The UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) hosted its Regional Roundtable on Sustainable Finance Europe on October 28–29, 2025, in Brussels, Belgium, with co-hosts AG Insurance and Ageas. This key event played a crucial role in shaping the sustainable finance agenda, driving the transition toward a greener, more just economy, and securing a sustainable future for the region.
As part of UNEP FI’s series of major regional events on sustainable finance in 2025, the Regional Roundtable Europe explored forward-thinking approaches to addressing key sustainability challenges. The event brought together finance professionals to discuss critical issues, including climate mitigation and adaptation, nature and biodiversity risks, regulatory updates in sustainable finance, tackling plastics and pollution, financial health and human rights, and impact and risk management. Participants delved into these discussions, exploring how the financial sector could drive progress toward a more sustainable and resilient future.
Format
The Regional Roundtable Europe 2025 will take place over two days:
Day 1 – High-level plenaries (open access):
Open to the broader sustainable finance community, with priority access for UNEP FI members and event partners, this day featured a series of dynamic high-level dialogues, keynote speeches, and plenary sessions. Participants from across the financial sector—including banks, insurers, investors—as well as policymakers, regulators, civil society and others joined to demonstrate leadership on sustainability. The sessions were livestreamed.
Day 2 – Deep dives (closed-door):
Exclusively for UNEP FI members, partners, and invited stakeholders, Day 2 focused on deep-dive sessions, peer learning, and practical workshops. Held under the Chatham House Rule, these discussions provided space to exchange experiences, share challenges, and explore emerging good practices in sustainable finance.
Contact us for any questions or comments at: roundtable@unepfi.org
The Regional Roundtable Europe 2025 took place over two days:
- Day 1 – High-level plenaries (open access): Open to the wider sustainable finance community, this day featured keynote speeches and panel discussions with leaders across finance, policy, and civil society.
- Day 2 – Deep dives (closed-door): For UNEP FI members and partners, Day 2 offered closed-door workshops and peer learning sessions under the Chatham House Rule.
Day 1 | 28 October 2025 (Public sessions)
| Time (CET) | Session | |
| 8:00 | Welcome breakfast: Participants are invited to the lounge for coffee, tea, fresh fruit, and pastries | |
| 8:50 | Opening ceremony – Auditorium A: Participants are kindly requested to be seated by 08:55 | |
| 8:55 | Bell ceremony officiated by Benoît van den Hove, CEO, Euronext Brussels | |
| 9:00 | Ringing of the bell to open financial markets with Euronext | |
| 9:05 | Opening remarks
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| 9:25 | High-level plenary: Beyond simplification: Next steps for sustainable finance policy
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| 10:15 | Networking break: Please join us in the lounge for coffee, tea, and mid-morning refreshments | |
| 10:45 | High-level plenary: Accelerating change: Key drivers for the real economy transition
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| 11:50 | High-level dialogue: The new frontiers for climate action: Next steps for leadership in finance
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| 12:20 | Lunch | |
| 13:20 | Keynote
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| 13:30 | High-level plenary: Aligning international sustainability frameworks and taxonomies
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| 14:20 | High-level dialogue: Supporting a nature-positive transition
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| 14:50 | Networking break: Please join us in the lounge for coffee, tea, and afternoon refreshments | |
| 15:20 | High-level dialogue: Materiality assessment: Towards a common foundation
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| 15:50 | High-level plenary: Harnessing data and innovation to advance sustainability in finance
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| 16:50 | High-level dialogue: Decarbonising trade in a polarised world
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| 17:20 | Closing speech
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| 17:30 | Networking drinks: Please join us for drinks and informal conversation in the lounge. |
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Day 2 | 29 October 2025 (UNEP FI members’ only deep dive sessions)
| Time (CET) | Start of UNEP FI members’ only deep dive sessions | |
| Deep dive (Auditorium A) | Deep dive (Auditorium B) | |
| 8:00 | Networking breakfast: Participants are invited to the lounge for coffee, tea, fresh fruit, and pastries | |
| 9:00 | Sustainability regulation: Addressing data and reporting challenges
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From waste to wealth: Tackling water and ocean risks through wastewater reuse & pollution solutions
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| 9:50 | Sectoral approaches and policy drivers for net zero
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Human rights due diligence for banks and insurers
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| 10:40 | Networking break: Please join us in the lounge for coffee, tea, and mid-morning refreshments | |
| 11:10 | Energy efficiency finance: from compliance to driving real-economy impact
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Driving finance for sustainable and secure food systems
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| 12:00 | Lunch | |
| 13:00 | Addressing risks to build adaptation and resilience
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Advancing action on plastics and circularity
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| 13:50 | Supporting client transition
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Innovations and new frontiers on healthcare and insurance
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| 14:40 | Networking break: Please join us in the lounge for coffee, tea, and afternoon refreshments | |
