1st Annual Meeting Place for Financiers, Corporations and the Biodiversity & Ecosystem Communities

Mainstreaming Biodiversity & Ecosystem Finance

This two day conference will explore all the issues relating to the developing area of Biodiversity Finance. Speakers will be a balance of conservation groups; financial institutions’ and early adopter best practice case studies. Day one of the conference will introduce the biodiversity finance challenge and biodiversity conservation finance and day two will focus more closely on the financial service sector and biodiversity.

27 March 2008

Chair’s Opening Remarks

Chair: Ricardo Bayon, Founder and Head of Research, EKO Asset Management Partners, USA

CBD Welcome Address - Achieving the Objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the 2010 Target

NRavi Sharma, Principal Officer, Implementation & Technical Support, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Canada

Financing Biodiversity & Ecosystems

• The millennium ecosystem assessment
• Examples from the world's largest financier of biodiversity
• Traditionally investment in this sector has been 30% from multilateral banks such as the World Bank and 70% bilateral banks
• Shortening the differences between investment, risk and reality
• What support mechanisms are in place?
• The biotrade programme

Claudia Sobrevila, Senior Biodiversity Specialist, World Bank, USA

Why Should Financial Institutions Be Concerned with Biodiversity & Ecosystems?

• What is the business case?
• Biodiversity strategies need financial strategies
• Investors think about investing in sustainable development but do they really consider biodiversity & ecosystems?
• Is the market starting to transform?

Susan Steinhagen, Programme Manager - Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), Switzerland

Capturing Interest from Financial Institutions in Biodiversity Conservation

• Understanding biodiversity business risks & opportunities for the financial services sector
• Practical examples of financial products that aim to conserve biodiversity in the Netherlands
• Exchanging ideas with the audience how to better commercialize biodiversity into financial products

Ivo Mulder, Officer, Market Development and Strategic Advice, Dutch Fund for Nature Development, Netherlands

What Can Regulators Do to Kickstart the Market?

• Lessons from carbon markets in Europe, the CDM and voluntary markets

Joshua Bishop, Senior Advisor, Economics and the Environment, The World Conservation Union (IUCN), Switzerland

What is the Connection Between Carbon & Biodiversity?

• What is the potential for bundling carbon and biodiversity?
• How standards can provide a mechanism
• Initial feedback from experience with the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards

Joanna Durbin, Director, Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance, USA

Beyond Carbon: Trading Regional to Global Scale Forest Ecosystem Services

The Global Canopy Programme innovates techniques for measuring, valuing and trading in ecosystem services. These novel mechanisms are helping to drive a paradigm change in the way forests are valued – as global utilities. Three case studies will be used to highlight these innovations: Amazonas, Brazil; Aceh, Indonesia and Iwokrama, Guyana

Andrew Mitchell, Executive Director, Global Canopy Programme, UK

Delivery Case Studies - Understanding Business Needs & Realities in Relation to Biodiversity & Ecosystem Finance

A series of case studies from corporate investors and industry experts investigating:

• Why does it matter?
• What would a severe worsening in biodiversity do to specific businesses?
• What would that do to banks?
• What experience has been gained to date?

The Biodiversity & Ecosystems Business Landscape

• Business realities
• Assessing economic incentives
• Businesses need clear policy and market signals – where can money be made?

Sachin Kapila, Biodiversity Advisor, Shell, UK

Rio Tinto’s Biodiversity Strategy

Stuart Anstee, Principle Adviser – Environment, Rio Tinto, Australia

The Business Case for Ecosystem Services

• How the framework of ‘ecosystem services’ can make ‘biodiversity’ more relevant to corporate managers and investors
• The five types of business risks and opportunities arising from the degradation of ecosystem services
• How companies can identify and develop strategies around these risks and opportunities - The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review
• Options for addressing these risks and opportunities through finance and markets
• Case examples from a variety of sectors

Craig Hanson, Deputy Director, People & Ecosystems Programme, World Resources Institute, USA

Interactive Discussion Session with Speakers

The Natural Value Initiative - Linking Shareholder and Natural Value

• Degradation of ecosystem services is already impacting on business viability, early movers are responding to risks and opportunities associated with this
• Tools to understand and manage company dependency on ecosystem services are still in their infancy
• Understanding of the links between investment value and biodiversity is similarly low
• The Natural Value Initiative aims to address this by developing a tool to evaluate the dependency and impacts of food, beverage and tobacco companies on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Annelisa Grigg, Project Director, Fauna & Flora International, UK

