COP16- Cali, Colombia

Unlocking private finance to enable a just transition towards a regenerative economy? Impact investing in NbS for Adaptation as entry point.

As we trespass more and more planetary boundaries, we are entering a decade of planetary emergency. How can we deal with these interlocking challenges in a context of diminishing public resources? How can we make sure our investments to stimulate economies don’t lock us into the present, but enable us to leapfrog to a regenerative economy?

We need three revolutions: in understanding, planning, and finance. An effective place to start this process of REIMAGINING our economies is to RETHINK investment origination. We need a shift from a siloed, budget -focused investment planning processes towards a mission driven approach.

NbS (Natured-based Solutions) investments are a good test case to start this process of RETHINKING.

In the context of COP 16 (Cali, Colombia), We are Water Foundation and ALTAMIRA & NetworkNature have organized a meeting in which pioneering examples of NbS financing and the lessons learned so far will be presented. And based on this understanding we will discuss how we can we through collective action efforts and innovative partnerships drive deeper and more structural changes in the financial sector towards regeneration.

 

Where and when

28 October – Financing – Implementation mechanisms

12 to 1:30 PM Green Zone

Banco de Bogotá (Main Auditorium): See on the map.

 

Attendance registration

Limited places.

Register

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Objectives

  • Showcase the advances in impact investing in nature conservation & NbS and towards bioregional regeneration, and show the progress we are making towards regenerative financial systems.
  • Discuss the need and potential of non-traditional Public-Private-Communities Partnerships and blended finance for regenerative investments to take place.
  • Discuss the synergies and possible reinforcing virtuous cycle between Public Investments, procurement strategies, finance and Insurance schemes.
  • Discuss collective action strategies to scale up efforts and move from NbS financing towards a regenerative financial system at the service of life.

Agenda

12:00 pm

Opening of the session:  We Are Water Film Festival

Carlos Garriga, Director of the We Are Water Foundation

 

12:15 pm

Setting the scene: the case of Amazon Regenerative Economy Outcomes Fund – Jaguara RBF

Mónica Altamirano de Jong, PhD, Founder ALTAMIRA, consortium partner NetworkNature 

Alejandro Calderón, Founder, CEO Mutual Empathy, Co-Founder RWC 

 

12:25 pm

Paneles sobre el estado del arte, Regeneración y financiamiento de SbN y casos exitosos en LAC

Panel 1: Impact investing and Outcome-based Financing mechanisms
Puninda Thind, Finance Nature Lead, UNFCCC High Level Climate Champions
Juliana Granados, Executive Director Investing with Impact, Morgan Stanley
Thelma Brenes Muñoz, Manager Sustainable Finance Advisory, FMO
Felipe Villela, Business Development Manager at The Landbanking Group

Panel 2: Innovative partnerships for collective action 
María Claudia de la Ossa, Director of Cuenca Verde Water Fund
Laura Canevari, PhD, ITACA solutions, CEO
Facundo Etchebere, SVP Sustainability Strategy & Partnerships Danone
Ernenek Duran, Co-CEO of the One Drop Foundation

 

13:10 pm

Co-construction of the principles or pillars to accelerate private financing towards regeneration

Gideon Blaauw, Regional Lead, CleantechHUB

 

13:20 pm

Closing of the session: main takeaways and next steps

Speakers

These are the speakers of the conference:

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Juliana Granados

Executive Director Investing with Impact, Morgan Stanley

Juliana is an Executive Director and Impact Strategist in the Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Investing with Impact team. She has been dedicated to sustainable investing since 2018, and currently partners with financial advisors to deliver the full suite of sustainable wealth solutions to their clients, including investment products, portfolio solutions, research and tools and analytics across sustainability themes. Previously she worked for Ethic, a sustainable investing asset management firm, where she focused on designing and constructing sustainable equity portfolios for independent RIAs, institutional investors and retail clients. Prior to that, she worked in the Investment Banking division at Morgan Stanley, and has over 5 years of Business and Corporate Development experience with Colombia’s largest airline group.

