By Sofia Santos Incorporating climate risk into the State Budget is no longer a technical option — it has become a requirement of sound financial governance. Extreme wildfires, prolonged droughts, sudden floods, recurring storms and heat waves already affect productivity, tax revenues, public expenditure and the sovereign cost of capital. Ignoring these impacts is, in practice, “under-budgeting” the future and overburdening taxpayers when crises occur. The first component is

The simplifications introduced by the Omnibus package have reduced the granularity of some requirements, but they have not eliminated the need to disclose a complete, credible, and coherent plan. By Sofia Santos, CEO of Systemic In a context of increasingly demanding climate targets and growing pressure from banks to assess the climate alignment of their clients, Transition Plans now play a central role. They are no longer a reputational exercise but have become strategic ins

Angela Lucas, Executive Partner at strategic consulting firm Systemic, is one of the personalities invited to join the jury for the Sustainable Finance category in the 6th edition of the National Sustainability Award, promoted by Jornal de Negócios. With a career marked by a commitment to sustainability and innovation in the financial sector, Angela Lucas will evaluate initiatives, services, projects, or financial products that include sustainability criteria in their charact

While the state continues to struggle between emergency responses and insufficient planning, companies must integrate climate risk into their business risk management. Recent storms in Portugal have once again exposed the fragility of climate risk management, revealing that much of the damage results less from the intensity of extreme events and more from a lack of planning and adaptation. Studies and experts have insisted that the country continues to focus primarily on reac

In recent years, Portuguese politics has shown clear signs of transformation. The growing fragmentation of the electorate and the perception that traditional solutions no longer respond to complex social, economic, and environmental challenges have led many citizens to seek alternatives. Although the growth of Chega has been widely discussed, reducing this demand for change to the phenomenon of the radical right ignores a deeper movement: the desire for innovative, local, coo

Living in a democracy means assuming responsibility for respecting the truth. Freedom of choice does not legitimise lies or manipulation. At a decisive electoral moment, what is at stake is not the old left–right dichotomy, but the defence of integrity against narratives that distort facts and undermine public trust. Democracy requires leaders who honour it, not those who exploit it. It requires leaders capable of remaining calm in times of turbulence, and capable of acting w