IISD at Building Bridges 2026
Nature-based infrastructure (NBI) can deliver substantial economic, social, and environmental benefits, but those benefits do not automatically generate the revenue needed to mobilize finance. At Building Bridges 2026, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) will convene two sessions on how to make projects financially viable, from NBI in African cities to solutions for urban heat resilience. IISD will also contribute to a session on climate adaptation and risk organized by the Swiss Bankers Association.
Building Bridges is Geneva's flagship summit for aligning finance with sustainability. The event convenes the financial sector, public authorities, and Geneva-based international organizations, with more than 2,000 participants expected in person and many more online. Under the theme Investable Solutions to Global Challenges, this year’s summit brings together finance, policy, and development leaders to accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
IISD is proud to be a founding partner of Building Bridges and a member of the event selection committee that shaped the 2026 program.
Climate Adaptation: From risk to impact
This interactive workshop hosted by Swiss Banking will examine the different facets of climate adaptation and climate risk. Participants will gain insights into how banks, asset managers, the real economy, public authorities, and the World Bank are currently addressing these challenges, before jointly discussing remaining gaps and opportunities to further enhance action in the future.
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 14:00–15:30 CEST
Format: Workshop
Location: Centre International de Conférences Genève - Room C (Level 0)
Access: Open to all Building Bridges attendees (conference pass)
Speakers:
- Christian Leitz – Chief Sustainability Officer & Group Historian, UBS
- David Uzsoki – Sustainable Finance Lead, IISD
- Xenia Karametaxas – Policy Advisor, Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance
- Aurelia Figueroa – Chief Sustainability Officer, Breitling
- Damien Contamin – Non-Financial Risk Manager/CSR Manager, Banque Cantonale de Genève
- Olivia Kinghorst – Moderator, Presenter, and Journalist
- Gerardo Zamora – Executive Officer, Office of the Chief Scientist, Science Division, World Health Organization
- Daniel Gallagher – Senior Lead, Climate, Principles for Responsible Investment
- Laurent Ramsey – Managing Partner, Pictet Group
Unlocking Nature Finance in African Cities: From evidence to investment
Cities across Africa face growing climate risks alongside rapid urbanization, biodiversity loss, and widening infrastructure deficits. NBI is increasingly recognized as essential to climate adaptation and resilient urban development, yet many cities still struggle to convert strong evidence of its value into investment-ready opportunities.
Drawing on IISD’s Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA) project, this interactive session brings together city finance leaders from Dire Dawa, Johannesburg, and Kigali with project partners and the international investment community to discuss how economic evidence can be translated into bankable projects.
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 17:00–19:30 CEST
Format: Interactive panel discussion, followed by a networking reception
Location: Centre International de Conférences Genève, Room 10, Level 2 for the panel discussion and Esprit de Genève, Level 0 for the reception
Access: Open to all Building Bridges attendees (conference pass)
Speakers
- Ntsako Maphosa – Director of Finance, EISD, City of Johannesburg
- Kedir Aliye Ahmed – Head of Mayor's Office & Cabinet Affairs, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
- Divine Gloria Tuyikunde – Deputy Executive Secretary, Rwanda Young Water Professionals; SUNCASA Lead
- Alexander (Sasha) Wiese – Transformative Finance Advisor, Green Digital Finance Alliance
- Moderator: Albert Letting – Senior Policy Advisor, Sustainable Finance, IISD
Financing Urban Heat Resilience: Innovative solutions at scale
Urban heat is becoming a material risk for economies, infrastructure, and communities, yet financing for adaptation remains far below what is needed. This session examines how financial innovation can help channel investment into solutions that reduce heat exposure and strengthen resilience—including nature-based approaches—and what it takes to create investable structures, align incentives, and scale finance for urban heat resilience.
Bringing together perspectives from development finance, private investors, and technical practitioners, the moderated panel will run two rounds of guided discussion followed by an extended Q&A to deepen dialogue with participants on financing solutions for urban heat resilience.
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2026, 13:00–14:00 CEST
Format: Action event, interactive discussion
Location: Centre International de Conférences Genève, Room B (Level 0)
Access: Open to all Building Bridges attendees (conference pass)
Speakers
- Mookho Mathaba – Principal, Climate and Nature Finance, the Development Bank of Southern Africa
- Sandro Do Nascimento Rodrigues – Director, Core & Core+ Infrastructure Private Equity team, Swiss Life Asset Managers
- Mark Rüegg – Chief Executive Officer, CelsiusPro Group
- Moderator: David Uzsoki – Sustainable Finance Lead, IISD
Upcoming events
From Evidence to Investment: The systemic challenges facing nature-based infrastructure
Evidence from 45 assessments in 29 countries shows that nature-based infrastructure delivers strong financial returns and social and environmental gains.
IGF 22nd Annual General Meeting
The 22nd IGF AGM will be held under the theme of Trust in an Interdependent World: Advancing inclusion and resilience in mineral value chains.
Session 2 | Financing a Transition Away From Fossil Fuels: Building an implementation network for Santa Marta workstream 2
Tailored to the Americas, Africa, and European regions, this webinar will drawing on existing initiatives and useful precedents for the transition away from fossil fuels with the goal of building a network to support country-led implementation.
Session 1 | Financing a Transition Away From Fossil Fuels: Building an implementation network for Santa Marta workstream 2
Tailored to Asia-Pacific, Africa, and European regions, this webinar will drawing on existing initiatives and useful precedents for the transition away from fossil fuels with the goal of building a network to support country-led implementation.