Developing Landscape Auctions

• Consumers and companies paying for maintaining the scenic quality of the landscape in the Netherlands
• Protecting a scarce resource in a urbanized country
• Applying the model to other markets

Tom Bade, Director, Triple E, Netherlands

Close of Day One & Networking Drinks

28 March 2008

The financial services sector and biodiversity – how the finance community can better assess biodiversity risks and opportunities in their investments portfolios and other products

Morning Chair: Ana Paula Tavares, Deputy Director and Director of Development, Rainforest Alliance, USA

Chair’s Opening Remarks

Keynote Presentation: The Role of the IFC in Biodiversity Finance – How, Why and Lessons Learned

• - The IFC’s mandate and performance standards
• - Supporting biodiversity standards and regulations
• - Developing biodiversity ventures
• - Supporting the development of the market for biodiversity offsets
• - Supporting the financial services and products sector to integrate biodiversity as part of their business lines and operations

Catherine Cruveillier Cassagne, Programme Manager, Biodiversity, Environment and Social Development Department, IFC, USA

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Impacts, Opportunities & Developments in Industry

Biodiversity & ecosystem factors impact many sectors and areas of business including agriculture, forestry, non-timber forest products, fisheries and aquaculture, biocarbon, food markets, insurance, watershed protection, bioprospecting, conservation concessions, biodiversity offsets, biodiversity management services, ecotourism, recreational hunting and sportfishing and many more. This session will focus on examples from specific sectors and cover the financial considerations behind the case studies.

Creating Premium Returns for Investors from Forests and Ecosystem Markets

• Forests are at the intersection of solutions for three major environmental and economic issues - climate change, biodiversity loss and water management
• New investment models such as those which New Forests are developing, are emerging around forests as a consequence:
• ‘Timber plus’ – timber as a core return with environmental and ecosystem revenue streams as upside
• ‘Eco products’ – investment returns derived solely from ecosystem services
• Timber plus and eco products case studies from New Forests and how returns are generated (e.g. Tarrangower plantation in Australia, The Eco Products Fund, Sabah Wildlife Conservation Bank in Borneo)
• Trends and future directions in biodiversity investment

Radha Kuppalli, Director, New Forests, USA

Markets, Risk and Sustainability – Avoided Deforestation and Triple Benefits

• Design and implementation of project level avoided deforestation projects for climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and economic development in tropical countries
• Securitisation of forest carbon
• Establishment of long term mechanisms that provide long term benefits and risk coverage

Linda Krueger, Conservation Policy Director, Conservation Finance Programme, Wildlife Conservation Society, USA

Linking Coastal Habitat Values to Biodiversity Financing Options

• Coastal habitats such as corals and mangroves are amongst the most valuable ecosystems
• Overview of different applications of coastal habitat valuations
• Outline of different financing options

James Spurgeon, Technical Director, Environmental Economics, Strategic Services Team, Environmental Resources Management, UK

Investment & Retail Banking Case Studies - Innovative Examples of Biodiversity & Ecosystem Finance & Investment

• Valuing biodiversity – what are the mechanisms for applying value?
• Initiatives on financial valuation of biodiversity benefits
• Practical examples – what are the enabling techniques and technologies?
• How it can make money
• Commercial examples
• Understanding biodiversity & ecosystem business risks & opportunities for the financial Sector
• Building the case for biodiversity & ecosystem finance
• How financial institutions can improve competitiveness whilst halting biodiversity loss
• Integrating biodiversity into credit and equity products will be very important in separating the ‘good’ companies from the ‘bad’
• ‘Bad’ companies would not necessarily be denied access to capital but it could be provided at less favorable terms
• There does not need to be a trade off between return on investment and reducing impacts on ecosystems

The Business Case for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Finance – WestLB Case Studies

• Substantial investments are required to conserve biological diversity
• The expectation of a broad range of environmental, economic and social benefits from these investments

Sharon Maharg, Director, Sustainability Management, WestLB, USA

Forestry & Finance

• Understanding the risk to the financial institution
• Developing a biodiversity partnership
• Banking better forestry - requiring certification
• Challenges in implementing a Sustainable Forestry Policy
• From risk to opportunity

Courtney Lowrance, Vice President, Environmental & Social Risk Management, Citi, USA

Networking Lunch Break & Exhibition Visit

Afternoon Chair: Adam Wolfensohn, Managing Director, Wolfensohn & Company, USA

Chair’s Opening Remarks

The Nature Conservancy's EcoEnterprises Fund

• 10 years as an investment tool for conservation
• Partnering for success
• Leverage of private capital for conservation purposes
• Measuring impact
• Stories from the field
• Lessons learned

