Natural Capital Investment

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

5.30pm to 9pm

Hosted by

S&W logo 2015_marsala grey_RGB

25 Moorgate, London EC2R 6AY

THIS EVENT CAN QUALIFY FOR CPD POINTS FOR A RANGE OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES. CERTIFICATES OF ATTENDANCE CAN BE PROVIDED ON REQUEST.

Natural Capital has been defined as the elements of nature that directly and indirectly produce value or benefits to people, including ecosystems, species, freshwater, land, minerals, the air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions.

Increasingly, companies are seeing there are real commercial benefits to be gained from investing in the very ecosystems that their supply chains rely on and looking to nature to address some of their issues. Examples include a US chemical company that invested USD 1 million in a wetland which naturally filters water, rather than USD 40 million in a wastewater treatment plant. In the UK, a snack company is providing free bee kits to help to develop a more local honey supply chain.

Biodiversity offsetting has been introduced as a way of managing the overall environmental effect of projects where some degradation cannot be avoided, for instance in some transport infrastructure projects. However, with the time it takes for habitats to become established, can biodiversity offsetting really work or is it simply an opt out for the less-environmentally conscious?

Even the most carbon-conscious energy projects have an impact on the environment when the new energy farm is built. Increasingly, energy projects are taking the habitats in which they are located into account, transport projects have natural capital programmes and landfill sites have biodiversity plans as part of their closure programmes.

This event will look at the key non-mineral natural capital components and assess how attractive they are for investors and for companies to become engaged. Beyond PR and the desire actually to be doing some good, is there a commercial reason for companies to invest in natural capital? In particular, we will look at:

  • biodiversity offsetting
  • business risk of natural capital degradation
  • investing in natural capital to make supply chains more resilient
  • using natural capital solutions for commercial issues
  • taking corporate sustainability into the woodland, oceans and freshwater
  • investor returns from natural capital

 

Agenda

5.30pm Registration

6.00pm Welcome – Andrew Bond, Smith & Williamson

6.10pm Introduction – Clive Hall, Rushlight Events

6.20pm Overview of Natural Capital - Jonathan Shopley, Managing Director, Natural Capital Partners

6.40pm The Government perspective of Natural Capital - Nick Barter, Deputy Director: Head of Natural Capital Committee Secretariat and Biodiversity and Ecosystems Analysis at Defra

7.00pm The Risks and Rewards of Natural Capital Management - Olivia Darby, Chief Operating Officer of the Capital, Science & Policy Practice at Willis Towers Watson

7.20pm Panel discussion and Q&A, augmented by

Mark Gough, Executive Director, Natural Capital Coalition

Duncan Bott, Managing Director, Belectric Solar Ltd

8.00pm Networking, drinks and eats

9.00pm Close

 

Who should attend?

This event is ideal for anyone involved in managing or advising on companies’ sustainability programmes, renewable energy or transport projects, land management programmes, freshwater and marine environment activities. It really is relevant for anyone involved in cleantech and sustainability, including investors and financiers, corporate sustainability professionals, consultants, other professional advisers, media, technology developers, sustainable solutions providers and other sector followers.

Register

To register for this event click HERE.

There is a small service fee levied by the registration and payment system that we use. If you are having any problems with this system (please make sure that your email address and the email address associated with the credit card you are using tally, otherwise the system will assume the transaction is fraudulent and refuse it) or you wish to avoid the service fee, then please email [email protected] your details and we will invoice you directly.

 

Speakers

Jonathan Shopley - Natural Capital Partners

As Managing Director, Jonathan Shopley leads The CarbonNeutral Company’s contribution to international policy developments on climate change and standards for carbon trading and carbon offsetting. He is on the board of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the executive team of the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA). Jonathan, who joined The CarbonNeutral Company in 2001, has 25 years’ experience in identifying and mitigating environmental impacts from industry. He is regularly invited to represent the view of business at UN COP meetings and industry events throughout the world.

Mark Gough - Natural Capital Coalition

Mark Gough is the Executive Director of the Natural Capital Coalition. A strong believer in integrating sustainability into decision-making where it becomes an opportunity for everyone, Mark previously worked for The Crown Estate, helping to develop its integrated vision and approach to value measurement. Prior to this he was the Global Environmental Manager for the information company, Reed Elsevier. Mark is a Director of the Aldersgate Group, which brings together business, politics and civil society to drive action for a sustainable economy, and has sat on a number of national and international committees, including the Steering Committee of the United Nations CEO Water Mandate and the Board of the Alliance for Water Stewardship.

Duncan Bott - BELECTRIC

Duncan has been working in the renewable energy sector for over ten years, and has extensive knowledge and experience across a wide spectrum of low-carbon technologies, from hydrogen and fuel cells to solar PV and smart grid technologies. Duncan has managed the construction of over 120MWp solar farm capacity throughout the UK and more than 2MWp of solar rooftops, with several more projects in construction and development.