Costs and Opportunities of Real Impact: What It Takes for Impact-First Investments to Scale and Complement Traditional Aid

To scale impact-first investment solutions – especially NGO-led or hybrid models – we must uphold integrity and mission while attracting catalytic capital and managing risk. Impact-first investing often involves trade-offs, yet the cost of inaction is higher. This session explores three real-world models that blend public and private capital, examine innovative risk mitigation, and challenge the market to rethink what truly qualifies as “investable.”

How can finance and philanthropy respond to the plastic issue?

Countdown to Compliance: Preparing for FINMA’s Nature Risk Disclosure Requirements

From 1st January 2028, FINMA will introduce mandatory nature risk reporting requirements for supervised institutions — a regulatory shift set to reshape how organisations account for their nature-related impacts, dependencies, and risks. In this interactive workshop co-hosted by NatureAlpha and EY, we will set out what the new regulations will require in practice, including expected disclosures and governance obligations. A key focus will be on why high-quality asset location data is foundational for compliance — enabling accurate assessments of exposure to biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and other nature-related risks. Participants will explore what steps companies should take now — from geospatial data strategy to governance readiness — to ensure full alignment with the upcoming standards. With regulatory timelines long but preparation time short, this session is designed to help risk, sustainability, legal and compliance professionals understand the implications and act early to avoid costly delays.

Fixed income, flexible solutions: the bond index reshaping climate finance

This session showcases the first fixed income index to cover the whole fossil fuel chain, providing objective criteria needed to drive down real-world emissions through changing flows of capital. The session will inform participants about the index content and focus on the unique build process, held between academia, index provider and asset owners. An Open Space format will support participants to learn from this ‘systems demonstrator’ and apply it to their own collaborative solution-building.

Cohorts Connect: Opening Session

Cohorts Connect at Building Bridges 2025 introduces a two-part model for structured connection and reflection to conversation and networking. It is designed to support peer exchange, deepen shared understanding, and strengthen cross-sector collaboration in a way that feels purposeful, open, and human. While the approach does not intend to achieve specific goals, through mutual, multi-contextual learning it can create conditions that prime a system for change. This opening session will be hosted as a Warm Data Lab, facilitated by Nora Bateson and the Warm Data Lab team. Developed to explore the relational fabric of complex systems in an immersive manner, this method invites participants to suspend professional personas and engage as people—with stories, patterns, questions, and perspectives. Rather than speaking about sustainable finance or climate targets, the interactive format has participants engaging in multiple, parallel group conversation, shifting between contexts, thus enabling a reflection on how societal challenges are interwoven. […]

Impact Investing for Systemic Change: Unlocking the Potential of Catalytic Capital

How can catalytic capital drive systemic change in emerging markets? How can we demystify this process for those on the journey? This interactive session explores how impact funders, now more than ever, are deploying the capital continuum and using innovative and blended finance to unlock scalable solutions. We will explore new partnerships and models for sustainable impact, showcasing the power of collaboration in advancing the SDGs. Join us—and let’s put capital to work!

Unlocking opportunities in nature finance

The event will tackle the many angles that nature finance can take – from shareholder engagement, financing opportunities locally (in Switzerland), and investing opportunities globally to risk mitigation and understanding of investors’ value-chain.

Driving action on physical risk in value chains

There is clear evidence of how physical impacts are damaging businesses and value chains, but companies and investors have insufficient visibility on the risks that can cause business interruption and financial losses. This workshop will discuss a framework that incorporates identification, measurement, strategy development, execution, monitoring, and reporting and disclosure to build resilience. Discussion will be solutions-focused, cutting across climate, nature, equity and circularity.

Tracking and Transforming Net Zero Finance: Integrity, Innovation, and Impact

This session will explore where we stand on net zero finance and where we need to go. Drawing on CPI’s Net Zero Finance Tracker and insights from the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, it will examine both the integrity of climate commitments, observed progress and impacts in the real economy, and current drivers and gaps in action and how to address them. The session will also focus on the role of financial innovation in mobilizing capital, particularly from institutional investors, toward real-economy solutions.

Pricing Nature on the Balance Sheet

ROI or Perish: Tech, Impact & the New Rules of Sustainable Business

The old sustainability playbook is dead, subsidies are vanishing. Geopolitical chaos is the new normal. Smart organizations are turning crisis into opportunity. This isn’t about regulatory box-ticking. It’s about hard numbers, attractive ROI, and driving impact. Organizations across diverse sectors – from investors, academia, to emerging economy innovators – are generating profits while acting sustainably.The companies thriving in a clean economy aren’t waiting for government handouts, they’re building nature-integrated tech solutions that deliver real returns. Discover how technology is creating competitive advantages that traditional businesses can’t match. The question isn’t whether sustainability pays. It’s whether you can afford to be left behind while your competitors build the future. Ready to stop treating environmental initiatives as cost centers and start treating them as revenue engines?Hear from the disruptors proving that sustainability isn’t a checkbox, it’s a business.

Financing the Blue Economy: Turning Ocean Commitments into Capital Flows

This session explores how global ocean commitments—from international treaties to national plastic reduction targets—can be translated into tangible investment opportunities. It will highlight emerging financial instruments, innovations in marine conservation finance, and strategies to channel capital toward ocean health, coastal resilience, and sustainable livelihoods in the blue economy.

Strengthening Financial Institutions Corporate Governance to promote respect for Human Rights

Transition Finance in Action: Investing in Scalable Solutions for Real-World Impact

Achieving real-world impact through scalable investment solutions is essential to a successful climate transition. This workshop brings together key actors to explore how transition finance can drive tangible decarbonization through impact investing, smart incentives, stewardship, carbon pricing, and directing capital to high-need sectors and geographies.

Designing the Next Asset Class: Climate-Linked Private Debt

Institutional investors increasingly seek climate-aligned debt financing opportunities in emerging markets, yet systemic barriers, from FX volatility to fragmented deal flow, prevent capital inflows. This session explores how de-risking tools, blended finance structures, and Article 6 carbon credit monetization can unlock scalable SDG investment pathways and catalyze private capital injection into high-impact, frontier market projects.

Infrastructure’s Role in Europe’s Transformation

As Europe accelerates its green and digital transformation, a €2.5 trillion funding gap persists in mid-market infrastructure—critical for scaling energy, digital, and transport projects. This event explores investment opportunities, regulatory stability, and the role of private capital in driving sustainable growth. Experts will discuss strategies to de-risk and expand mid-cap assets, ensuring Europe’s long-term competitiveness.