Shaped by experience across government, international organisations, and the private sector, her thinking remains focused on the systems beneath the headlines.
As a board director, a member of the Club of Rome, and an expert within the World Economic Forum’s Global Foresight Network, she operates close to the fault lines of the present, focusing on the conditions under which technology, capital, and governance can evolve without eroding social trust or ecological balance.
In an exclusive conversation with The EcoLeader Magazine to launch our ICONS series, Nadja reflects on the unseen truths of 2025, the currents shaping 2026, and a selection of consciously chosen personal rituals and gifts.
You had a front-row seat to this year’s major shifts through your work with the WEF Global Foresight Network. Looking back, which developments shaped 2025 in ways the public narrative did not yet fully capture?
2025 was a turning point for AI-linked investment. Not only did equity markets surge, but there was also massive debt issuance from large technology and AI infrastructure companies. The risks, however, were real. In high-yield credit markets, AI-related bond issuers underperformed, signalling investor scepticism early on.
Much of the so-called AI boom was not purely driven by breakthrough innovation. It was also fuelled by borrowing, leverage, and complex financing structures, creating fragility should market sentiment shift or business fundamentals weaken.
For me, the untold story of 2025 was the sheer scale of the AI wave. On the surface, it appeared as a technological revolution; beneath it lay a large-scale financial experiment whose long-term stability remains uncertain.
As someone trained to identify long-term patterns, which political, technological, social, or environmental forces will most shape 2026?
Economic security will define the moment, no longer limited to financial stability but increasingly shaped by supply chains, resource independence, defence, and critical infrastructure. Geopolitical shifts and emerging economic realities, partly driven by AI and other transformative technologies, are pushing governments and companies to prioritise resilience over efficiency or cost-cutting.
This shift is likely to lead to renewed investment in national defence programmes, domestic industries, resource security, and strategic infrastructure. AI-driven innovation remains a dominant force, and AI-related capital expenditure, particularly from hyperscalers, is expected to remain high heading into 2026.
AI’s growing power has far-reaching implications for the energy transition and sustainable investment, demanding a pragmatic approach. The next generation of AI data centres requires what I call power at AI speed: reliable, continuous baseload energy such as natural gas or nuclear. Europe’s wind and solar capacity, while affordable and essential, cannot yet fully support ultra-high-density facilities, and battery storage solutions remain underdeveloped.
These data centres also demand advanced cooling systems to manage extreme heat, adding pressure to climate, biodiversity, and pollution challenges.
Scaling AI infrastructure in Europe therefore creates a fundamental tension: expanding AI capacity to remain globally competitive while avoiding outcomes that undermine green energy goals.
I explored this challenge in a detailed paper for UNESCO’s AI programme and am now adapting it into an Oxford Expert Essentials publication to guide investors and asset allocators through the legal, geopolitical, and climate implications of AI data centres. Ultimately, this AI-driven surge in computation will force a fundamental rethink of energy infrastructure, grid design, and regulatory frameworks.
At home in Switzerland, innovation faces additional constraints. After the United States downgraded Switzerland to Tier 2 for AI chip exports in 2024, imports became capped, unlike Germany and France, which retained unlimited access. This is striking, given that Swiss companies are major investors in U.S. chipmakers and that leading technology firms, including Google, conduct significant AI research in Switzerland. These limitations will continue to shape competitiveness across Switzerland and the broader European innovation economy.
You work at the intersection of law, strategy, technology, and governance. What do leaders still underestimate about the complexity of the current moment, and what kind of mindset will be required to navigate 2026 effectively?
Leaders still tend to underestimate that complexity is no longer something that can simply be managed, but rather a condition that must be designed for, and that the instinct to simplify has become a vulnerability.
The years ahead will reward leaders who think in feedback loops, interdependencies, and non-linear risk. Among the blind spots that risk turning into liabilities are the assumption that innovation alone can repair institutional weakness, the belief that public trust scales in a linear way despite widespread scepticism, and the tendency to treat planetary risk as distant rather than structural and immediate.
But the leaders who rise will be responsible system builders, capable of navigating complexity with purpose and foresight.
In 2026, leadership will be defined less by technical fluency and more by systems literacy—an ability to understand and navigate complex, interconnected structures.