Juliana serves as co-lead of the Morgan Stanley Latino Employee Network’s Philanthropy Subcommittee, and co-lead of the Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.Juliana holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Andes University, an MBA from Yale School of Management. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son.

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Felipe Villela

Regenerative Agriculture Expert

Felipe Villela is a Regenerative Agriculture Expert, BD Manager at The Landbanking Group, Forbes Under30, Board Member, TEDxSpeaker, MIT Solver, Rockefeller Big Bets Fellow, LinkedIn Influencer and Founder of reNature. Felipe has 12+ years experience in Regen Ag, Food Systems & Nature Finance. He has been a Strategic Advisor of the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) Action Track 3: Boost Nature-Positive Production and Lead Author at UNEP for their GEO for Business on Brief 3: The Role of Business in Transforming our Food Systems.

Puninda Thind

Finance Nature Lead, UNFCC High Level Climate Champions

Puninda Thind is Finance Nature Lead with Climate Champions Team, supporting the UN High-Level Climate Champions. She is focused on catalyzing and mobilizing finance sector action to address biodiversity loss and nature-related risks and opportunities. Puninda is deeply committed to building a sustainable, prosperous, equitable future. She has previously worked at the intersection of sustainable investing and climate resilience for 10+ years, where she helped organizations, including financial institutions, operationalize credible sustainability strategies.

Puninda has contributed as a working group member to the UNFCCC Race to Zero criteria consultation process. She holds a Bachelors of Environment and Business (Honours) from the University of Waterloo and a MSc Sustainability, Enterprise, and Environment from the University of Oxford. She is also active in climate advocacy as a member of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.

Facundo Etchebere

Senior Vice President of Sustainability Strategy & Partnerships at Danone 

Facundo Etchebehere is the Senior Vice President of Sustainability Strategy & Partnerships at Danone, leveraging his extensive background in economics and political science. Joining Danone in 2010 as Corporate Affairs Director for Argentina, he later oversaw Regional Corporate Affairs across the Americas from Mexico. Since 2016, he has led Global Public Affairs for Danone. His academic career includes significant contributions as a researcher in applied economics, and he has held various influential positions within the Argentine Public Sector. Recently, he has been instrumental in leading Danone’s BCorp certification and promoting the company’s commitment as a Société à Mission, positioning Danone as a leader in corporate sustainability.

Laura Canevari

PhD, ITACA Solutions, CEO

Accomplished climate change adaptation academic and consultant with 15 years’ experience in climate adaptation and resilience building in Small Island Developing States. Dr Canevari is the CEO and Founder of ITACA Solutions. Over the past years, she has supported the design and provision of climate services for the public and private sector, including the development of vulnerability, climate risk assessments and adaptation plans, decision support tools for financial institutions, analysis of climate resilience in value chains, and the design and delivery of training and capacity building programs.

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Ernenek Duran

Co-CEO en One Drop Foundation

Duran is a purpose-driven leader who seeks to make the greatest positive social and environmental impact on this planet and its people. Recognized for his extensive experience in international development, Ernenek serves as Co-CEO of the One Drop Foundation, where he co-leads the Foundation’s strategic direction since 2023. In this role, he guides his team to co-design and implement high-impact, systems change WASH projects, foster complex multi-stakeholder alliances, and mobilize resources through blended mechanisms. He was recently appointed as a member of the Board of Governors of the recently created Latin American Water Council.

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Carlos Garriga

Director de la Fundación We Are Water

Degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Barcelona, with a postgraduate degree in Protocol from UPF. He has developed most of his professional career in the field of communication, working for various agencies and companies such as the Roca Group or the RBA Editorial. In 2010, he began working as Project Manager, being responsible for coordinating the projects carried out by the Foundation together with international organizations such as Unicef, Oxfam Intermon or World Vision International; as well as various awareness initiatives worldwide.

