Natural Capital Investment Americas 2023

25 September 2023, New York

Agenda

08:00

Workshop: REDD+ Sovereign Carbon Credits Bootcamp  

Many tropical rainforest countries are winning their battle against deforestation. Nations, like Gabon, Papua New Guinea, Belize and others, don't have a strong industrial base, yet they are prioritising climate leadership over economic growth. Instead of profiting from issuing government concessions to deforest for commercial agriculture and timber, these countries are focused on the preservation of their forests.

Recognising the importance of rainforests, the Paris Agreement included a framework that rewards countries for taking action to slow, stop, and reverse global deforestation. Its name is Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) and is the real REDD+.

The UNFCCC REDD+ framework was designed to compensate developing nations for reversing deforestation at national level and eventually conserving their forests - and comes with a strict set of requirements to be met by each nation before sovereign credits can be issued. Yet few financial institutions and corporations are aware of it and the REDD+ sovereign carbon credits that can now be purchased.

Join this one-hour workshop to learn about REDD+ sovereign carbon credits and how to purchase them:

  • History of UNFCCC REDD+
  • REDD+ Measuring, Reporting & Verification (MRV) System and the role of UNFCCC experts
  • 12-step REDD+ sovereign carbon credit process
  • Why REDD+ sovereign carbon credits are high quality
  • How to purchase REDD+ sovereign carbon

The workshop will utilise freely available resources, such as REDD+ Sovereign Carbon Credits Buyers Guide and video.

Led by:

Federica Bietta, Managing Director, Coalition for Rainforest Nations
Kevin Conrad, Executive Director, Coalition for Rainforest Nations

09:00

Chair’s welcoming remarks

Genevieve Redgrave, Reporter, Environmental Finance

09:05

Keynote panel: Natural capital investment across the Americas

  • How impactful can nature-based and biodiversity investments be?
  • What are the risks and opportunities?
  • How is anti-ESG sentiment impacting the discussion?
  • How are established players in timberland, water, carbon etc evolving with the focus on biodiversity?
  • How to integrate approaches across landscapes
  • How does nature interact with net-zero transitions?

Moderator:
Peter Cripps, Editor, Environmental Finance

Panellists:
Charlotte Kaiser, Head of Impact Finance, BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group
José Pugas, Partner and Head of Responsible Investments and Engagement, JGP Asset Management
Megan Reilly Cayten, Senior Investment Manager, Climate Asset Management
Robert Hagler, Portfolio Manager, New Forests

 

09:50

Fireside chat: Indigenous communities as custodians of natural capital

• How can community impacts and indigenous peoples be a part of the conversation?

Moderator:
Robert Hagler, Portfolio Manager, New Forests
Speaker:
Javier Kinney, Carbon Project Manager, Yurok Tribe

10:10

Panel: The ‘need-to-knows’ for nature-related and biodiversity portfolio risks and opportunities

  • How are different investor types approaching the topic of nature and biodiversity?
  • What conversations are taking place between asset owners and third-party asset managers?
  • How is biodiversity risk understood and measured? What are the data challenges and what solutions are data providers offering in this space?
  • How do you leverage data to invest in asset classes or reduce negative impacts and enhance positive impacts?
  • How do you screen for both risk and investment opportunities?

Moderator:
Gretel Gambarelli, Senior Manager, Food & Forest Finance, World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Panellists:
Dipti Pratt, Managing Director, Global Membership, Toniic
David Bi,
Vice President, ESG Investment, Global Fixed Income, BlackRock
Gwen Busby, Head of Research and Strategy, Nuveen Natural Capital
Matthieu Maurin, CEO and Co-Founder, Iceberg Data Lab

10:55

Morning networking break

Carbon markets and nature-based solutions

11:25

Keynote fireside chat: The Paris Agreement and sovereign REDD+ – how will the market grow in importance as Article 6 evolves?

Moderator:
Kevin Conrad, Executive Director, Coalition for Rainforest Nations

Speaker:
Lucky Halach Medina Estrada, Minister of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment, Government of Honduras

 

11:45

Panel: Voluntary carbon markets – the latest developments

  • Integrity of voluntary carbon markets and building confidence
  • What methodologies and initiatives are being developed?
  • Is the media attention putting off investors and corporates?

