Meeting events

A high-level event exploring how nature credit markets can drive investment in biodiversity through stronger policy and market design.
Nature credit markets are evolving rapidly, with growing interest from governments, investors, businesses and conservation leaders seeking credible mechanisms to finance biodiversity protection and restoration at scale.

This high-level convening – co-organised by the Delegation of the EU to the UK, The International Institute for Environment and Development, International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits, Biodiversity Credit Alliance, Green Finance Institute, UNEP Finance Initiative and Terassos – brings together financial institutions, policymakers, market developers, conservation organisations and practitioners to explore how greater convergence across policy, market architecture and high-integrity project supply can accelerate the growth of high integrity nature credit markets.

Through three interactive panel discussions and audience engagement, the event will examine:

The business case for investing in biodiversity and nature credits
The role of high-integrity supply in stimulating market demand
Emerging policy frameworks and market architecture needed for market activation
Lessons from Latin America, East Africa and other global South initiatives, and
The connection between nature credits, sustainable supply chains and resilient business operations.
The event is designed for a broad audience across the nature finance ecosystem, including:

Investors and asset managers
Corporates and supply-chain leaders
Policymakers and regulators
Conservation practitioners, and
NGOs and research institutions.
The programme will include opportunities for audience participation and open discussion on key questions shaping the future of nature markets.

Please note pre-registration is required for access to Europe House at 32 Smith Square. The venue is wheelchair-accessible.

Jointly hosted by the Australian High Commission and the Fiji High Commission, this flagship LCAW reception will provide insight into Pacific-led initiatives that are creating positive momentum toward COP31, showing how Pacific experiences and perspectives can help drive global action and solutions.

The event will promote the COP31 Pacific Partnership, including the Pacific Pre-COP, Pacific Resilience Facility and Pacific COP31 Envoys.

Keynote speakers will include President of Palau, H.E Surangel Whipps Jr., and Australia’s COP31 Executive Director for the President of Negotiations, Ms Kushla Munro.

EOIs close on Thursday, 18 June.

The Rainforest Foundation Norway and the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative in partnership with UNEP will host a high‑level reception during LCAW to mark the release of the Tropical Deforestation Outlook — a comprehensive global assessment of pressures on remaining tropical rainforests and their likely trajectories under different policy and market scenarios.

Continued forest loss poses not only a climate and biodiversity crisis, but growing systemic risks for global markets and supply chains, affecting sectors from energy and technology to food, fashion, and finance.

Bringing together leaders from finance, government, business, civil society, faith communities, Indigenous Peoples’ and local community organisations, the event will explore the growing risks of tropical deforestation, the action needed to accelerate forest protection, and solutions being implemented on the ground.

Agenda:

• 6.30pm:  Arrival – Canapes and refreshments will be served. Experience the Amazonia Forever virtual reality film, bringing the beauty of the forest and the challenges of its protection to life.
• 7pm:  Welcome speech and presentations . Key findings of the report, videos showcasing solutions, high-level policy perspectives, Local communities/Indigenous voices and IRI perspectives.
• 8pm:  Networking reception continues
• 10pm:  Close23 June, 6.30pm to 10pm

This is an invite only event, and space is limited. If interested in attending, please contact Johanne Ness at johanne.n@rainforest.no.

New economic research commissioned by the RSPB makes the financial case for closing the UK nature finance gap, quantifying both the cost of inaction and the opportunity of getting it right.

​This interactive session for senior business, finance and policy professionals tests that evidence in practice:

​Can the UK meet its nature and climate commitments alongside economic growth, within realistic budgets?

​The answer, as a hands-on exercise reveals, depends on whether nature is integrated into economic and climate decision-making or siloed from it. Closes with an opportunity for further discussion of where investment opportunities already exist.

