Through a video message, the head of the Portuguese Government and the European commissioner responsible for the European Ecological Pact will mark the opening session of the high-level conference "Climate Change - New Economic Models", organised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action in the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. According to a note released by the organisation, this event aims to discuss "the contribution of new economic models, including the circular economy and the sustainable bioeconomy", in combating climate change and, simultaneously, in promoting "an economic and social recovery, fair and equitable, within the limits of the natural system ".

The international conference will be attended by 17 experts and authors, including the president and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Peter Bakker, the international bioeconomy expert Christian Patermann, the director of the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Program, Pedro Conceição, Secretary of State for the Environment, Inês Costa, Ricardo Mourinho Felix, vice president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and writer Mia Couto. The main speaker is Mariana Mazzucato, and economist and professor at University College London.

Those responsible for the environment portfolio of the countries that make up the trio of presidencies, namely Germany's Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Svenja Schulze, Slovenia's Minister for Environment and Space Planning, Andrej Vizjak, Minister for the Environment and the Climate Action of Portugal, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, closed the conference. At the end, Minister João Pedro Matos Fernandes will give a press conference.