Tammy E. Newmark, President, EcoEnterprises Fund, USA

Biodiversity Finance – Possibilities Beyond Equity and Debt

• Operational experiences
• The nature of funding requirements
• Constraints associated with tropical sustainable forestry and land management projects
• The role that product/service buyers could play in addressing these through EcoSecuritisation

Simon Petley, Chief Executive Officer, EnviroMarket, UK

Environmental Funds

Moving Biodiversity Finance from Grants to Private Sector Assets & Understanding the Implications

Successfully Establishing and Operating Biodiversity Enterprise Funds

• Insights from The Business Case for Biodiversity study

Kristina Jahn, Senior Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Germany

Structuring Biodiversity & Ecosystem Activities to Generate Returns

• Verde Ventures experience with the triple bottom line (environmental, social and financial)
• Private capital investment incentives in biodiversity SME funds
• Opportunities and challenges of risk mitigation in carbon and reforestation investments
  

Jennifer Morris, Managing Director, Verde Ventures, USA

Closing Panel Discussion – Future Steps to Expand the Industry

A closing panel session reviewing the two days discussions and identifying the key issues for expanding biodiversity & ecosystem finance.

Panellists:
Speaker from the two days

Who Should Attend?

• Private Banks
• Corporates
• Investment Institutions
• Asset Managers
• VCs
• Funds
• Conservation Groups
• NGOs

Example Job Titles
CEOs, CIOs, Directors, Managers of Commodities, Derivative Products, Emissions/Carbon Trading, Energy Funds, Energy & Power, Environment Linked Products, Investment, Investment Management, New Energy Technology, Portfolio Management, Asset Management, Product Development, Socially Responsible Investment, Structured Products, Sustainable Development, Renewable Energy

The event will include representatives from financial institutions who are starting to take the lead in accounting for environmental issues including biodiversity in their services and products as well as financial institutions who do not do so at present but would like to learn more. Financial institutions from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will have a key role to play with regards to Biodiversity moving forward and we hope to have several in attendance at this event.

The event will be marketed globally with attendees expected from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania.

As a sponsor, you will benefit from:

• Networking with an international audience of biodiversity professionals
• Extensive profiling on the website, brochure and e-marketing campaign
• Extensive on-site branding at the event

A range of sponsorship opportunities are available (gala dinner, cocktail reception, bag, lanyard, badge sponsor etc) which offer excellent branding to help promote your company to a targeted group of industry executives.

Contact   to discuss your sponsorship and/or exhibition requirements.

Endorsed by:

The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) is a global partnership between the United Nations Environment Programme and the private financial sector. UNEP FI works closely with the 175 financial institutions that are signatories to the UNEP FI Statements, and a range of partner organisations, to develop and promote linkages between the environment, sustainability and financial performance. Through regional activities, a comprehensive work programme, training activities and research, UNEP FI carries out its mission to identify, promote, and realise the adoption of best environmental and sustainability practice at all levels of financial institution operations.

Strategic Partner
	The Convention on Biological Diversity is the international framework for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of its benefits. With 190 Parties, the CBD has near-universal participation among countries who have committed to preserving life on Earth. The CBD seeks to address all threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services, including threats from climate change, through scientific assessments, the development of tools, incentives and processes, the transfer of technologies and good practices and the full and active involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including business.
Media Partners

Green Power Conferences consistently work in strategic partnership with industry leading organisations and trade publications. Our international and targeted marketing campaigns ensure excellent marketing exposure for our partners

If you would like to partner with us, please contact

Park Central Hotel
870 Seventh Avenue at 56th Street
New York, NY 10019-4038
USA
800.346.1359
212.247.8000

The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Finance event is offsetting 100% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions created by the electricity used to power the conference space through a donation of BeGreen Carbon Offsets from Green Mountain Energy Company. Green Mountain Energy Company is the nation’s leading retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions.

For an additional $10.00 (€7.00) during the registration process, you can purchase a minimum of 1 REC which will offset approximately 1,363 pounds of carbon dioxide. To put this in perspective, it’s like not driving over 1,500 miles in your car or the annual carbon sequestration of 82 trees.

You can do your part to green up your travel to this event by visiting here and offsetting emissions created by your flight to the conference. All you have to do is enter your flight details, calculate the CO2 footprint and choose BeGreen Carbon Offsets. While you're there don't miss out on valuable tips to reduce your footprint, information about global warming and sustainable products for friends and family.