​Speakers include:

​Professor Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge.
​Katie-Jo Luxton, Executive Director of Global Conservation for RSPB.
​Timings

​08:45 – Guest Arrival and Networking
09:05 – Opening remarks and address from Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge
09:30 – Interactive discussion: The £10 billion question
09:55 – Panel: What does acting on this look like? Hosted by Katie-Jo Luxton (RSPB)

This 60-minute session, co-hosted by AFi, WWF and Rainforest Foundation Norway, will examine how emerging state-level traceability, MRV and compliance-screening systems can support the practical implementation of deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains.

As EUDR implementation approaches, and as companies reassess how to meet their DCF commitments, there is an opportunity to shift the conversation from risk exposure to credible pathways for action. Brazilian states such as Pará, Acre and Tocantins are developing systems that can improve visibility over production areas, legal compliance, traceability and forest-risk management. These efforts can help buyers, regulators, investors and downstream companies identify where real progress is taking place — and how responsible market demand can reinforce it.

The session will also bring in perspectives from FAIRR’s China engagement and Rainforest Foundation Norway’s investor work. While European regulation is creating a near-term compliance driver, China remains a critical demand-side market for Brazilian soy, beef and animal-feed supply chains. Investor engagement with Chinese agri-food companies therefore offers an important lens on how downstream actors are beginning to understand deforestation risk, supply-chain resilience, traceability expectations and the value of credible sourcing-region systems.

LCAW provides a timely platform to connect these agendas: state-level innovation in Brazil, evolving regulatory expectations in Europe, and investor engagement with China-facing value chains. By bringing these perspectives together, the session will explore how market signals from different geographies can better recognise and reward jurisdictions investing in traceability, monitoring and forest governance.

Core framing
State-level traceability, MRV and compliance-screening systems can help turn DCF expectations into implementable pathways. For these systems to scale, they must be understood and recognised by the markets they are designed to serve.

The session is designed for:
Downstream companies, retailers and brands with DCF or EUDR-related sourcing needs
Traders, importers and supply-chain actors seeking credible information from sourcing regions
UK and EU public authorities working on forest-risk commodity regulation and due diligence
Brazilian state government representatives
Civil society organisations working on traceability, EUDR, DCF implementation and forest governance
Financial institutions interested in jurisdictional or landscape-level risk reduction
COP30 and deforestation roadmap partners
Selected China-facing actors interested in verified DCF trade models

Panellists
Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) – Jeff Milder – Host / Opening
WWF Brazil – Jean Timmers – WWF Policy and Advocacy manager, Deforestation and Conversion-free Supply Chains
SEMA-AC – Leonardo Carvalho, State Secretary for the Environment of Acre (Brazil)
Rainforest Foundation Norway – Ingrid Tungen – Team leader deforestation free markets
WWF Indonesia – Aditya Bayunanda – Director of Policy and Advocacy
FAIRR Initiative — Changtong Huang — China Programme Head

Forests are increasingly recognised as essential to achieving global climate goals, while also supporting biodiversity, sustainable development, and the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. As governments, companies, and financial institutions seek credible pathways to meet climate commitments, demand is growing for high-integrity forest carbon solutions capable of delivering durable emissions reductions alongside meaningful social and environmental outcomes.

Jurisdictional REDD+ (J-REDD) programmes are increasingly recognized as central to the future of forest finance. Operating at national and subnational scales, they address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation through public policy, governance reforms, sustainable land-use approaches, and partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

Many jurisdictions have strong governance, safeguards, benefit-sharing, and institutional systems required to generate high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon credits. However, significant gaps remain between jurisdictional progress and market understanding.

Strengthening transparency, visibility, and understanding is therefore essential to scaling high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon finance. The event will introduce the JTAP J-REDD Market Readiness Platform, a new transparency and market engagement tool designed to improve visibility on jurisdictional progress toward issuance and transactions.

