UNEP FI Global Roundtable 2024

UNEP FI hosted its 18th Global Roundtable on 10-11 December in Geneva, Switzerland and online. The flagship event focused on accelerating practical approaches to setting and implementing targets in areas including net zero, nature, impact, pollution, human rights, and financial inclusion to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

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UNEP FI’s biennial Global Roundtable (GRT) is a key event for driving action within the finance industry, offering thousands of professionals the chance to collaborate with peers and gain insights from global leaders. The GRT convenes a diverse group of stakeholders, including banks, insurers, investors, regulators, policymakers, and civil society, to collectively shape the sustainable finance agenda and catalyse action across the financial system to deliver more sustainable global economies for years to come.

UNEP FI and Building Bridges joined forces

This year, the Global Roundtable was held under the same roof as Building Bridges (9-12 December), a powerful movement that brings 2500+ attendees from 100+ countries from the finance and corporate sectors, governments, civil society, academia, and sustainable development communities to Geneva annually, to shape the global sustainable finance agenda and build a bridge towards a global economic model that meets the needs of a sustainable and just society. Find out more about Building Bridges 2024 here.

We invite you to explore the Global Roundtable 2024 agenda below. In parallel, the Building Bridges Action Days will take place from 10–12 December at the same venue. As a participant of the GRT, you will also have full access to the Building Bridges Action Days, featuring 65+ crowd-sourced sessions, offering a wide array of interactive formats such as panel discussions, workshops, fishbowl conversations, trainings, and case studies. To explore the Building Bridges Action Days program, click here.

Time (CET)	Joint sessions: Global Roundtable X Building Bridges
09:00	BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS Opening remarks Room A Eric Usher, Head, UNEP FI Patrick Odier, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Lombard Odier Group and Chair, Building Bridges
09:15	FIRESIDE CHAT Accelerating systems change through finance Room A Rémy Rioux, CEO, French Development Agency (AFD) Moderator: Nik Gowing, Founder and Co-Director, Thinking the Unthinkable
09:30	FIRESIDE CHAT Wisdom from the Elders: The Right to a Resilient Future Room A Elisabeth Stern, Board Member, KlimaSeniorinnen Mary Robinson, Chair, The Elders & former President of Ireland, & former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Moderator: Nik Gowing, Founder and Co-Director, Thinking the Unthinkable
09:50	PLENARY PANEL How finance drives the sustainability agenda forward Room A Anja Hannerz, Chief Sustainability Officer, Nordea Antonio Carrillo Doblado, Vice-President of Sustainability, Holcim Claudine Blamey, Chief Sustainability Officer, Aviva Shargiil Bashir, Chief Sustainability Officer & Executive Vice President, First Abu Dhabi Bank Thomas Brauchle, Head of Sustainability, Siemens Financial Services Moderator: Raj Kumar, President & Editor-in-Chief, Devex

