Is conscious capital a utopian ideal—or the future of finance? This panel brings together visionary investors, leaders, and changemakers to explore how capital can be aligned with purpose, values, and long-term impact. We’ll unpack the tensions between profit and our future, challenge outdated paradigms, and ask: is conscious capital idealism, or is it inevitable?
Note: This session is for the accredited media of Building Bridges 2025 only. Interested journalists can contact media@buildingbridges.org for accreditation.
This session is targeted at media and communication professionals who have a good understanding of sustainability, ESG and reporting requirements and are interested in enhancing their impact and leadership in this area.
The panel discussion aims to demonstrate the business case for embedding sustainability within media organisations. It will delve into the practical challenges and opportunities to do this, and what would it take to make news organisations investible for impact investors.
The objective is for participants to understand the societal and business imperatives for media to prioritize sustainability even and perhaps more than ever in times of disruption, crisis and pushbacks. They will learn from practitioners how they might build on their approach and develop a strong strategic approach to sustainability, also by drawing on best practices from other sectors. They will gain deeper insights on the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to effectively navigate and lead in this complex landscape.
—
The session will be followed by a short media briefing about key sessions throughout the day and conclude before the High-Level Plenary on Insurance.
Given the materiality of climate change as financial risk, nuanced measurement of portfolio vulnerability and company impact is needed, considering differences in regional exposures and asset classes.
As climate change acceleration continues to disrupt global economies, understanding its long-term impact on asset valuations is no longer optional but strategically essential. Given the materiality of climate change as a financial risk, nuanced measurement of portfolio vulnerability and company impact, considering differences in regional exposures and asset classes.
This session will convene leading asset owners and research experts to examine how climate risks are reshaping investment decisions, particularly for long-term assets such as infrastructure with life cycles exceeding 70+ years. From the asset owner perspective, the discussion will highlight current practices in assessing physical and transition risks, the tools being used, and the persistent gaps in forward-looking, granular data needed for accurate climate-adjusted valuations.On the research side, experts will present innovative models that incorporate climate scenarios, carbon pricing, physical risk, and insurance costs. These models aim to bridge the data gap by connecting micro-level insights with portfolio-level asset allocation strategies. Together, these perspectives will offer practical insights into building more resilient, future-ready portfolios in the face of accelerating climate change.
More details to come.
Voluntary and regulated carbon credit markets are essential to achieving global climate goals particularly in the wake of COP2 29’s Article 6 developments. High-quality carbon markets are rapidly gaining traction as a significant investible opportunity, particularly through the development on high-quality carbon credits derived from nature-based removal projects. These markets offer a dual benefit of helping companies stay on track to reduce their emissions and meet net zero targets but also generate financial returns, making them attractive to a broad range of investors and finally demonstrate biodiversity gains.
As global regulation around carbon markets tightens, demand for credible carbon credits is expected to surge. However, unlocking the full potential of carbon removals requires an integrated value chain or “bridge building” which spans from project sourcing in collaboration with local communities and host governments in the Global South, to the use of digital monitoring and verification technologies that ensure transparency and performance. Robust governance and enabling policies, asset securitization, and the ability to quantify both biodiversity impacts and benefits to local stakeholders are equally critical. This session will highlight scalable and replicable investment opportunities that align environmental integrity with financial and social value.
This plenary will examine how insurance is the cornerstone of economic stability and the foundation of the capital stack, essential to mobilizing finance and ensuring business continuity and growth. As climate and nature-related disasters become structural rather than rare, the threat of an uninsurable world is rising. Over the past five years, natural catastrophe losses have exceeded $100 billion annually, more than double the average from two decades ago, pushing premiums higher and making certain physical assets and geographies increasingly difficult to insure. By 2030, premiums for physical climate risks are projected to rise by 50%, reaching up to $250 billion annually. Without a strategic rethinking of insurance solutions, economic activity and investments are at risk of stalling, threatening livelihoods, supply chains and vulnerable communities worldwide.
High-level experts will showcase how insurance is already playing a key role in safeguarding economic resilience and catalyzing the net-zero transition. Real-world solutions from the public and private sectors will showcase how innovative insurance solutions and partnerships are de-risking and incentivizing investments in climate-adaptation such as low-carbon infrastructure and climate-vulnerable agriculture supply chains. As an example, $19tn is already committed to climate finance through 2030, with over $10tn of that requiring adequate insurance coverage.
In a time of growing geopolitical complexity and public debate around ESG, Building Bridges 2025 is proud to convene a Summit that brings clarity, courage, and ambition to the forefront of sustainable finance.
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 Reflection Session brings the cohort journey full circle. It begins with a keynote speech about our shared responsibility to transform how finance interacts with nature, people, and the future.
From there, participants move into reflection tables using prompts and live polling (e.g. Mentimeter), the session surfaces what has shifted for participants over the course of the week.
Each table will be invited to share a key insight or commitment with the wider room, bringing visibility to what is emerging across the Building Bridges community. The focus is not on consensus, but on coherence: identifying where the energy is, where collaboration is forming, and what the network wants to grow next.
An application process to join Cohorts Connect at Building Bridges 2025 will be launched in July.
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. A short story will open the space, followed by the main session where participants join small groups each centered around a “context card” and are invited to freely move from group to group.
Instead of addressing the problems we face analytically, the Warm Data Lab format invites participants to appreciate their systemic nature in an immersive way. With no prior knowledge required, it conveys systems thinking to participants intuitively and can set the stage for change further down the line. All that is needed is curiosity and an explorative mindset.
“This isn’t about solving a problem. It’s about seeing the system more clearly—by seeing each other differently.” – Nora Bateson
The session ends with space for informal exchange and mutual learning. The atmosphere is intentionally light, open-ended, and grounded in trust-building.
An application process to join Cohorts Connect at Building Bridges 2025 will be launched in July.
Private markets are increasingly becoming the decisive force in financing the global energy transition. As the world moves toward a net-zero future, institutional investors, private equity, and infrastructure funds are uniquely positioned to deploy patient, strategic capital into hard-to-abate sectors and emerging climate solutions. Participants will gain insights from leading voices from finance, industry, and policy to examine the investment vehicles, risk frameworks, and collaborative models driving scalable decarbonization. From clean infrastructure to breakthrough technologies, discover how private capital is not only accelerating the pace of transition but also reshaping the future of sustainable investing.