Building Bridges

🌍 October Newsletter out now! This month’s edition highlights the launch of the Building Bridges 2025 Podcast Season in partnership with The Geneva Connection, featuring Secretary John Kerry and Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, an upcoming webinar on 30 October - Scaling Impact: Private Market Investing in Africa, and a new We Build Bridges story from Luana Maia (NatureFinance) on Brazil’s role in the nature-finance transition. Tune in, read about, and stay connected with the conversations shaping the future of #SustainableFinance. Check out the full newsletter here.

Anthony Chaillet will join as a proud member of the Building Bridges Delegation to the 2025 African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA) Conference. 🌍     In partnership with AVCA - The African Private Capital Association, African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA) , and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.   Excited to connect, collaborate, and create impact in Nairobi, #Kenya from 3–5 November!

The energy transition is now unstoppable That sentence hung in the air. Not as a slogan. Not as wishful thinking. But as a fact, backed by $2 trillion invested in renewables last year, twice as much as in fossil fuels. It’s how we opened the first episode of the third season of The Geneva Connection podcast, created together with Building Bridges, a space where global leaders explore how finance, innovation, and policy can move together toward a more sustainable future. For this episode, John Kerry, former U.S. Secretary of State and Executive Co-Chair of Galvanize, joined Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, CEO of the Green Finance Institute, in conversation with Patrick Odier, chairman of Building Bridges. The exchange was honest, challenging, and full of clarity. Sustainability has too often been politicized, yet the reality is simple: clean energy is winning because it makes economic sense. The transition isn’t only a moral choice; it’s a financial one. Finance and policy must align, one enabling, the other facilitating, to make sustainability the natural path, not the alternative. And beyond markets, this is about people: the millions affected by pollution, the communities that could thrive through cleaner air, resilient homes, and new opportunities. The transition won’t be linear. But it’s already happening and it’s irreversible. Innovation is rewriting the rules. New technologies are replacing old commodities. Let’s keep building bridges: between ideas, sectors, and people. That’s where transformation begins. https://lnkd.in/e3ezawv6 #SustainableFinance #BuildingBridges #GenevaConnection #JohnKerry #RhianMariThomas #PatrickOdier #ClimateAction #ESG #FinanceForGood

Thank you to Building Bridges for the invitation to deliver the keynote address at the inaugural Building Bridges Executive Networking Event connecting Switzerland’s two financial centres—Zurich and Geneva. The aim of this new event is to convene the Swiss financial community and key stakeholders in order to better harness the full potential of Switzerland as a global sustainable finance hub. I shared how #InternationalGeneva, primarily through the work of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), has been instrumental in conceptualizing and delivering pioneering global frameworks and initiatives on responsible investment and sustainable insurance over the past two decades that have laid the foundation for the global sustainable finance movement. This has entailed building bridges not only between Geneva and Zurich (and Basel and Davos), but also between Switzerland and the rest of the world. An upcoming example I shared on amplifying sustainable insurance at the global level is the COP30 Global Sustainable Insurance Summit convened by the UN Environment Programme and the Brazilian Insurance Confederation (CNseg - Confederação Nacional das Seguradoras). The flagship 3-day insurance event at COP30 Brazil will highlight the sustainability ambition and action needed across the insurance, regulatory and policymaking community, the real economy, and civil society to tackle the climate and nature crises, improve insurability, close the protection gap, and accelerate and scale up a just transition to inclusive, resilient and sustainable communities and economies. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dkwQDY28 The event was attended by Building Bridges Chair, Patrick Odier, and it was insightful to hear the reflections on the flagship Building Bridges 2025 event held in Geneva earlier this month from Karen Hitschke (CEO, Building Bridges Foundation), Adrian Schatzmann (CEO, Asset Management Association Switzerland (AMAS), Romain Leroy-Castillo (Director, Swiss Sustainable Finance), and August Benz (Deputy CEO, Swiss Banking). Co-organized by Building Bridges, GreenBuzz and SFG - Sustainable Finance Geneva, the inaugural event was held in Zurich and was hosted by AMAS. The second event will be held in Geneva on 1 December. Looking forward to a closer and stronger Geneva-Zurich connection to amplify sustainable finance in Switzerland and around the world. #SustainableFinance #SustainableInsurance #ResponsibleInvestment