Time (CET)	Opening of the UNEP FI Global Roundtable Room D
10:50	OPENING SESSION Opening dialogue with Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme Room D Facilitated by Eric Usher, Head, UNEP FI
11:05	MESSAGE Message from Christiana Figueres, Founder, Global Optimism Room D
11:10	PLENARY PANEL Driving change through responsible banking and sustainable insurance Room D Jean-François Chalifoux, President and CEO, Beneva Patrick Odier, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Lombard Odier Group and Chair, Building Bridges Patty Karuaihe-Martin, Managing Director, NamibRe Ralph Opara, Group Head, Commercial Banking Division, Access Bank Moderator: Liesel van Ast, Deputy Head, UNEP FI
12:00	HIGH-LEVEL PANEL Accelerating the real economy transition Room D Elisabeth Skorna, Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President Finance, DACH, Schneider Electric Hacina Py, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Societe Generale Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard, Director of the Sustainable Enterprises, Productivity and Just Transition Department, International Labour Organization (ILO) Moderator: Maria Sosa Taborda, Membership and Regional Co-ordination Manager, UNEP FI
12:40	MESSAGE Message from H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, President, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UN Climate Change High-Level Champion Room D
12:45	FIRESIDE CHAT Bringing nature to the heart of finance Room D Kirsten Schuijt, Director General, WWF International Eric Usher, Head, UNEP FI
13:05	Lunch
	Start of Deep Dive sessions
14:00	DEEP DIVE SESSION 1 Embedding biodiversity concerns across portfolios Room D Antoni Ballabriga, Global Head of Sustainability Intelligence & Advocacy, BBVA Christine Lee, Director, Climate and Nature Risk Product Development and Management, S&P Global Sustainable1 Kirsten Schuijt, Director General, WWF International Lauren Ferstandig, Managing Director, NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy Makoto Haraguchi, SVP of Sustainability Section, MS&AD Insurance Group Moderator: Jessica Smith, Lead, Nature, UNEP FI	DEEP DIVE SESSION 2 Mobilising finance for energy efficiency Room C Dirk Bartsch, Head of ESG, Berlin Hyp Grace Tam, Head of Consumer Finance, Clean Energy Finance Corporation Luca Bertalot, Secretary General, European Mortgage Federation – European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC) Nathalie Larrousé, Associate Director, Green Financial Systems, Head of Green Capital Markets, EBRD Moderator: Ana Bachurova, Energy Efficiency Lead, UNEP FI
15:00	DEEP DIVE SESSION 3 Next steps to implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework Room D Deborah Halberstadt, Special Advisor to the Commissioner on Biodiversity and Inclusive Insurance, California Department of Insurance Lisa Eichler, Head of Physical Risk & Natural Solutions, MSCI Paul Harris, Sustainable Product Innovation Lead, Bank of Ireland Saori Takahashi, Manager, Sustainability Management, Corporate Strategy Group, The Norinchukin Bank Susanne Pedersen, Director, Science and Knowledge Centre, IUCN Moderator: Romie Goedicke, Co-Lead Nature, UNEP FI	DEEP DIVE SESSION 4 Mobilising sustainable finance in emerging markets Room C Alejandra Díaz, Chief Sustainability Officer, Banco Davivienda and Seguros Bolívar Johannes Hermanus De Wit, Vice President, Executive Board Member, Head of Retail, Bank of Beijing Ralph Opara, Group Head, Commercial Banking Division, Access Bank Simon Bessant, Global Head of Insurance and Director, The Texel Group Moderator: Nirnita Talukdar, Asia Pacific Lead, UNEP FI
16:00	DEEP DIVE SESSION 5 Driving interoperability between sustainable finance taxonomies Room D Caroline Wellemans, Head of Unit, Sustainable Finance Policy – DG INTPA, European Commission Clémence Humeau, Head of Sustainability Coordination and Governance, AXA Investment Managers Madelena Mohamed, Sustainability Director, Bank Negara Malaysia Makaio Witte, Head of Sustainable Finance, Sustainable Economic Transformation and Sustainable Finance Global Project, GIZ Tomás Soley Pérez, General Superintendent, General Superintendence of Insurance of Costa Rica (SUGESE) Moderator: Sean Kidney, CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative	DEEP DIVE SESSION 6 Just transition: Incorporating human rights into climate finance Room C Carlos José Santos Lardé, Sustainability Manager, Banco Bolivariano Dorothée Baumann-Pauly, Director, Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights Masaaki Nagamura, Fellow International Initiatives, Tokio Marine Nick Robins, Executive Director, Just Transition Finance Lab, LSE Moderator: Joana Pedro, Social Lead, UNEP FI
17:00	DEEP DIVE SESSION 7 Mainstreaming impact management Room D Mark Gough, CEO, Capitals Coalition Noelia Garcia, Head of Sustainability, ISO Olivier Wibo, Sustainable Finance Solutions Product Manager, Bloomberg Susan Stawicki, Head of Reporting, UN Global Compact Vincent Siegerink, Economist, OECD WISE Centre Moderator: Careen Abb, SDGs and Impact Lead, UNEP FI	DEEP DIVE SESSION 8 Tackling plastics and promoting circularity to achieve sustainability goals Room C Clemence Schmid, Director, Global Plastics Action Partnership, World Economic Forum Filipe Camaño Garcia, Manager, Global Circularity Protocol, WBCSD Franco Piza, Head of Sustainability, Grupo Bancolombia Lauren Clarke-Wiest, Head of Data and Analytics, Aon Massimiano Tellini, Head – Circular Economy, Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center Moderator: Jan Raes, Finance and Plastics Lead, UNEP FI
18:00	End of Day 1

