The Sorenson Impact Natural Capital Summit
A full-day innovative nature finance convening hosted by the Sorenson Impact Institute.
Nature underwrites the global economy, yet the investments protecting, restoring, and reflecting the true value of natural systems are more than $500B short. The renowned Sorenson Impact Institute is hosting a full-day convening at the Yale Club in Midtown Manhattan with the people who are changing that: impact investors, economists, foundations, entrepreneurs, innovators, conservationists, and water and forest ecosystem experts committed to moving capital that actually closes the gap and impacts real landscapes, critical watersheds, local communities, and the innovations and ventures built to protect them.
The Institute will bring together some of the foremost experts in the field from across public and private sectors, including representatives from the American Forest Foundation, Sorenson Impact Advisory, Blue Forest Asset Management, Imagine H20, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). The day runs from morning through late afternoon, with breakfast service and coffee, an opening keynote, morning and afternoon sessions, and a lunch buffet included.
Admission is free, and space is limited; attendance is by approval only.
Agenda
8 AM
Breakfast and Registration
9 AM
Keynote Speaker: Colin le Duc
Colin is a Founding Partner of Generation Investment Management and a Trustee of The Generation Foundation. He will join Sorenson Impact Institute CEO Katie Macc for a fireside chat focused on blended capital solutions to climate challenges and emerging market opportunities.
10 AM
Session: Capital and Climate: The Fund Manager’s View
Hosted by the Sorenson Impact Advisory, fund managers discuss real-world climate investment strategies: where their theses diverge, sector trends, and how capital is repositioning across the climate landscape as the space evolves.
Speakers: Jack Meyercord, Sorenson Impact Advisory; Colin le Duc, Generation Investment Management; Tom Chi, At One Ventures
Session: Climate × Water Venture Showcase (part 1)
Imagine H2O hosts the Climate × Water Venture Showcase, combining an investor market briefing, a curated startup pitch session, and structured networking across the climate and water ecosystem.
Speakers: Noah McColl, Imagine H2O; Ravi Kurani, Standard Water Corp; Anushree Sreedhar, Partnership for New York City; Ellen Kohler, The Water Center at the University of Pennsylvania; Ely Greenberg, Hazen & Sawyer; Karine Rougé, Veolia; Commissioner Lisa Garcia, NYC Department of Environmental Protection; Janet Aristy, Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations, NYC DEP
11:15 AM
Session: The Climate x Water Venture Showcase (part 2)
Hosted by Imagine H2O, the Showcase combines an investor-focused market briefing, a curated startup pitch session, and structured networking to accelerate investment, partnerships, and commercialization across the Climate × Water ecosystem.
Speakers: Scott Bryan, President, Imagine H2O; Arian Edalat, Active Membranes; Alexis Wells Carpenter & Doug Speight, AxNano; Rishi Vandhan, EarthFokus; Dhileep Sivam, Aquagga; Diana Yousef, change:WATER; Dragan Tutic, Oneka Technologies; Snehal Verma, NatureDots; Tomo Kumahira, WaterOne.AI; Chris O'Connor, Memsift; Paulina Concha Larrauri, FieldFactors; Patrick Burtis, Beyond the Dome; Christian Montag, iFlux
Session: Beyond Carbon: Financing Water, Health, Biodiversity and Economic Outcomes of Carbon Projects
Hosted by the American Forest Foundation and the Sorenson Impact Institute, this discussion focuses on carbon projects which hold untapped potential to generate measurable value far beyond basic offset credits. Join us to discover the varied perspectives of contributors navigating this space and participate in a collaborative conversation about aligning impact capital with the holistic outcomes of nature-based solutions.
Speakers: Janis Dubno, Sorenson Impact Institute; Nate Truitt, American Forest Foundation; Kara Fulcher, Michelin; Mike Kent, New Leaf Climate
11:15 AM - 1:00 PM
Lunch served
1 PM
Session: Leveraging Nature-based Solutions for Resilience
The Sorenson Impact Institute will launch their recently published Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Landscape Analysis report which asserts that NbS investments are a powerful but underutilized and undercapitalized tool for addressing global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and community resilience.
Speakers: Katie Macc, Sorenson Impact Institute; Nalini Nadkarni, Sorenson Impact Institute; Peter Stein, Lyme Timber; Paul Young, Conservation Resources; Kevin Webb, Superorganism
2:45 PM
Session: Monetizing Nature-based Solutions Health Outcomes
Hosted by Blue Forest, this session explores the financing structures expanding how capital reaches water: blended finance, conservation finance, pay-for-success models, water quality trading, and environmental credit markets, with particular attention to how philanthropic first-loss capital can de-risk deals and crowd private investment into water and nature-based solutions.
Speakers: Janis Dubno, Sorenson Impact Institute; Zach Knight, Blue Forest; Todd Gartner, World Resources Institute; Ian Shelledy, Walton Family Foundation
4 PM
Session: Outcomes-Based Financing to Drive Mutual Value Economies
Hosted by SecondMuse, a working session on outcomes-based financing (OBF) and its role in building economies of mutual value. This session is underpinned by SecondMuse Capital’s broader work to diagnose, design and finance entire natural asset rich local economies, and focuses specifically on one piece of that puzzle: how we pay for verified outcomes across a landscape rather than funding one project at a time.
Speakers: Natalia Arjomand, SecondMuse; Janis Dubno, Sorenson Impact Institute; Simon Baldwin, SecondMuse