🚀 Out Now! Our new Building Bridges 2025 Podcast Season, in partnership with The Geneva Connection, has officially launched! Episode 1: “Unstoppable: The Next Chapter of Sustainable Finance” features an inspiring conversation with: John Kerry, Former U.S. Secretary of State & Co-Executive Chair of Galvanize and Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute, who join Patrick Odier, Chairman of Building Bridges, to explore today’s pressing questions, from political headwinds and ESG polarisation to the shifting sustainability narrative, record clean energy investments, and the flow of early-stage capital. 🔗 Tune in and learn more - https://lnkd.in/ewsw6wQu

Bridging Finance and Sustainability: From Geneva to Zurich Today's post #BuidlingBridges25 Executive Networking lunch was a powerful testament to Swiss collaborative potential in #SustainableFinance. A heartfelt thank you to our exceptional partners: 🤝 Co-organisers: GreenBuzz and SFG - Sustainable Finance Geneva 🏛️ Hosts: Asset Management Association Switzerland 🌍 Founding Partners: United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), Swiss Banking, Swiss Sustainable Finance 💡 Special highlight: Butch Bacani from United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) delivered an inspiring keynote representing International Geneva, demonstrating how Swiss financial centers can drive global sustainable development, and the important progress happening within the insurance industry. Lastly, a sincere thank you to our four speakers August Benz, Romain Leroy-Castillo, Adrian Schatzmann and Karen Hitschke for sharing your insights and helping shape such a meaningful discussion.

💡 Join us on 30 October 2025, from 16:00 to 17:00 CET for our webinar “Scaling Impact: Private Market Investing in Africa.” 🌍 Africa’s private markets are at a pivotal moment. With a young and rapidly expanding population, rising technology adoption, and urgent needs across infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, and climate resilience, the continent presents investors with a unique chance to achieve both strong returns and meaningful impact. This webinar will bring together leading voices from across Africa’s private capital ecosystem including Abi Mustapha-Maduakor, MEng, CA, MBA, AVCA - The African Private Capital Association, Catherine Cax, Soros Economic Development Fund, Shruti Chandrasekhar, IFC - International Finance Corporation and Ann Wyman, AfricInvest Group — to discuss how #PrivateEquity, #VentureCapital, and #BlendedFinance are unlocking long-term value, driving growth, and addressing global challenges such as climate change and job creation. 🌿 🔗 Learn more and register here: https://lnkd.in/eRYy3epy

Future-Proofing the Global Economy: Aligning Finance with Resilience At this year’s Building Bridges conference in Geneva, WBCSD hosted a conversation on physical risk and value chain resilience, exploring how finance, insurance, and corporates can work together to manage and price physical risk more effectively. WBCSD President and CEO Peter Bakker and Fiona Watson, Vice President of Corporate Performance and Accountability, joined business and finance leaders to discuss how aligning finance with resilience is critical to future-proofing the global economy. As Peter noted in the recent Devex feature: “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘬, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.” In our workshop, “Driving Action on Physical Risk in Value Chains,” participants examined how physical impacts are already damaging global value chains, while limited visibility and inconsistent methodologies are leading to inefficient pricing and inadequate risk management. Experts from the insurance and finance sectors explored pathways for effective risk transfer and prevention, including parametric insurance, resilience bonds, and stronger public–private cooperation. The key takeaway is resilience is not just a safeguard. It's a source of competitive advantage and long-term value creation. Read the Devex feature: https://lnkd.in/etZsdQvT Download WBCSD’s CEO Handbook for Physical Risk and Resilience in Value Chains: https://lnkd.in/e74Q4vpA #BuildingBridges #PhysicalRisk #SustainableFinance #ValueChainResilience #WBCSD #Resilience #FutureProofFinance

Heading to the Trust Conference by the Thomson Reuters Foundation this week — always a most thoughtful gathering on media freedom, accountability and the public good. Looking forward to hearing from old friends like Styli C. and David Caswell, as well as others I've followed and admired from afar. If you’re there too, I’d love to reconnect — or meet for the first time. In my recent Africa Media Perspectives keynote (https://lnkd.in/dSmiQuJU) and panel at Building Bridges, I made the case that we need to move beyond simply saying journalism is good to showing how it does good — in ways that are social, environmental, and economic. That’s what we’re at the Media Innovation Studio are working on with the SILA 360° tool — part of the Sustainable Innovation and Leadership Accelerator — helping news organisations walk the talk by tracking their real-world impact across People, Planet, Prosperity and Principles. Because trust grows when words meet evidence. #TrustConference #TC2025 #SILA360 #MediaSustainability #Leadership #ImpactJournalism #WalkTheTalk University of Lancashire Styli C.