2025 Concordia Annual Summit

A Shared Future: Rethinking Conservation Through Collaboration

  • Energy, Environment, & Transition
Peter Seligmann, H.E. Iván Duque Márquez, The Hon. Philip E. Davis, Kathleen McLaughlin

Session Summary

Important
Quotations

"If we do not establish nature as an investable asset class, where private capital can flow and people can profit, we don’t actually stand a chance of generating the financing that’s required."
Peter Seligmann
"Africa has to invest 2.8 trillion in the next decade in order to meet the NDCs. And Latin America is a little bit higher than that. Resources, from a fiscal perspective, are not available."
H.E. Iván Duque Márquez
"The enemy to progress, and the canceling and postponing of progress made in the climate change era, has been political change. And it’s not just political change in the United States."
The Hon. Philip E. Davis
"We aren’t asking the customer to pay more for something sustainable. We’ve rewired the way production works to make that true."
Kathleen McLaughlin

Key
Takeaways

  • Financing Gap Reality: The most significant challenge identified is the massive funding shortfall for climate action. Africa requires $2.8 trillion over the next decade to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions, while Latin America needs even more. Traditional public financing and philanthropy cannot meet this scale of need, creating an urgent requirement for innovative market-based solutions.


  • Political Instability as a Major Obstacle: A key misconception is that climate progress is purely technical or financial. The panel highlighted that political change and ideological shifts represent the greatest threat to sustained climate action. Leaders emphasized that mechanisms must be developed to prevent policy rollbacks when governments change, as this discontinuity undermines long-term progress.


  • Market-Driven Solutions Show Promise: The discussion revealed successful examples of sustainable value chains that don’t require consumers to pay premium prices. Walmart’s rice sourcing program demonstrates how production can be “rewired” to achieve better environmental outcomes while maintaining affordability. Similarly, partnerships with Pacific Island nations show how market solutions can deliver economic, social, and environmental benefits simultaneously.


  • Nature as an Asset Class: A fundamental shift in thinking is required to establish nature as an investible asset class where private capital can generate returns. The Bahamas’ seagrass monetization initiative, potentially worth billions in carbon credits, exemplifies this approach.


  • Indigenous Communities as Key Partners: The panel emphasized that sustainable aggregated value chains working with indigenous communities can provide better incentives for forest conservation than traditional approaches. This creates income opportunities while preserving ecosystems.

 

Action
Items

  • For Governments and Policymakers: Establish anti-rollback frameworks, create green taxonomies, streamline climate fund access for vulnerable nations, and scale payment-for-ecosystem-services mechanisms.

 

  • For Private Sector: Embed sustainability into core operations, invest in nature-based solutions and carbon credit initiatives, provide long-term offtake agreements, and support workforce training in renewable and sustainable technologies.

 

  • For International Organizations and Donors: Operationalize mechanisms like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, accelerate carbon market development, fund verification and registry infrastructure, and enable public-private partnerships for scalable ecosystem service payments.

 

  • For Communities and Civil Society: Build local technical and market capacity, engage in sustainable value chain development with private partners, and advocate for climate justice through funding accountability and loss-and-damage delivery.

 

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