IISD at Building Bridges 2025

From September 30 to October 2, 2025, Building Bridges will once again position Geneva at the centre of global efforts to align finance with sustainability. The summit brings together policy-makers, investors, and international organizations to move beyond dialogue and accelerate action on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.

IISD is proud to be a founding partner of Building Bridges. It contributes as part of the event selection committee, shaping the 2025 program. If you are attending Building Bridges, don't miss IISD's two sessions on channelling more finance into nature. IISD will explore the future of debt-for-nature swaps and the journey from project origination to financing NbS.  

Debt-for-Nature Swaps: Mobilizing private investors

Debt-for-nature swaps are re-emerging as a way to link debt sustainability with conservation and climate action. For investors and banks, the central question is under what conditions these instruments can offer both stable returns and measurable impact.

This session will explore how credit enhancements, blended finance, and sustainability-linked bonds can make debt-for-nature swaps attractive to private capital while ensuring transparent delivery of ecological and social outcomes.

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 15:30–17:00 CET 
Location: Centre International de Conférences Genève, Room B

Speakers

• Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder, Vice-President, Global Strategies and Managing Director, Europe, IISD
• Louis Bourgeois, Senior Impact Manager, BlueOrchard
• Nathalie Picarelli, Senior Economist, World Bank
• Niki Doshi, Director, Sustainable Debt, The Nature Conservancy
• Guillaume Bonnel, CEO of the SDG Impact Finance Initiative 

Read more here.

Can't make it to Geneva? Watch the livestream here. 

 
 

From Project Origination to Financing Nature-Based Solutions

Scaling NbS requires more than good concepts. It depends on enabling frameworks, rigorous valuations, and innovative financing structures that make projects bankable without compromising impact.

This interactive fishbowl session will follow the journey from project origination through to financing, addressing how to demonstrate co-benefits, reduce uncertainty, and create conditions for institutional and private capital to engage.

Date: Thursday, October 2, 2025 | 10:30–12:00 CET 
Location: Centre International de Conférences Genève – Room 9 (Level 2) 

Speakers

• Hilda Liswani, Global Strategic Partnership Lead, Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation
• Juraj Jurík, Director, Infrastructure and Nature, Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation
• Marie-Laure Schaufelberger, Chief Sustainability Officer, Pictet Group
• Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, President and Co-founder, Igarapé Institute
• David Uzsoki, Sustainable Finance Lead, IISD
• Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros Harispuru, CEO Toroto

Read more and sign up here.