Because leadership now also requires what I call “ethical stamina”: going beyond statements of intent to sustained, principled action despite pushbacks and challenges.
And it will demand resource-conscious decision-making, where sustainability shapes strategy rather than simply decorating it.
In 2025, sustainable finance held steady despite political pressure and global uncertainty. Where do you see genuine progress, and where will the critical tests come into focus in 2026?
Sustainable finance is moving from niche portfolios to core capital allocation. It now encompasses opportunities across private equity, private credit, infrastructure, and green bonds—not just public equity ESG funds.
This evolution allows capital to reach the “real economy”: clean energy projects, grid modernization, energy storage, water and ecosystem services, and waste and materials infrastructure. The focus is on companies and technologies tackling tangible challenges—reducing costs, improving reliability, and enhancing resilience. Meeting the net-zero economy target will require massive investment—roughly $75 trillion globally over the coming decades—which makes sustainable finance a long-term, large-scale driver of change.
Yet risks remain. Sustainable investing must now deliver genuine, risk-adjusted returns, not just the usual ESG-themed portfolios.
Firms or funds that rely solely on “green” branding without strong fundamentals, or that chase early-stage, expensive technologies, may see capital outflows, particularly against a backdrop of high interest rates, inflationary pressures, and shifting trade and geopolitical dynamics heading into 2026.
What is on your sustainable Christmas shopping list this year?
I have long admired fashion designer Gabriela Hearst, not only for her sculptural designs but for the philosophy behind them. Meeting her this year at the Paris Peace Forum transformed admiration into resonance, as she described her supply chain as a form of stewardship rather than logistics. Her commitment ensures that women across Latin America earn a living wage that offers economic independence and protection from cycles of domestic abuse.
So yes, my holiday shopping began early this year, starting with myself: a sculptural Gabriela Hearst Nina Bag in serpent green.
I don’t buy accessories—I buy statements of intent. Purpose eclipses every luxury.
Back home in Switzerland, Nicolas Rochat’s Mover Plastic Free Sportswear brings conscience to high-performance gear. Swiss-merino lined and entirely plastic-free, down to the buttons and linings, each piece is engineered for peak functionality without ethical compromise. If you find yourself in Lausanne, I encourage you to make time for Nicolas’s other understated masterpiece, MYO, his sustainably minded sushi restaurant and one of Europe’s most thoughtful tables.
The boys in the family will receive House of Marley audio pieces crafted from bamboo and biodegradable materials. It is remarkable what the circular economy can achieve, transforming reclaimed resources into sound systems with exceptional acoustics and proving that impact can resonate as beautifully as music itself.
I love gifting experiences over things, which is why subscriptions are among my favourite go-tos: no packaging, no shipping, just joy delivered directly.
This year’s selection feels particularly nourishing. The Class blends strength and mindfulness and changed me after an in-person session in New York. Cabana Magazine feeds my love for expressive interiors, while The Plant, a bi-annual publication part art book, part magazine, part botanical dream, celebrates greenery and the creative universes it inspires through lush photography, thoughtful essays, and unexpected juxtapositions.
In our immediate family, we have a tradition of gifting one another’s work, a way of keeping milestones visible, whether forged in business or the arts. As the family’s unofficial curatrice d’expériences, I ensure no achievement goes unnoticed.
This year, I am sharing the work of my cousin Lucile Hadzihalilovic, one of the most captivating voices in French cinema. Her new film, The Ice Tower (2025), is a spellbinding blend of eerie imagination and 1970s gothic glamour, starring Marion Cotillard. The story follows a young girl who escapes her orphanage in the Alps and unwittingly wanders onto a film set adapting Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Hidden inside the studio, she becomes entranced by Cristina, played by Marion, the magnetic and tyrannical leading lady. In a life-meets-cinema twist, my brother-in-law Gaspar Noé appears as the pompous director in a tragically ill-fitting wig.
I missed the premiere, so I am hosting a watch party in Geneva just before Christmas, and for those farther away, a ticket into Lucile’s world will arrive by subscription.
This conversation marks the beginning of a longer collaboration.
ICONS offers orientation in a culture increasingly preoccupied with visibility.
Readers interested in Nadja Skaljic’s ongoing work and thinking can follow her on LinkedIn to explore the perspectives and initiatives she continues to shape.
