Global Donut Days 2025 Mexico

Global Donut Days 2025: A tequio of systemic proposals to transition toward a safe and just space.

Driven by the commitment and passion of volunteers, the Coalición Tricolor, together with allies from different sectors, held the third edition of Global Donut Days CDMX from October 14 to 17, 2025, at venues across Mexico City.

This year, the central theme was “A tequio of systemic proposals to transition toward a safe and just space”: four days to imagine, communicate, build, and connect redistributive and regenerative economic alternatives from Mexico to the world.

Tequio, which comes from the Nahuatl tequitl (work or tribute), is a community-based practice of cooperation in which people contribute their labor and resources to build, repair, and care for the territory they inhabit. Its strength lies in many hands coming together for a shared purpose. That collective energy is what was experienced during Global Donut Days 2025 in Mexico City, where participants came from academia, the public and private sectors, and civil society organizations, all interested in driving transitions toward a more just and regenerative economy.

The event’s main objective was to co-design a collaborative infrastructure for change agents that enables the creation, training, planning, implementation, and dissemination of regenerative economic alternatives in Mexico, with local-to-global impact. The result was an event where information was exchanged about public policy challenges; workshops were held to understand what data are still needed to develop viable regenerative value chains; and learnings were shared about organizations and networks that are already generating regenerative actions across Mexico and in Latin America. In addition, the event strengthened the community of people interested in a transition in Mexico and Latin America toward safer and more just spaces, in one of Mexico’s most important cultural venues: Palacio de Bellas Artes, and in a natural area of ecological importance for Mexico City: the Centro de Educación Ambiental Ecoguardas.

This event was created in collaboration with our allies: Escuela de Diseño - Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, Secretaría de Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente CDMX (SEDEMA), Wellbeing Economy Alliance, Grupo SUEMA, Sistema B México, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Huerto Roma Verde, Universidad del Medio Ambiente, Sobrevivientes, Mobox, and Rodada Films. 

14 October | Online

Day 1: Global

The first day was focused on reflecting on the global picture: What is happening around the world with Doughnut Economics and other alternative economies?

The day opened with the launch of the International Doughnut Economics Festival, led by the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, continuing with two panels on theoretical and practical lessons from alternative economic proposals in Latin America. In the first panel, Jimena Reyeros opened the conversation among participants in Latin America by presenting five pillars shared across diverse alternative economic proposals toward sustainability: plurality, questioning economic growth, putting social justice at the center, better relationships between humans and nature, and decolonization.

Frameworks such as Doughnut Economics, el Buen Vivir, the Wellbeing Economy, and the Regenerative Economy were explored. Concrete cases were shared, including the Wellbeing Economy Alliance hub in Costa Rica, the Alianza Regional de Impacto Comercial (RITA) in Argentina, and the work of Shambala in Colombia and Donut Brasil, which have promoted public policies, courses, and economic alliances grounded in regenerative principles and social justice. Discussion also focused on how we not only share challenges related to economic inequality, but also major opportunities, thanks to our socio-ecological richness and our community relationships. To close the day, Carolina Escobar from the Doughnut Economics Action Lab and Simon Ticehurst from the Wellbeing Economy Alliance spoke about the complementarity of their perspectives and the need to build global and local alliances to drive these transitions.

Throughout the conversations, key questions were addressed, such as:

• Why do we need to talk about alternative economies today?
• What models already exist, and what lessons do they offer?
• What are the main challenges and opportunities for these visions in Latin America in the face of the climate and social crisis?
  
  

This day laid the festival’s conceptual foundations and made it possible to connect the Mexican experience with a global community of change agents.

15 October | Palacio de Bellas Artes

Day 2: Communicate

The second day addressed the question, “Where are we in Mexico in this transition toward a safe and just space?” and put data, narratives, and trends to help advance this transition in Mexico.

At Palacio de Bellas Artes, the in-person opening took place, with welcoming remarks from allies from the EDINBA, the Universidad del Medio Ambiente (UMA), UAM Azcapotzalco, and Cambio Natural, who highlighted the importance of bringing together art, academia, and public policy in socio-ecological transitions.

