Global Child Forum brings business leaders to the Royal Palace to put children at the heart of corporate decision-making

On 13 October, Global Child Forum will convene senior business leaders, investors and experts at the Royal Palace in Stockholm to address a growing business challenge: how can companies better recognise children as stakeholders in the decisions shaping markets, societies and the future economy?

Hosted on behalf of Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, Global Child Forum 2026 will bring together leaders from business and investment for candid discussion on how children’s rights can be more systematically integrated into corporate strategy, governance and risk.

Under the theme “The Shifting Stakeholder – Why children, why now?”, this year’s Forum starts from a simple premise: children are impacted by decisions across workplaces, supply chains, products, digital environments, communities and the environment, yet they seldom have a voice in the processes companies use to understand those impacts.

“Children are affected by business decisions every day, but they rarely have a seat at the table when those decisions are made,” said Ekin Ergün Björstedt, Secretary General of Global Child Forum.

“The Forum is about changing that perspective – helping leaders recognise children not as a separate issue, but as stakeholders whose rights and experiences need to be considered in the same processes companies already use to understand risk, impact and opportunity.”

From dialogue to business decisions

The Forum will focus on what this means in practice: how business leaders and investors can better identify where children are affected and bring that perspective into strategy and decision-making.

The programme brings together voices from business, investment and science, including Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; Helena Helmersson, former CEO of H&M Group; Javiera Ragnartz, CEO of SEB Asset Management; Johan Öberg, Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group; Jenny Lindén Urnes, Chair of Lindéngruppen; and Jessica Anderen, CEO of IKEA Foundation.

The 2026 Children’s Rights & Business Benchmark will also be presented during the Forum, providing new global evidence on how companies identify, manage and report their impact on children.

Why children – and why now?

Children and young people are affected by decisions made today, but their interests can be difficult to capture within traditional corporate stakeholder and risk processes.

For Global Child Forum, the challenge is therefore not to create an entirely separate system for children’s rights, but to make sure children are considered within the systems companies already use to assess impact, risk and long-term value.

“The question is not whether every business decision is a children’s rights issue,” added Björstedt. “It is whether companies are asking the right questions early enough to understand when children may be affected. That is where leadership begins.”

Global Child Forum 2026 will take place at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on 13 October 2026. Attendance is by invitation only.

More information about the Forum and speakers can be found here.