Moderator:
Genevieve Redgrave, Reporter, Environmental Finance

Panellists:
Ana Carolina Avzaradel Szklo, Technical Director – Markets and Standards, VCMI
Caitlin Kelly, Regional Senior Manager, Climate Projects, North America, SouthPole
Curtis Ravenel, Senior Advisor, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)
Eric Cooperström, Managing Director, Impact Investing and Natural Climate Solutions, Manulife Investment Management

 

12:30

Panel: Project development and financing at scale

  • How are nature-based projects being developed at scale?
  • Creating investable deals and project pipeline development
  • What challenges are there and how have been overcome?
  • Working with investors and financial institutions to create mechanisms for financing
  • How can gaps in early-stage finance be bridged?
  • What project types are attracting the most interest from investors? What monetisation options are there?
  • What social and cultural impacts should also be taken into account?
  • Placing forest communities at the heart of generating carbon credits

Moderator:
Rich Fitton, Investment Director, Finance Earth

Panellists:
Gordon Vermeer, Chief Financial Officer, Blue Forest Conservation
MaryKate Bullen, Director, Sustainability & ESG, Forest Investment Associates
Matthew Potts, Chief Science Officer, Carbon Direct
Robert Hall, Director, Earth Systems Impact Investment, Federated Hermes

13:25

Lunch

Regulation and industry building initiatives

14:15

Panel: Regulation and reporting – what is coming down the track?

  • Are nature-related disclosures an inevitability?
  • TCFD to TNFD, SBTI to SBTN and net-zero and nature: what can investors expect as the focus shifts to nature-based dependencies and impacts?
  • Where does ISSB fit into this?
  • How are corporates and investors reacting to the Global Biodiversity Framework?
  • How can nature-positive dependencies be measured and reported?
  • Is the Inflation Reduction Act driving capital in the US? What are the natural capital implications and impacts of the supply chain transformations that could occur?

Moderator:
Elizabeth Aceituno, Sustainable Finance, WWF Finance
Panellists:
Monique Ewerton, Senior Officer, Capital Markets Engagement, CDP North America
Neil Stewart, Director of Corporate Outreach, IFRS
Niamh McCarthy, Director of Climate-Related Risk, Climate Advisers
Robert Clapham, Senior Analyst, Karner Blue Capital

15:00

Fireside chat: Nature Action 100 and the power of nature-based engagement initiatives

  • How are engagement efforts progressing?
  • How are corporates responding?
  • What is Nature Action 100 hoping to achieve relative to its climate counterpart?
  • What unique challenges does it face?

Moderator:
Norah Berk, Senior Program Manager, Nature, Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)

Speakers:
Mary Beth Gallagher, Director of Engagement, Domini Impact Investments
Leslie Samuelrich, President, Green Century

15:30

Afternoon networking break

Innovation showcase

15:55

Panel: Investing in the blue economy

  • How are such deals being structures and received by the market?
  • What is involved in identifying the opportunities available?
  • Challenges and lesson learned
  • How are investors approaching opportunities to invest in the blue economy?
  • What guidance has been issued for investors thinking about opportunities in this space?

Moderator:
Vincent Huck, Editor, Insurance Asset Risk & Corporate Disclosures

Panellists:
Erik Wandrag, CEO, Oceans Finance Company
Jennifer Pryce, CEO, Calvert Impact
Rolando Morillo, Portfolio Manager, Thematic Investing; Senior Vice President, Rockefeller Asset Management 
Ramzi Issa, Managing Director, Head of Credit IP Structuring, Credit Suisse

16:40

Fireside chat: Biodiversity credits

  • What is the future for driving finance towards biodiversity restoration and expansion?
  • How do proposed biodiversity credits compare with the established mitigation banking market?
  • What standards are being developed and what is the methodology behind them?
  • How might they be financed and utilised? Will they fungible?
  • What are the opportunities for investors and corporates in this space?

Moderator:
Annabelle Palmer, Content Strategist, Environmental Finance

Speaker:
Sinclair Vincent, Director of Sustainable Development Innovation, Verra

 

17:00

Panel: Making an impact with blended finance

  • How are blended finance structures being created?
  • What different pools of capital can be aggregated?
  • How do you scale with integrity and impact in mind?

Moderator:
Annabelle Palmer, Content Strategist, Environmental Finance

Panellists:
Ekaterina Gratcheva, Advisor on Climate and Sustainable Finance, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF
Tanja Havemann, Director & Co-Founder, Clarmondial
Viviane Romeiro, Director of Climate & Energy & Sustainable Finance, Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS)

 

17:40

Close of conference and networking drinks reception

Gold sponsors

Silver sponsors

Bronze sponsors