On Tuesday, September 24, IUCN and the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC) hosted a sold out event at The Explorers Club during New York Climate Week. The event, titled Investing in Nature to Solve the Climate and Biodiversity Crises, began with an introduction highlighting the importance of philanthropy and investment in nature by Patricia Ricard, newly inducted Patron of Nature of IUCN. Tracy Farrell, Regional Director of North America and CEO of IUCN-US began the discussion by highlighting the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss and by emphasizing the need for more investment in nature from all sources, including private capital.
Moderated by John Tobin-de la Puente, IUCN-US Board Chair and Professor of Practice of Corporate Sustainability at Cornell University, brought together experts in private investment in nature. The panelists included Gordon Gould, Co-Founder and CEO of New Atlantis Labs; Emily McGlynn, Director, Climate and Sustainability Research at BlackRock; Amantia Muhedini, Executive Director, Sustainable Investing Strategist at UBS GWM CIO; and Veronica Scotti, Chairperson Public Sector Solutions and Public Sector Solutions at Swiss Re.
Dr. Tobin opened the panel discussion with a review of the research conducted during the past decade on the potential that private, return-seeking capital has in ensuring the long-term sustainability of the biosphere. The panelists engaged in a conversation about investment strategies for nature-related investments, assessing risk in nature finance, how to engage public sector solutions with nature finance, and the role of ESG. They discussed future directions in the field and the evolution of the nature finance market including innovations and strategies to mitigate barriers to increasing investment. Finally, they underscored the importance of data in the field of nature finance, how it can influence decision making and can be shared among the various sectors.