Time (CET)	Day 2
09:55	Opening keynote Room D Professor Paul Ekins, Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
10:10	PLENARY PANEL Supporting global sustainability ambition through policy and regulation Room D Geetu Joshi, Advisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance of the Government of India Helena Viñes Fiestas, Co-Chair, Taskforce on Net Zero Policy and Chair, EU Platform on Sustainable Finance Irene Heemskerk, Head of the Climate Change Centre, European Central Bank Krishnan Sharma, Principal Economic Affairs Adviser, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations (UN DESA) Philippe Lionnet, Envoy for Sustainable Finance and Co-Head of the Policy Issues & International Relations unit, State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), Swiss Federal Department of Finance Moderator: Laura Canas da Costa, Global Policy Co-Lead, UNEP FI
10:55	FIRESIDE CHAT Aligning professional practice with sustainability goals Room D Puleng Ndjwili-Potele, Co-Lead, Banking, UNEP FI Simon Thompson, Managing Director, Global Capacity Building Coalition (GCBC) Moderator: Mustafa Chaudhry, Co-Lead, Communications, UNEP FI
11:10	PLENARY PANEL Driving 1.5 ambition through finance Room D Marc Kahn, Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer, Investec Group Maria Simonson, Acting Head of Client Relationship Management, Head of Sustainability, Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) Masaaki Iwabuchi, General Manager, Finance & Investment Planning Department, Nippon Life Insurance Company Sue Reid, Climate Finance Advisor to Christiana Figueres, Global Optimism Moderator: Remco Fischer, Climate Lead, UNEP FI
11:55	FIRESIDE CHAT Risk and impact: Both sides of the same coin Room D Christos Megalou, CEO, Piraeus Bank Sander Biesma, CEO, NN Re Moderator: Careen Abb, SDGs and Impact Lead, UNEP FI
12:15	CASE STUDY Tracking the Financial Sectors’ Transition Performance Using the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment Room D Warrick Fuchsloch, Senior Client Engagement Specialist, S&P Global Sustainable1
12:25	Lunch
	Start of Deep Dive sessions
13:20	DEEP DIVE SESSION 9 Scaling finance for adaptation Room D Denisse Gonzalez, Climate Change Specialist, Produbanco Tomás Soley Pérez, General Superintendent, General Superintendence of Insurance of Costa Rica (SUGESE) Vanessa Doger de Spéville, Head, Sustainability, Reputation & Engagement, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) Moderator: Amal-Lee Amin, Managing Director and Head of Climate, Diversity and Advisory, British International Investment	DEEP DIVE SESSION 10 Overcoming data challenges in sustainable finance Room C Angélica Afanador, Director, Guidehouse and Executive Director, Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) Hans Biemans, Head of Sustainable Markets, ING Stefan Malchow, Head of Sales, ESG Solutions, SAP Fioneer Xavier Demeulenaere, Research and Analysis Associate Director, S&P Global Mobility Moderator: Daniel Bouzas, Europe Regional Lead, UNEP FI
14:10	DEEP DIVE SESSION 11 Transition finance: Opportunities and challenges Room D Joseph Jacobelli, Advisory Group Expert, ESCAP (FET Project), and Managing Partner, Bougie Impact Capital Linda Freiner, Chief Sustainability Officer, Zurich Insurance Group Tomo Ishikawa, Chief Regulatory Engagement Officer, MUFG Vincent Damas, Chief Sustainability Officer, Covéa Group Moderator: Jesica Lelynn Andrews, Head of Climate Accountability, UNEP FI	DEEP DIVE SESSION 12 Public and private cooperation for sustainable development Room C Introductory remarks by Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund of Agricultural Development (IFAD) Panellists Massamba Thioye, Project Executive, UN Climate Change Global Innovation Hub, UNFCCC secretariat Nicolas Picchiottino, Head of Public Development Banks, AFD & Secretary General, IDFC Quyen Nguyen, Senior Climate Finance Specialist, Global Product Lead, IFC Shanning Dong, General Manager, Green Finance Department, Bank of Jiangsu Moderator: Glenn Hodes, Senior adviser on SDG investment, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA)
15:05	DEEP DIVE SESSION 13 Closing the gender gap: the role of banks (co-hosted with UN Women) Room D Opening remarks: Sofia Calltorp, Director, UN Women Geneva Office and Chief of Humanitarian Action Panellists: Dawn Bailey, Head of Financial Wellbeing, Bank of Ireland Verónica Gavilanes Véjar, Deputy General Manager, BancoSol Wendy Teleki, Head of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WE-FI), the World Bank Co- Moderator: Alexandra Lockyer, Senior Sustainable Finance Analyst, UN Women Co- Moderator: Laura Diaz, Financial Health &. Inclusion Lead, Banking, UNEP FI	DEEP DIVE SESSION 14 – Insurance Unlocking the potential of insurance for nature positive Room C Amandine Favier, Head of Sustainable Finance, WWF Switzerland Caroline Wakesho Sonje, ESG Specialist, ICEA Lion Emily McKenzie, Technical Director, TNFD Thomas Viegas, Nature Strategy Lead, Aviva Moderator: Butch Bacani, Head of Insurance, UNEP FI
16:05	START OF PRB SESSIONS Introductory remarks by Dimitrios Dimopoulos Head of ESG, Piraeus Financial Holdings & Co-chair, UNEP FI Banking Board	DEEP DIVE SESSION 16 – Insurance Scaling up climate action in the insurance industry Room C Cirhan Truswell, Director, Climate Science, Sun Life Esther Egeter, Sustainability Manager, a.s.r. João Mestre, Sustainability Director, Fidelidade Moderator: Butch Bacani, Head of Insurance, UNEP FI
16:05	DEEP DIVE SESSION 15 – PRB Effective client engagement: Strategies for banks to foster sustainable finance Room D Christine Würfel, Head of Group ESG & Sustainability Management, Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) Lara de Mesa, Global Head of Sustainability, Santander Shargiil Bashir, Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Vice President, First Abu Dhabi Bank Susan Barron, Managing Director and Global Co-Head of the Sustainable Banking Group, Barclays Moderator: Johanna Dichtl, Implementation Guidance Lead, Banking, UNEP FI
17:05	DEEP DIVE SESSION 17 – PRB Engaging clients on social issues: Strategies for banks to drive positive impact Room D Abimbola Agbejule, Head, Corporate Sustainability, Wema Bank Amanda Zillig, Human Rights Lead, ING Anna Falth, Global Head of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), UN Women Jonathan Fowlie, Chief External Relations Officer and Head of Impact Strategy, Vancity Yasmine Pagni, Head of Social Policy Unit, Environment, Climate and Social Office (ECSO), Projects Directorate (PJ), European Investment Bank (EIB) Moderator: Joana Pedro, Social Lead, UNEP FI	DEEP DIVE SESSION 18 – insurance *17:05 – 17:45CET* V20: Insuring the most vulnerable Room C Philip Lopokoiyit, CEO, ICEA LION Holdings and ICEA LION General Insurance Brandon Mathews, Global Coordinator, V20 Sustainable Insurance Facility Moderator: Butch Bacani, Head of Insurance, UNEP FI
		DEEP DIVE SESSION 19 – insurance 17:45 – 18:15 CET Scaling Sustainable Insurance for Africa’s Green Growth and Resilience Room C Welcome and Introduction to the Nairobi Declaration on Sustainable Insurance and the purpose of the session: Kelvin Massingham – Director, Risk and Resilience, FSD Africa Panel: Kelvin Massingham – Director, Risk and Resilience, FSD Africa Phillip Lopokoiyit, Group CEO, ICEA Lion, and NDSI Chair Moderator: Ange Chitate, Chief Operating Officer, Africa Risk Capacity Ltd