This event will convene governments from Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, and Papua New Guinea, alongside Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, corporate buyers, financial institutions, philanthropic organizations, and technical partners to:

• Strengthen understanding of high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ programmes and their role in delivering scalable climate solutions
• Improve visibility on the pathway from implementation to issuance and transactions;
• Highlight the importance of strong social integrity systems in in supporting the delivery of benefits to communities and forest governance, programme credibility and market confidence;
• Foster dialogue between jurisdictions, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, buyers, and financial partners; and
• Catalyse partnerships, financing opportunities, and long-term engagement in high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon markets.

The afternoon programme will conclude with a networking reception with drinks and canapés.

Programme

2:15 -2:30 PM – Welcome and keynote address: Forests for Climate, Communities, and Conservation

2:30 – 4:00 PM — Climate Action in an Era of Polarisation: How to Bridge the Divide? Co-hosted by IRI and UNEP, this session confronts the political polarisation now surrounding climate and zero-deforestation commitments — in rainforest nations and the consumer economies driving forest loss alike. Drawing together environmental NGOs, faith institutions, Indigenous Peoples, donors and policymakers, it explores the moral authority of faith leaders, the links between conflict and deforestation, campaigning amid polarised politics, and the narratives that shift public demand — surfacing approaches that build dialogue across opposing camps. Open discussion follows, closing with a viewing of the Amazonia VR film.

4:30 – 6:00 PM — Forest Monitoring for Communities, Conservation Climate and Capital. Convened by FAO, FCLP, IRI, UN-REDD and GATC with the UK (DESNZ) and Norway (NICFI), this session places Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the centre of forest protection. It examines how community-led forest and tenure monitoring can advance the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment and wider goals on forest conservation, sharpen transparency and accountability.

• Opening remarks & key announcements. New support for forest monitoring from the UK and Norway, alongside an update from Brazil on the forest agenda — the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment and the deforestation roadmap.
• Keynote. Forest monitoring for communities, conservation and climate, from the leader of the Mesoamerican Forest Peoples Alliance and Co-Chair of GATC.
• Panel · Monitoring, tenure & finance. How forest and tenure monitoring can advance international commitments, strengthen transparency and accountability, and unlock results-based finance that rewards Indigenous stewardship of forests.

6:00 -7:00 PM — Closing remarks and networking drinks

Climate action and zero-deforestation commitments have grown politically polarised — across rainforest nations and the consumer economies driving forest loss alike. Meeting that challenge calls for shared understanding, across the political spectrum, ideology and faiths, that climate action is not ideological but existential.

Robust forest monitoring gives that conviction evidence: it makes visible both the loss and the protection of landscapes of sacred and ancestral value, and equips communities to hold actors accountable to their commitments — and to unlock the finance that rewards their stewardship.

Join the EDF Forests team and partners  for a full day of conversations exploring some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing forests and communities around the world.

Taking place at Queen Mary University of London, these three events will bring together Indigenous leaders, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and technical experts to discuss forest governance, climate finance, illegal mining, and wildfire resilience.

📅 Thursday, June 25, 2026

📍 Joseph Rotblat Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London

🌿 Event 1 |From Extraction to Knowledge: Tackling Illegal Mining in Ecuador Through Science and Indigenous Leadership

9:00–10:30 AM BST

Explore how Indigenous knowledge, scientific research, and monitoring systems can work together to better understand and address illegal mining in the Amazon.

RSVP: https://luma.com/iwjumr2e

🤝 Event 2 | Building Trust in Climate Finance: The Role of Benefit Sharing Plans in Strengthening IPLC Participation

10:30 AM–12:00 PM BST

Join us for a discussion on how REDD+ Benefit Sharing Plans can go beyond financial distribution to strengthen trust, participation, governance, and territorial co-benefits for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

RSVP: https://luma.com/zuskn3wa

🔥 Event 3 | Enhancing Wildfire Resilience in India: Integrating Science, Communities, and Innovation

12:00–1:30 PM BST

Learn how science, traditional knowledge, government leadership, and technology can work together to build long-term wildfire resilience in tropical forest landscapes.

RSVP: https://luma.com/nz78gjmz

Participants are welcome to register for one, two, or all three events.

