Natural Capital Investment Americas 2024

Chair’s welcoming remarks

Genevieve Redgrave, Reporter, Environmental Finance

Keynote address: Pricing the priceless – the essential paradox and potential of investing and valuing nature

Speaker:
Paula DiPerna, Author and Strategic Environmental Policy/Philanthropic Advisor

Panel: Seizing opportunities in nature-related investment and nature-based solutions

• What does a nature-positive investment look like?
• What innovations are taking place in nature-based solutions and how are corporates approaching the topic?
• How impactful can nature-based and biodiversity investments be? What are the challenges? What are the risks and opportunities?
• How are established players in timberland, water, carbon, etc evolving with a focus on biodiversity?
• The climate-nature nexus and how nature can be understood within the context of transition finance

Moderator:
Dan Keeler, Chief Communications Officer, Newday Impact

Panellists:
Curtis Ravenel, Senior Advisor, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)
Gautier Quéru, Managing Director, Natural Capital, Mirova
Matthew Potts, Chief Science Officer, Carbon Direct
Rahul Barua, Director, Climate Finance Innovation, Salesforce
Vicki Benjamin, Co-Founder and CEO, Karner Blue Capital, and Chief Financial Officer, Boston Common Asset Management 

Panel: Understanding biodiversity portfolio risks and disclosure of nature-related impacts and dependencies

• How can nature-positive dependencies be measured and reported? 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 or enhance positive impacts?
• How do you screen for both risk and investment opportunities?
• What are the latest voluntary and mandatory developments for nature-related impacts and dependencies? Is the work of TNFD being integrated into disclosure efforts in the Americas?
• What can be learned from the early adopters of TNFD?

Moderator:
Elizabeth Aceituno, Private Sector Finance Lead, WWF US

Panellists:
Alex Bashian, Director, Innovative Finance, The Rockefeller Foundation
Brandon Lewis, Director, Sustainability, Timberland and Agriculture, Manulife Investment Management
Monique Ewerton, Senior Officer, Capital Markets, CDP
Thomas Moran, Vice President and Head of Biodiversity Products, GIST Impact

Panel: The power of family offices and impact investors

• How family offices and dedicated impact investors approaching the topic of nature and biodiversity?
• What conversations are taking place between such investor types and third-party asset managers?
• What more could be done to mobile and activate pools of capital and private wealth in North America?
• How can engagement efforts from family offices help drive innovation and investment in early-stage nature-based solutions and technologies?
• When will we start to see other types of institutional investors in North America embrace the topic?

Moderator:
Dipti Pratt, Managing Director, Global Membership, Head of Americas, Toniic

Panellists:
John Grossman, Manager, Xancharlize Ventures
Kevin Webb, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Superorganism
Hanson Gong, Managing Partner, Oogway Capital
Ruben Hernandez, Founding Partner, Full Spectrum Capital Partners

Fireside chat: Unpacking the potential of regen-ag and transformational approaches to food production

• How can investors seize the biggest NBS opportunity out there?
• How do you generate returns in a fund?
• Deciphering food chains and reconfiguring supply chains to value nature
• What are the options for innovative insurance structures, offtakes agreements and supporting farmers? How will the cost of regen-ag be passed on?
• How difficult is it to move from a climate adaptation-based approach to including nature?

Moderator:
Genevieve Redgrave, Reporter, Environmental Finance

Speaker:
Atish Babu, Senior Vice President, Agriculture Capital 

Panel: The power of timberland to manage landscapes for optimal returns and sustainability outcomes

• How have the main trends in forestry investments evolved?
• What are the options for additional revenue streams that prioritise sustainability and facilitative net zero impacts?
• How are technological innovations transforming how landscapes are understood and co-benefits/impacts are measured? How do such innovations plug into standards and integrity initiatives?
• Engaging with local communities and indigenous people as custodians of landscapes
• How are carbon projects as source of investment revenue evolving in line with wider market and investor preferences?
• Is a tension arising between increased timber demand and a drive for more carbon offsetting projects? Will timberland projects be taking offline as demand for credits increases?

Moderator:
Peter Cripps, Editor, Environmental Finance

Panellists:
Chris Martin, Portfolio Manager, Americas Private Natural Capital, APG Asset Management
Jeff Briggs, Managing Director, North America, New Forests
Jillian Dyszynski, Director of Market Development, American Forest Foundation

Fireside chat: Voluntary carbon markets – the latest developments

• Integrity of voluntary carbon markets and building confidence
• How are methodologies and initiatives progressing?
• Will the carbon market rebound this year?

Moderator:
Genevieve Redgrave, Reporter, Environmental Finance

Speaker:
Robin Rix, Chief Legal, Policy and Markets Officer, Verra

Panel: Biodiversity credits – integrity at the forefront

• What is the potential for this embryonic market, and what obstacles does it face?
• What standards are being developed and what is the methodology behind them?
• What will the supply of credits be like?
• What are the opportunities for investors and corporates in this space?
• Should there be secondary trading?
• How can indigenous people and local communities be a part of the conversation and the preservation of biodiversity?
• What lessons can be learned from carbon markets? Are the additional costs of biodiversity outcomes off-putting to investors?

Moderator:
Julia Santander, Managing Director Investments, EcoEnterprises Fund

Panellists:
Felipe Carazo, Head of Public Sector Engagement & Head of Alliance Management, Tropical Forest Alliance
Megan Reilly Cayten, Senior Investment Manager, Climate Asset Management
Ñawi Flores, Founder, Kinray Hub and Representative, Savimbo
Timothy Male, Executive Director, Environmental Policy Innovation Center and Task Force Member Biodiversity Credit Alliance

Fireside chat: Debt-for-nature swaps and blue finance

• How are such deals being structures and received by the market?
• When will such transactions be more available to mainstream investors?
• What other thematic areas could debt-for-nature swaps be applied to?
• Blue bonds: How else are investors approaching opportunities to invest in the blue economy?
• How can such opportunities be structured to reach the scale needed to attract mainstream investors?
• How do you scale investment opportunities with integrity and impact in mind?

Moderator:
Peter Cripps, Editor, Environmental Finance

Speakers:
Karen Sack, Executive Director, Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance
Samy Muaddi, Head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income, T Rowe Price

Fireside chat: Highlights of Nature Action 100 engagements and company benchmark preview

Moderator:
Allan Pearce, Director of Engagement Strategies, Food and Forests, Ceres

Speaker:
Mary Beth Gallagher, Director of Engagement, Domini Impact Investments

Panel: The next frontier – closing the climate and biodiversity finance gap with sustainable investment and nature-based solutions

• How can private sector finance in the global north be effectively routed to the global south for maximum impact?
• What lessons can be learned from climate finance?
• How are blended finance structures being created?
• Should DFIs/MDBs be playing a bigger role in nature-based solutions?

Moderator:
Genevieve Redgrave, Reporter, Environmental Finance

Speakers:
Edwina McKechnie, Executive Vice President, Corporate Engagement, Emergent Climate/LEAF Coalition
Joan Oriol Prats, Principal Financial Specialist in the Connectivity, Markets and Finance Division, Inter-American Development Bank
Prasad Ananthakrishnan, Unit Chief of Climate Finance Policy Unit, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund