join the YGL ranks.

His work has consistently bridged sustainability and economic growth.

In 2018, he launched Circulo, the Philippines’ first circular economy initiative, supported by the British Council and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and it now operates under nonprofit Sustina, where he serves as a trustee, focusing on transparency, accountability, and advancing circular economy programs in the country.

Beyond the corporate space, Chen-Delantar has worked closely with grassroots communities. 

As founding country director and now chairperson of Waves for Water Philippines, he helped expand access to clean water for more than two million Filipinos, earning both the Presidential Development Award and the Presidential Bayanihan Award.

He has also represented the Philippines in global discussions, including WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos and the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian.

His recognitions include being named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia and serving as co-chair of the WEF Global Shapers Climate Action Steering Committee from 2018 to 2021.

Among his fellow inductees this year are Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, Nord Security CEO Tomas Okmanas, Olympic gold medalist Thea LaFond, WIZ.AI co-founder Jennifer Zhang, and Northwestern University professor Sally Nuamah. —Carby Rose Basina/JCB, GMA News