Meeting events

​As we build the next generation of verified carbon markets, much of the focus has rightly been on strengthening standards, building key infrastructure, and scaling demand. Yet a more fundamental question often goes unaddressed: who is able to participate in these markets, and on what terms? Participation is too often framed as a question of readiness or capacity when, in practice, it is shaped by how the system itself functions — by how rules are set, how demand is signaled, and how risks and value are distributed. Where these dynamics constrain participation, pipelines struggle to scale, supply remains uneven, buyer confidence weakens, and finance does not flow at the pace required. Equitable participation will not emerge automatically as markets grow; it needs to be deliberately enabled.

​Convened by the VCM+ Coalition in partnership with Climate Action Platform Africa, this London Climate Action Week working session is designed to move from diagnosis to action. Across three hours of moderated discussion, participants will interrogate how rule-setting, demand signals, safeguards, and project-level realities interact to shape who reaches the market, drawing on the African experience to surface where current structures are not functioning as intended and where targeted changes could unlock more equitable participation at scale. The session will converge on a prioritized set of 3–5 concrete actions that can be progressed beyond LCAW.

​Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how the carbon market measures, monitors, verifies, and communicates, and the pace of change will only accelerate in the months ahead. The question is not whether the market will integrate AI, but whether it will do so thoughtfully, equitably, and in ways that strengthen rather than undermine its integrity and environmental impact. AI is not an uncomplicated good: concerns about algorithmic opacity, data sovereignty, environmental footprint, and equity — particularly for communities in the Global South whose lands and livelihoods underpin many carbon projects — are legitimate and must be engaged seriously.

​This session is the first in a series of VCM+ Coalition conversations on AI and carbon markets, continuing through New York Climate Week and COP. Together, members will demystify what AI can do to strengthen carbon market integrity, surface early innovators and emerging trends, and take stock of the governance and safeguard challenges that come with rapid adoption. The goal is to leave with a clearer sense of where momentum is already building and where the Coalition should focus its engagement over the year ahead.

​The voluntary carbon market has listened to many of the criticisms raised against it. Over the past several years, leading institutions have spearheaded significant initiatives to strengthen market infrastructure, deliver greater impact through the projects funded by carbon markets, and rebuild confidence in the market. Because of these developments, the VCM today is stronger than it has ever been.

​But the global media and policy discourse has not yet caught up with this work. As a result, many key decisions are being shaped with an outdated understanding of the market, its present, and its future. Stakeholders across the VCM+ community can do a better job communicating these developments in ways that resonate with key audiences.

​Join this interactive working session to explore how a shared campaign framework can equip VCM+ partners to tell their own stories within a consistent drumbeat: if you haven’t been tuning in, it’s time to tune back into carbon markets. The goal is not to prescribe how individual initiatives should be discussed; it’s to provide infrastructure that supports the diverse work already happening across the community. This will be an opportunity to feed your perspective into the broader effort, learn about communications resources available to you, and leave with shared messaging you can adapt for your own audiences.

What does the Voluntary Carbon Market expect when it comes to permanence in nature-based carbon, and how is that shaping the carbon standard?

This session will examine how new and evolving carbon policy, rating frameworks, and risk mitigation tools are converging to influence new approaches in methodology and project design.

Featuring perspectives from policy, ratings, standards, and insurance, the discussion will explore practical pathways to delivering durable, high-integrity credits. This session will be relevant for corporate sustainability leaders, carbon credit buyers, investors, and policy experts seeking to better understand how permanence expectations are evolving across the market.

Water stress is increasing and presents a growing risk to business, driven by both acute events (e.g. floods and droughts) and chronic environmental degradation. These risks are also highly local in nature—varying by basin, sector, and operating context—and can manifest through the lenses of too much water, too little water, or poor water quality/access. Put in the framing of different climate scenarios, and business face a complex decision-making process of how best to mitigate risk and remain resilient for the future.

Currently, businesses globally are advancing both water stewardship and climate adaptation efforts. However, these are often developed in parallel rather than in an integrated manner. This fragmentation risks creating blind spots, where actions fail to fully account for future climate impacts or local water conditions, increasing the risk of maladaptation.