​As part of London Climate Action Week 2026, CTrees is bringing together leaders across science and policy on Wednesday, June 24, to discuss efforts to advance forest resilience and economic development in tropical Africa.

Featuring panel discussions with leading scientists, government officials, and experts in finance and policy, the event will explore practical pathways towards more resilient ecosystems and livelihoods in the region.

​Confirmed speakers include:

​Panel 1 | Green Shields: Scaling Trees on Farms for Climate Resilience and Food Security

​Across Central Africa, scattered trees and on-farm agroforestry act as critical green shields—recycling moisture, stabilizing local climates, and sustaining crop and livestock productivity. This panel of scientists, policymakers, and NGO leaders will highlight how trees on farms can help deliver measurable gains for food security and livelihoods in the region.

• ​Roselyn Fosuah Adjei, Senior Advisor Consultant, Forest, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

• ​John Mundy, Director of Global Partnerships, One Acre Fund

• ​Tim Pagella, Thematic Lead on Agroforestry, CIFOR-ICRAF

• ​Sassan Saatchi, CEO and Chief Scientist, CTrees

• ​Lee White, Special Envoy, Science Panel for the Congo Basin

​Panel 2 | Rewarding Regrowth: Investing in Africa’s Regenerating Forests

​Naturally regenerating forests are among the most powerful nature‑based climate solutions, yet current climate and biodiversity finance largely overlooks the impact of regeneration. This panel of leading scientists, funders, decision-makers, and community advocates will explore what it takes to successfully scale regeneration across tropical Africa—turning these forests into investable and equitable climate solutions.

• ​Hannah Morton, Carbon Originator, Trafigura

• ​Berta Pesti, Head of Secretariat, Central African Forest Initiative

• ​Sassan Saatchi, CEO and Chief Scientist, CTrees

• ​Tonthoza Uganja, CEO and Founder, Sustainable Farming Solutions Malawi

​Advance registration for this event is required and subject to approval. Please reach out to Janet Smith, director of development and partnerships, at jsmith@ctrees.org with questions.

The session highlights the power of locally led action to build climate resilience through nature. Three Climate Adaptation Champions will share insights from their work with communities in Nicaragua, the Eastern Atlantic Islands and Uganda – highlighting local perspectives on climate impacts, adaptation priorities and the role of ecosystem-based approaches.

Speakers:

Beckie Nantongo, Climate Adaptation Technical Specialist, Uganda, Fauna & Flora
Katelene Da Cruz Delgado, Climate Adaptation Technical Specialist, Eastern Atlantic Islands,  Fauna & Flora
Marcela Gutierrez, Climate Adaptation Technical Specialist, Nicaragua, Fauna & Flora

World Resources Institute, Ocean & Climate Platform and Ocean Conservancy, as founding members of the Blue NDC Challenge, will host a closed-door exchange during London Climate Action Week to advance ocean-climate priorities through stronger cooperation, practical delivery, and broader multilateral partnerships. Co-organised with Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, the session will bring together a small group of countries and partners to share experiences, explore how financial flows can better support ocean priorities, and identify ways to strengthen collective ambition for ocean-based action in nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

The discussion will also provide a space to reflect on how recent milestones, including the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue and the Our Ocean Conference, can help shape the next phase of work on ocean-based climate action. The conversation will highlight shared priorities, common challenges, and opportunities for cooperation among European countries, the United Kingdom, and partners in other regions.

Objectives

• Create a focused space for countries and partners to exchange practical approaches on ocean-climate implementation and identify where collaboration can accelerate delivery.
• Explore how financial flows can be better aligned with ocean priorities, including through public finance, development finance, and partnerships with multilateral institutions.
• Discuss how EU and UK actors can strengthen cooperation on ocean-climate ambition, including through diplomacy, policy alignment, industry engagement, and academic collaboration.
• Consider how countries can reinforce ocean priorities within broader coalitions and show stronger support for collective ambition, especially in the run-up to COP31 and the Pacific pre-COP.