How can Risk Mitigation Mechanisms unlock private capital for nature and climate solutions in developing countries? This interactive World Café will bring together experts to brainstorm on various de-risking tools, with a focus on blended finance structures such as guarantees (for energy, nature & agriculture, and impact investment), grants, first loss equity and technical assistance, as well as derivatives and innovative insurance products. The event aims to exchange ideas on these mechanisms and how they can be deployed, discover key examples, and gather insights from various professionals on challenges, how to address them, lessons learned and best practices.

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!

The workshop will explore ways in which financial institutions can promote impact in public markets. Examples include engagement, investment strategies, asset classes, product disclosure and impact measurement. The workshop aims to equip stakeholders with the key concepts and approaches to promote impact in their own specific context. To this end, three keynote presentations will offer insights from a regulatory, an academic and a practitioner perspective. The main part of the event will consist of interactive table discussions on different impact channels and aspects of impact in public markets. These discussions will be led by experts from banks, asset managers, academia, NGOs, consultancies and government. This will give participants a detailed insight into a specific impact channel and allow them to derive actionable measures. Participants will also gain a comprehensive overview of impact investing in public markets.

Financial regulators across Europe are increasingly requiring financial institutions to assess and manage climate and nature- related risks and the related impacts on traditional financial risks. A key step to effective risk management is conducting materiality assessments; but challenges with robust methodologies often hinder this process, and lead to underestimating these risks. In Switzerland, the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has set supervisory expectations on nature-related financial risks, becoming fully enforceable by 2028. This gives financial institutions time to ensure compliance, increase their understanding of nature-related financial risk and strengthen their risk management practices.

Natural ecosystems provide critical services to enable the economy and wider society, and especially key in advancing both climate mitigation and adaptation solutions. Investing in nature to secure such services requires innovative deployment of well-understood PPP approaches to infrastructure investment. AIIB, with the Paulson Institute, Morphosis and other MDBs are advancing proposals on scaling appropriate PPP arrangements to COP 30 in Belem. This event explores how such financial and associated policy innovations can unlock nature-related opportunities for private investors, and scale private capital flows into nature as infrastructure.

This 60-minute interactive webinar explored how investors can drive real-world outcomes through stewardship. The session will began with a panel discussion featuring expert voices, followed by breakout groups where participants explored key dimensions of investor influence in greater depth.

The key discussion points were:

• How investor stewardship is evolving, with a focus on quality over quantity of engagements
• The challenges facing stewardship, including geographical differences in approach (Europe/Asia pushing forward, US becoming more skeptical)
• The importance of strategic engagement with companies, focusing on meaningful dialogue and accountability
• Exploring stewardship beyond public equities, including corporate and sovereign bonds
• The potential role of AI in tracking and improving engagement efforts

The webinar included a keynote by Aurélia Fäh of Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS), a panel discussion with Laure Philippon of ShareAction and Juan Salazar of Pictet, moderated by Michal Bartek of UN PRI. The breakout sessions focused on topics like engagement strategies, escalation techniques, and stewardship codes.

The overall message was that stewardship needs to be more nuanced, business-relevant, and focused on creating long-term value.

Watch the recording below.

This workshop will examine the role of corporate boards of financial institutions in promoting respect for human rights.

This session will:

• Examine the role of boards in embedding human rights into corporate strategy.
• Highlight financial institutions’ influence as enablers of responsible business conduct.
• Provide examples of governance models.
• Explore the evolving regulatory landscape.
• Highlight innovation in governance models, reporting frameworks, and technology-driven solutions.

While agri-food investments have proliferated in recent years, they often lack a focus on healthier value chains. This session will explore how to unlock more impact-driven funding for nutrition using established methodologies.

This session will provide participant with:

– A clearer understanding of what it means to invest in nutrition — including how it is defined, operationalized, measured, and monitored
– Real-world examples demonstrating how nutrition-focused investments work in practice
– Insights into how to strengthen the enabling environment for such investments, particularly by building a stronger business case for healthier foods

The session will begin with a framing presentation, followed by a panel discussion and an opportunity for group engagement.

Climate-related risks are no longer a distant threat – they’re a material reality reshaping how we understand long-term value. This interactive panel explores how asset owners can strengthen their approach to transition, physical, and nature risks in public markets.

We will discuss emerging innovations, practical challenges, and the role of stewardship in building systemic resilience, with particular attention to the needs and constraints of smaller and mid-sized pension funds and asset owners in Switzerland.

Join us for an open, interactive session – whether you are an asset owner or solution provider, seasoned market expert or less familiar with the field. This is an open co-learning opportunity for all, designed to exchange perspectives, ask questions, and share insights together with our panelists and each other.

For more information visit UNEP FI