There is a growing need to move from understanding water stress to identifying effective, context-specific adaptation solutions. This session brings together the water stewardship and climate adaptation communities to explore how these efforts can be better aligned to support practical, business-relevant water resilience pathways.

This session showcases how effective policy and targeted advocacy can strengthen high-integrity nature markets, using real-world examples to inspire action. Participants will engage directly with policymakers and peers and leave with practical guidance on how to navigate policy in the current landscape.

Who should join?

Policymakers, corporate sustainability leaders, carbon credit buyers, financial institutions, NGOs, and market actors interested in how policy shapes confidence, participation, and investment in high-integrity carbon markets for nature.

The Business Breakthrough Barometer 2026 provides real-time insights across geographies and sectors of how business strategies, investments, and risk perceptions are shifting in response to the climate transition. Delivered in collaboration with the Breakthrough Agenda and Climate High-level Champions, participants will gain actionable insights to guide engaement throughout London Climate Action Week and the COP cycle, including the conditions needed to unlock investment, strengthen policy alignment, and accelerate delivery at scale.

Senior business and government leaders will share perspectives on how to turn commitments into implementation—highlighting practical solutions, emerging opportunities, and the priority bottlenecks that must be addressed this year. The lunchtime session will enable networking across C-suite leaders, policymakers, and investors focused on accelerating investment and implementation this year.

12:30 – 13:00 | Networking Lunch

13:00 – 13:20 | Key Insights from the Business Breakthrough Barometer 2026

13:20 – 13:50 | Business Leaders Panel Discussion

13:50 – 14:00 | Closing Remarks

14:00 – 14:30 | Networking Reception

As climate, nature, and human rights risks become increasingly interconnected, companies need transition plans that move beyond silos and support better strategic decisions. Integrated transition planning offers a practical way to align sustainability priorities with business strategy, governance, capital allocation, and implementation.

CDP is delighted to announce the inaugural session for its newly convened Earth-Positive Economics Advisory Board on Thursday, June 25 (10:00 to 12:00 BST) in London, taking place during the 2026 London Climate Action Week.

​Nature is often framed as a cost centre and a critical risk. For leading companies, this perception is shifting.

​In a changing world, forward-thinking businesses are translating nature-positive action into tangible commercial value, from increased operating margins and more resilient supply chains to differentiated products and innovative new business models.

​Join sustainability leaders, finance professionals, and investors for an exclusive London Climate Action Week event focused on moving beyond compliance and impact to explore nature as a source of commercial opportunity.

​Drawing on emergent global frameworks, including TNFD and WEF, and practical case studies from major corporates, the panel will explore:

• ​What nature opportunities look like in practice

• ​How businesses can identify, enable, and scale them for competitive advantage

• ​The critical role of business and finance in the nature positive transition

​Speakers include: Andrew Mitchell, Founder & CEO at Equilibrium Futures, and Laura Fisher, Programme Lead, Nature Positive Industries, World Economic Forum

​This Land Dialogues session brings together leaders from the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia to explore what helps rainforests stay standing in practice. Many of the world’s most intact forests are found in Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community territories, yet forests still face growing pressure from logging, extraction, and competing land-use decisions. The session will examine how decisions over forests are made, who influences them, and why some governance systems are able to hold over time while others break down.

​Through real examples from across rainforest regions, speakers will discuss how governments, laws, and territorial governance systems interact on the ground, and what this means for keeping forests standing. The session will use a fishbowl format with an open chair, allowing audience members to join the discussion directly alongside speakers. Together, the conversation aims to move beyond high-level commitments and focus on what is actually working in practice, and why.

Agenda
Doors open from 9:00am
9:30–10:00am — Registration and coffee
10:00–11:30am — Land Dialogues session
11:30am–12:00pm — Light reception

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Curated to be both practical and informative, the morning programme will feature 10 workshops comprising five individual sessions, each repeated twice, exclusively for IIGCC members on the following topics:

• Financing nature – Policy strategies to support investment in nature markets
• Breaking down barriers to sector decarbonisation
• Physical risk data: an ocean of information, a desert of knowledge
• The investment case for a just transition in EMDEs
• Agentic AI deep dive: Enabling applications for investor climate goals (sponsored by S&P Global)