| 15:10 | Transition planning for banks and their clients: Challenges and next steps
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Transition planning for insurers: key challenges and opportunities
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| 16:00 | Supporting a just and inclusive transition
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Insurance for nature positive
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| 16:50 | End of UNEP FI Regional Roundtable Europe | |
Co-hosts:
Silver sponsor:
Bronze sponsor:
Partners:
Mark Anderson Sander Biesma Elise Billard Claudine Blamey Richard Boessen Michael Budolfsen Federica Caldarale Sebastian Carneiro Emmanuel Chaponniere Giorgio Chiarion Casoni Anna Chilton Florian Claeys Alex Clark Dimitri Colin Thorbjørn Lundholm Dahl Charlotte Davis Lara de Mesa Chiara Del Prete Babs Dijkshoorn Dimitrios Dimopoulos Luke Disney Esther Egeter Paul Ekins Aurélie Fallon Saint-Lo Elena Flor Giovanni Garcea Silvia Gavornikova Anja Hannerz Irene Heemskerk Maximilian Hempel Kate Hosking Roland Hunziker Deepak Jobanputra Sean Kidney Peter Kindt Irina Kuzmina Mauricio Lazala Leibovich Gill Lofts Grégoire Lusson Signe Andreasen Lysgaard Arnaud Martin Emilio Martin-More Cecile Merme Jonathan Middleton Thomas Millet Carlos Monreal Paloma Muñoz Quick Alison O’ Riordan Elaine O’Brien Michal Piechocki Hacina Py Isabela Ribeiro Damaso Maia Annabel Ross Monika Rybakowska Andrea Saldarriaga Mariam Salmanova Ivo Schmidt Lucia Silva Monty Simus Bram Smolenaers Chelsey Sprong Hubert Strauss Nicole Streuli-Fürst Rustam Tahirov Massimiano Tellini Marco Tormen Benoît van den Hove Jan Vandermosten Wim Vermeir Pauline Vialle Thomas Viegas Daniel Vittrup Makaio Witte Christine Würfel Katarina Zdraljevic Maija Ziemele
Co-Head, Climate Change and Sustainability, UK Export Finance
CEO, NN Re
Head of Climate Strategy, Crédit Agricole SA
Chief Sustainability Officer, Aviva
Principal Digital Reporting, EFRAG
President, UNI Europa Finance
Head of Group Sustainability, Helvetia Insurance
CEO & Co-founder, Solas Capital
Head of Division of Circular Economy and Sustainable Development, European Investment Bank
Director, Directorate C ‘Investment & InvestEU’, DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME (DG GROW), European Commission
Nature Lead, ING
Policy Officer, DG Environment (DG ENV), European Commission
Head of Research, Asset Impact
Policy Officer, Cleantech for Europe
Head of Climate, Nature & Biodiversity, Danske Bank
Human Rights & Modern Slavery Manager, Lloyds Banking Group
Global Head of Responsible Banking, Santander
Chair, Sustainability Reporting TEG, EFRAG
Director of Sustainability, Achmea
Head of ESG, Piraeus Financial Holdings
EVP Sustainability and Lead Climate, Rabobank
Sustainability Manager, a.s.r.
Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, Bartlett School Env, Energy & Resources, University College London
Head of Sustainable Underwriting, AXA
Head of ESG Steering, Intesa Sanpaolo 
Deputy Head of the Climate Finance unit of the Directorate-General for Climate (DG CLIMA), European Commission
Head of Export Credits and Competition Division, OECD
Group Head of Sustainability, Nordea
Head of the Climate Change Centre, European Central Bank
Head of Residential Mortgage Lending, ING Germany
Head, Climate Impact, Barclays UK
Director, Built Environment & Member of the Extended Leadership Group, WBCSD
Chief Sustainability Officer, Vitality
CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative
Global Head Transition Accelerator, ING
Head of Sustainability Area, Baltic Banking Segment Management Corporate, Swedbank Baltics
Chief, Business and Human Rights Section, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Global Financial Services Sustainable Finance Leader, EY
Head of NEST, BNP Paribas Group
Chief Adviser on Business and Human Rights, the Danish Institute for Human Rights
Director Product Development Property, Concepts & Sustainability Non-Life, AG
Director, Sustainability Advocacy, BBVA
Nature Strategy Lead, Groupe BPCE
Programme Manager, Centre for Sustainable Finance at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
Global Head of Human Rights · BNP Paribas
Founder & Chairman, Circular Resources
Director, Human Rights Standards, BSR
Policy Officer, European Commission
Head of Sustainability Risk Management, Swiss Re and PSI Board Member
Senior Vice President, Supervisory Technologies, Regnology
Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Societe Generale
Head, Sustainability & International Portfolio Investors Unit, Banco Central do Brasil
Director, Capital Markets Sustainability, Lloyds Banking Group
Policy Director, Airlines for Europe (A4E)
Technical Director, Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD)
ESG Strategy and Reporting, CaixaBank
Deputy Head, Energy Efficiency Policy and Financing, DG ENER
Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Generali Group – Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.
Global Director, Public Affairs, Policy, and Blue Finance, The Ocean Cleanup
Head of Market & Product Development Health Care, AG Insurance
Head of Sustainability, Beazley
Lead Economist, Housing, Cities and Regions Department, European Investment Bank (EIB)
Co-founder and President, RepRisk
Director, Financial Sector Sustainable Development Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan (CBAR)
Head – Circular Economy, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center
Partnerships Lead, Europe Co-Regional Lead (DACHLi, Northern, Central & Eastern Europe) and Lead on Insurance-Associated Emissions, PCAF
CEO, Euronext Brussels
Senior Policy Specialist, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)
Chief Investment Officer, AG and Ageas
Chief Financial Officer, Schneider Electric BeNe (Belgium, Netherlands)
Nature Strategy Lead, Aviva
Deputy CEO, e-nettet
Head of Sustainable Finance, Sustainable Economic Transformation and Sustainable Finance Global Project, GIZ
Head of Group ESG & Sustainability Management, Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI)
Head of Group Sustainability, ProCredit Group
Sustainability Consultant – Human Rights & Climate, ING