18:15	COCKTAIL RECEPTION GRT Closing: Frontiers Planet Prize Location: The Village Sponsored by Frontiers Research Foundation
19:45	End of UNEP FI Global Roundtable 2024

10 December

Road to FFD4: Scaling up private finance and investment for the SDGs
Location: CICG, Room 14 (Geneva)

11:45 – 13:00

The objective of this consultation session will be to:

Engage delegates from the UNEP-FI Global Roundtable and Building Bridges Summit, as well as other stakeholders in the Geneva community, in an interactive dialogue to get feedback on key recommendations and initiatives that can catalyze private finance and investment for the SDGs.
Discuss the role of the private sector in the UN’s 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), International Business Forum and the SDG Fair;

Specifically, the UN-led session will explore the following topics: (a) barriers to scaling up private finance and investment for sustainable development; (b) possible policy and regulatory reforms to encourage the provision of long-term finance and investment in sustainable development; (c) ways to enhance the effectiveness of blended finance approaches to scale up SDG-aligned investment in emerging markets; significant recommendations and initiatives that could come out of the 4^th International Conference on Financing for Development.

Karen Hitschke CEO of Building Bridges
Layalee Ramahi, North America Regional Lead, UNEP-FI
Glenn Hodes, Interregional Adviser, FSDO/DESA
Franco Piza, Head of Sustainability, Bancolombia (tbc)
Margarita Pirovska, Director of Policy, PRI
Maria Caterina Migliorero, Economic Affairs Officer, FSDO/DESA

The session is hosted by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, alongside UNEP FI’s Global Roundtable.

11 December

Nature Transition Planning Roundtable Location: Room Lausanne, Centre de Conference de Varembe (CCV) (across the GRT and Building Bridges Venue)

This session has limited capacity, and attendance will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. To secure your seat, see contact below.

9:00 – 10:30

Nature transition planning is an emergent concept that offers a coherent, structured way to manage an organisation’s responses and contributions to transition set out by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

During this rountable we will request participants to reflect on the concepts presented by WWF, TNFD and UNEP FI. The insights gathered will be instrumental in refining these approaches, and identifying actionable steps on nature transition planning, that can be implemented across the financial sector.

Objectives:

Share how nature transition plans can be developed by financial Institutions
Understand how a financial institution can assess a transition plan of clients
Gather feedback on the proposed categories of transition financing strategies that can be deployed in a financial institutions’ response and contribution to the transition implied by the GBF

The session is hosted by UNEP FI, WWF, and The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), and held alongside UNEP FI’s Global Roundtable.

This session has limited capacity, and attendance will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. To secure your seat, please contact: npoolen@wwfint.org