From Urgency to Action

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This session is going inspire you to be great!

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Abbe Staff, John Cohen

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Abbe Staff, John Cohen

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Abbe Staff, John Cohen

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Abbe Staff, John Cohen

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Abbe Staff, John Cohen

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From Urgency to Action

Scaling climate finance for resilience

September

2025

12:00pm - 3:00pm | Registration opens at 11:45am and lunch starts promptly at 12pm.

While entrepreneurial innovations are emerging to build climate resilience in vulnerable communities across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, a critical lack of appropriate capital is holding them back. Acumen and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) are bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, and climate leaders during New York Climate Week to tackle one of the most urgent questions of our time: How can we mobilize capital at scale to support climate resilience and adaptation in the world’s most vulnerable regions?

Through an engaging session that blends storytelling, discussion, and active participation from attendees, we will:

Hear directly from entrepreneurs, investors and practitioners on the frontlines about what resilience means in practice

Unpack the barriers that keep capital from flowing to high-impact solutions

Explore innovative, investable financial vehicles designed to unlock climate adaptation and resilience finance at scale

Agenda

11:45am - 12:00pm

Registration opens

12:00pm - 12:45pm

Networking lunch

Participants will join small-group conversations facilitated by Acumen and CPI representatives. These discussions will spark reflections on what climate resilience means in practice, surface shared challenges, and begin to explore the capital and collaboration needed to drive meaningful impact.

A sandwich buffet and refreshments will be provided.

12:45pm - 1:00pm

Welcome remarks

Opening remarks from Acumen, CPI, and White & Case leadership will set the stage for the afternoon.

Speakers:

Evelyn Balassiano, Partner, White & Case LLP

Carsten Stendevad, President & Chief Investment Officer, Acumen

Vikram Widge, Senior Advisor, Climate Policy Initiative

1:00pm - 1:30pm

Storytelling Segment: Resilience, unfiltered

Personal stories of climate resilience will share real-world lessons, challenges, and opportunities in financing adaptation in developing economies. These short, unpolished narratives move beyond formal presentations to surface insights from lived experience.

Speakers:

Heather K. Terry, Co-Founder and CEO, GoodSAM
Daniel Waldron, Director of Insights, Acumen

1:30pm - 1:50pm

Networking break

Light snacks and refreshments will be provided.

1:50pm - 3:00pm

Panel & Audience Dialogue: Financing climate resilience at scale

A moderated panel will bring together diverse perspectives to connect across the stories and highlight emerging themes, including findings from Acumen’s upcoming resilience report. Panelists will explore what solutions are working, what it takes to scale them, where alignment is needed across funders, investors, and enterprises, and what could supercharge action. The conversation will continue with an interactive audience Q&A.

Presenter:

Coco Lim, Manager of Insights, Acumen

Panelists:

Ben Broché, Director, Climate Policy Initiative
Anders Soh, Program Director Climate & Liveability, Temasek Foundation

Makena Ireri, Director, Demand, Jobs & Livelihood, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)
Jiten Ghelani, CEO, Promethean Power Systems

Moderator:

Sarah Bieber, Director of Climate Strategy, Acumen

Featured speakers

Anders Soh

Director of Programmes, Temasek Foundation

Ben Broche

Director, Climate Policy Initiative

Carsten Stendevad

President & Chief Investment Officer, Acumen

Coco Lim

Manager, Insights, Acumen

Daniel Waldron

Director of Insights, Acumen

Evelyn Balassiano

Partner, White & Case LLP

Heather K. Terry

Founder & CEO, GoodSAM Foods

Jiten Ghelani

CEO, Promethean Power

Makena Ireri

Director, Demand, Jobs & Livelihood, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP)

Sarah Bieber

Head of Climate Strategy, Acumen

Vikram Widge

Senior Advisor, Climate Policy Initiative

About Sandra Halilovic

Sandra is the Head of Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Catalyze, which invests in companies that bridge the energy access gap, ensuring the clean energy transition is equitable and inclusive, particularly for those most at risk of being left behind. Prior to Acumen, Sandra was an Investment Principal at Ceniarth, a global single-family office, where she built the investment team and led on fund and direct investments. Her career spans nearly two decades during which she worked at a number of leading impact, development, and finance institutions, including Social Finance UK, the World Bank’s IFC, and UNDP.

About Deborah Gael

Deborah Gael is the Co-founder and COO of Koolboks, a cleantech company delivering solar-powered refrigeration to off-grid communities. Since 2018, she has led the company’s expansion into 25 countries, secured strategic partnerships with companies like Danone and Orange Energies, and contributed to winning awards such as the 2025 Start Up Energy Transition Award and the 2024 Food Tech Challengers Award. Born and raised in the Caribbean, Deborah’s early experiences with climate change inspired her mission to make clean, affordable cooling accessible to underserved communities. She holds advanced degrees in Human Resources and Education and has previously held leadership roles at BNP Paribas and American Express. She is named one of VivaTech’s Top 10 Female Founders in 2021, and she currently serves on the board of La French Tech Lagos, where she promotes cross-border collaboration between France and Nigeria, and advocates for greater representation of women in tech and innovation.

About Stefan Wilhelm

Stefan is a Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation veteran with 15 years of professional experience in the sector. Before joining Bayer Foundation, he helped build and scale two award winning Social Impact Startups in Germany, Colombia and Mexico, where he also worked as a Senior Consultant for CAF – Development Bank of Latin America.As Associate Director at Bayer Foundation, Stefan is responsible for the Social Innovation program portfolio with a specific focus on scalable high impact ventures in sustainable agriculture and access to health. He holds a diploma in Cultural and Business Studies as well as a Master’s degree in Public Policy. Stefan is fluent in German, English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Hosts

Acumen

Acumen is a global force of entrepreneurs, investors, philanthropists, and social innovators working together to build a world based on dignity. We were founded by Jacqueline Novogratz on the radical idea that business, when cultivated with moral imagination, can break the cycle of poverty. Learn more at acumen.org.

Climate Policy Initiative

Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) is an analysis and advisory organization with deep expertise in finance and policy. Our mission is to help governments, businesses, and financial institutions drive economic growth while addressing climate change. CPI's services include analysis and development of climate finance solutions, alongside convening to advance alignment and adoption at scale.