Gideon Blaaw

General Director at CleantechHUB

Gideon is Dutch, a leader in sustainability and social innovation with experience in the financial sector, an advocate of sustainability as the basis of business success. Helps companies integrate sustainable practices that generate positive impacts on the environment and communities.

Its approach includes sustainability audits, definition of clear goals and the promotion of social innovation. It is committed to change, inspired by the UN SDGs and the Paris Agreement, helping companies face climate challenges and grow with purpose.

Alejandro Calderon

Fundador, CEO Mutual Empathy, Co-Founder RWC

Alejandro Calderón, a native of Colombia, has 15 years of experience in the financial sector with JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. He founded Mutual Empathy, a Venture Impact Studio focused on creating and incubating high-impact projects in the circular and creative economies. Additionally, he founded RWC to mobilize resources for Mutual Empathy’s verticals and portfolio companies. Among the initiatives he co-founded are ValueSkies, Salva, Selvazul, Jaguara RBF, Neutraloop, and Canoa Cósmica.

Thelma Brenes

PhD Manager Sustainable Finance Advisory, Dutch Development Bank FMO

Thelma Brenes Muñoz is the Manager of the Sustainable Finance Advisory team at FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank. Leading her team, she plays a key role in expanding financing for inclusive and climate-focused projects, including biodiversity initiatives in emerging markets. This work is instrumental for FMO’s contribution to SDG 10 and SDG 13.

Beyond she has of experience in impact management, microfinance and agricultural finance focusing on private sector development. With a PhD in agricultural economics and rural development, she has extensive experience in measuring and evaluating development impact across various sectors. A passionate advocate for development impact, she focuses on creating pragmatic solutions that drive inclusivity and sustainability in emerging markets.

Mónica Altamirano de Jong

PhD, Founder ALTAMIRA, consortium partner NetworkNature

Specialist in Public-Private Partnerships and Systems Thinker.  Founder of ALTAMIRA, a boutique consulting firm driving the uptake of regenerative finance through systems thinking, consortium partner NetworkNature (the EU Platform of Platforms on NbS). Independent Director/Board Member CAEI, a group of commercial entities dedicated to the agro-industry managed by Putney Capital Management. Strategic Advisor on Finance and Partnerships for Water for the UN Economic Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow.  With over 20 years of global experience advising governments, MDBs and impact investors on how to catalyze private sector investments in infrastructure, and the climate-water-nature nexus, she is a thought leader in climate finance and resilient infrastructure. Monica is passionate about making a just transition to a regenerative economy financially feasible and partners with public and private sector pioneers in driving a paradigm shift towards a mission-driven approach in infrastructure investment planning.

María Claudia De la Ossa Posada

Executive Director, CuencaVerde Corporation

Lawyer, specialist in Administrative Law, MBA, and Master’s in Government and Public Policy, with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, as well as being an entrepreneur. Co-founder and current Executive Director of the Medellín and Aburrá Valley Water Fund – CuencaVerde Corporation – whose main focus is the management of water security and biodiversity.

With over 15 years of experience in roles that have allowed her to manage sustainability projects for watershed conservation through nature-based solutions, she has facilitated the ecological restoration of thousands of hectares, the recovery of species once thought extinct, such as the montañerito paisa, and the establishment of hundreds of kilometers of biological corridors for water conservation and biodiversity management, with governance as a key intervention strategy in these areas.

María Claudia possesses strong leadership skills, enabling her to manage alliances and balance stakeholders to secure national and international resources, seek innovative solutions, and achieve significant results that are now reflected in tangible returns and a clear path toward the neutrality of companies supporting these initiatives.

Organizers and collaborators

Organised by: ALTAMIRA & NetworkNature and We are Water Foundation

Collaborators:  Mutual Empathy, Itaca Coastal Solutions and CleantechHUB