Across the panels, topics included:

• The potential of alternative economies in today’s public policy landscape, including reflections on Plan México and the windows of opportunity for different actors to strengthen policies toward a sustainable future by developing regenerative value proposals in priority economic sectors
• Socio-environmental challenges in strategic sectors, such as the water–energy–agri-food systems nexus, were also discussed, including the opportunities and challenges for multisectoral, multi-actor coordination, governance, leadership, and sustainable investment. Cross-sector learnings were identified to improve natural resource management, so that it can respond to the scale of current needs and to long-standing challenges.

The day concluded with a participatory workshop to identify existing and missing capacities for a transition toward a regenerative and redistributive economy in Mexico, raising questions about training, collaboration, and shared resources.

16 October | Palacio de Bellas Artes

Day 3: Build

The third day focused on the question, “What options do we have?” and on how to bring regenerative ideas into the realm of business and entrepreneurship.

With facilitation from our allies at Sistema B and Sustentabilidad en Energía y Medio Ambiente S.C. (SUEMA), various organizations presented successful cases of regenerative initiatives already working in water, agriculture, waste management, and energy, showing that it is possible to design business models that care for people and the planet at the same time.

We had the participation of government actors from Secretaría de Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente CDMX (SEDEMA) and private-sector companies such as Heineken and ECOCE, who shared the challenges they face in offering sustainable products and services, including:

• Market barriers and consumer culture.
• Limited scope, participation, and engagement in public policy and regulatory frameworks.
• Gaps in infrastructure and access to science and technology.

One of the key sessions was “Capital para Crecer” and “Flip de Donut Pitch”, where the following topics were discussed:

• The types of investment currently available in Mexico for sustainable businesses.
• Existing programs to strengthen green SMEs (PyMEs).
• Financial mechanisms that SMEs (PyMEs) can explore to access sustainable capital.

The day concluded with a mentoring session for PyMEs and students, where various projects received feedback, clarified their value propositions, and established new alliances to continue growing within a more regenerative ecosystem.

17 October | Centro de Educación Ambiental Ecoguardas

Día 4: Connect

The final day was dedicated to connecting: bringing change agents together, listening to their experiences, and building synergies to sustain the work beyond the festival. Participants spent time in a natural area to connect more personally with one another, and also to reconnect with nature within the vast metropolis of Mexico City.

At the Centro de Educación Ambiental Ecoguardas, surrounded by forest, snakes, and butterflies, we held activities focused on culture, dialogue, and networking beyond our specific interests. The setting allowed people from community organizations, public institutions, businesses, academia, and collectives to come together, share learnings, and begin imagining joint projects.

Walks were held with SEDEMA in the protected natural area to connect participants with a purpose beyond everyday life, and to reflect on Mexico City’s past, present, and future. Participants also enjoyed a local producers’ market—with seeds, plants, and food—organized together with Ecopil. Finally, the collective Sobrevivientes led an artistic intervention in which, together with all participants, we painted a mural representing Doughnut Economics and how these sustainable transitions make us feel, capturing in color different visions of a more just and regenerative future. Through this mural, we reflected on the relationships we want to care for—among people and with the nature around us.

Reflections included:

• What kinds of relationships do we want to foster among people and with our natural environment?
• How do we sustain the tequio beyond the event, in the day-to-day work of our territories and organizations?

A tequio that keeps going…

Over four days, around 300 participants from more than 30 institutions, universities, companies, and civil society organizations joined this tequio for a more just and regenerative economy.

Global Donut Days 2025 CDMX showed that Doughnut Economics and alternative economies are not only theoretical frameworks, but living practices already being woven from the local level.

What began as a festival became an invitation: we collaborate for the Mexico we want.

The tequio does not end here. It continues in every alliance, every project, and every decision that brings us closer to a safe and just space for all people, within the limits of the planet.🌎💚

If you’d like to learn more about the initiatives, organizations, and projects in Mexico driving action, and how you can collaborate with the Economías Alternativas México group, check out the videos from GDD and follow us at Coalición Tricolor for more information.  :)