UNEP FI Global Roundtable 2026 – Agenda – United Nations Environment

High-Level Plenaries

Member-only Engagement Forums

Resilience in Action Engagement Forum – Members and partners only

Real Economy Engagement Forum – Members and partners only

UNEP FI Sustainable Finance Research and Practice Forum – Members and partners only

COP30 to COP31 Leadership Dialogues: Scaling Finance and Insurance for Global Impact

You can find the agendas for the Global Roundtable below

23 June: High-level plenaries (open to public + livestream)
24 June: Engagement Forums and UNEP FI Sustainable Finance Research and Practice Forum (members and partners only)
25 June (New): COP30 to COP31 Leadership Dialogues: Scaling Finance and Insurance for Global Impact (register your interest to attend)

Time (BST)	High-level plenaries
10:00	Opening remarks Inger Andersen, Executive Director, UNEP Eric Usher, Head, UNEP FI
10:10	Welcome remarks Rhian-Mari Thomas, CEO, Green Finance Institute
10:15	Welcome remarks Shargiil Bashir, Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Vice President, First Abu Dhabi Bank
10:20	Fireside chat: From science to action: building resilience Jim Skea, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
10:35	Panel: Addressing risks for a resilient future Gunther Thallinger, Board Member, Allianz Sabine Mauderer, First Deputy Governor, Deutsche Bundesbank and Chair, NGFS Sim Tshabalala, CEO, Standard Bank Group
11:10	Fireside chat
11:25	Dialogue: Driving growth through sustainability action
11:45	Panel: Enabling the real economy transition Lord Adair Turner, Chair, Energy Transitions Commission Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO, UN Global Compact
12:20	Fireside chat: From ambition to action: Unlocking finance for a circular economy
12:35	Making the transition investable – Closing the gap between climate ambition and capital at scale Shaun Carazzo, Global Financial Services Climate Change & Sustainability Leader, EY
12:40	Lunch
13:30	Dialogue: From COP30 to COP31
13:50	Fireside chat: Mobilizing financial flows for transformational impact Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
14:15	Fireside chat Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board & Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board, European Central Bank (ECB)
14:40	Panel: Resilience in action Brahim Benjelloun-Touimi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Africa and Chairman, Casablanca Stock Exchange Dr. Subhra Bhattacharjee, Director General, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Erika Gupta, Global Head of Sustainability, Siemens Financial Services
15:15	Fireside chat: Addressing fragmentation, building the ecosystem
15:30	Panel: Financing the future Lauren Smart, Global Head of Sustainable Finance, Bloomberg Richard Mattison, Head of Sustainability and Climate, MSCI
15:15	Fireside chat: Financing the materials of the future
16:15	Networking reception

Day 2 features a series of engagement forums, for members and partners only, bringing together financial institutions, real economy actors, and academic experts for focused, interactive discussions on key sustainability issues. These sessions are designed to foster candid dialogue, share practical insights, and identify solutions to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and resilient economy, with a focus on resilience, real economy engagement, and bridging the gap between research and financial decision-making.

Members can register here via the Members Area .

Find out more below:

		Description
		This interactive roundtable, held in collaboration with UN Global Compact, brings together up to 150 financial institutions and real-economy actors across various sectors to strengthen engagement on accelerating the transition to low-carbon, nature-positive and inclusive economies. Structured in two parts, the session enables banks, insurers and investors to discuss expectations, constraints, and emerging practices, while clients share their transition challenges, financing/underwriting needs, and practical solutions across supply chains. This session will be held under Chatham House Rule, and priority is given to UNEP FI members and partners.
		Discussions include: Real economy led discussions on the client’s perspectives, needs and solutions Finance sector led discussion on client engagement
		Confirmed speakers: Gido van Graas, MD & Sector Head, Energy & Natural Resources, First Abu Dhabi Bank Gilles Vermot-Desroches, Chief Corporate Citizenship and Institutions Officer, Schneider Electric Michele Gonzalez Mendia, Chief of Sustainable Finance & Partnerships, FSC Investments & Partnerships

Description

This event brings together researchers, financial institutions, policymakers, and other sustainable finance stakeholders for a focused conversation on how to close the gap between academic research and real-world financial decision-making. Sustainable finance research has grown rapidly in recent years, but its findings do not always reach, or meaningfully influence, the decisions being made by banks, insurers, and other financial actors.

This interactive session will explore where the research-practice gap is most acute, why it persists, and what UNEP FI and its partners can do to address it. Through a lively fishbowl discussion and structured breakout sessions, participants will examine practical questions around data, tools, and attribution, risk analysis and management, performance and equity, and the implications of AI. The event is designed to support candid, two-way exchange and help shape a clearer, more useful research agenda for sustainable finance.

Agenda coming soon.

Sessions

This interactive roundtable will convene up to 150 finance leaders, sustainability experts, and practitioners to explore how the financial sector can build resilience in the face of climate change, nature loss, and sustainability-driven risks. Through structured discussions and real-world examples, participants will identify challenges and showcase practical solutions—across strategy, investment and products—that strengthen resilience while supporting long-term growth.

This session will be held under Chatham House Rule, and priority is given to UNEP FI members and partners.

Discussions include:

Scaling resilience in a changing environment

Building resilience to address nature-related risks

Strengthening societal resilience

Confirmed speakers:

Klaus Reisinger, Managing Director (Austria), ClimatePartner

Time: 08:00 – 14:00 BST

This event, co-hosted with ANBIMA, CNseg and FEBRABAN, serves as a leadership and alignment platform for the private financial sector, including banking, capital markets, and insurance, to accelerate global climate mitigation and adaptation efforts throughout the COP30–COP31 cycle, with a focus on closing climate finance and loss and damage protection gaps, strengthening resilience, and translating global commitments into concrete financial and insurance solutions.

Time (BST)	Sessions
8:00	Welcome coffee and registration
8:30	Opening remarks This session highlights the joint efforts of Brazil’s banking, capital markets, and insurance sectors in advancing a net-zero, nature-positive transition. Set in the context of COP30 to COP31, it invites financial institutions to lead in scaling finance, investment, and insurance to close the global finance gap.
8:50	Keynote: From COP30 to COP31: Aligning finance and insurance for climate action This keynote will outline the priorities of the COP30 Presidency and expectations for private finance, focusing on the role of banks, capital markets, and insurers in accelerating climate mitigation and adaptation.
9:10	Panel: Financing and risk instruments for investable climate solutions This session examines how the financial and insurance sectors are moving from climate commitments to bankable, scalable, and risk-adjusted solutions.
10:00	Panel: Financing climate-smart agribusiness: Finance and insurance markets in action This panel will explore how finance and insurance can support resilient, low-emissions agribusiness systems in Brazil and globally by helping producers, companies, and supply chains adapt, invest, and scale sustainably in response to growing climate and transition risks.
10:45	Coffee break
11:05	Fireside chat: How capital, credit, and risk transfer instruments can unlock scale – The Eco Invest case This session explores how Eco Invest leverages catalytic capital and blended finance to de-risk investments and mobilize private capital for bioeconomy and land restoration.
11:25	Panel: Moving from investment to impact This session highlights practical solutions to mobilise private capital at scale, focusing on catalytic and de-risking instruments, what is working in practice, and how to accelerate their adoption across markets.
12:15	Keynote: From Belem to Antalya This session explores how the financial sector can support COP31’s vision of “Dialogue, Consensus, and Action.
12:35	Closing remarks
12:45	Lunch