Building Bridges 2025: Why Open Dialogue Matters More Than Ever
The latest season of The Geneva Connection was recorded live around Building Bridges 2025, and it reflects exactly what our platform is designed to create: space for honest exchange, unexpected pairings and the kind of cross-sector dialogue that rarely happens in public. At a time when political narratives around sustainability are becoming more polarised, and when global capital needs are rising faster than solutions can scale, these conversations remind us why bridging gaps is not optional. It is the only way forward.
Across five episodes, we brought together leaders who do not always sit at the same table. Senior figures from global finance debated with policymakers. Innovators in nature and climate data spoke with investors. Practitioners from emerging markets exchanged perspectives with infrastructure and insurance leaders. This season was deliberately structured around pairing two guests from different parts of the sustainable finance ecosystem. The aim was not consensus. The aim was to surface tensions, challenge assumptions and identify the points where collaboration becomes possible.
This commitment to open dialogue reflects the purpose of Building Bridges. Too often, debates on sustainable finance happen in silos. Public discourse becomes fragmented, expertise is scattered and opportunities to connect insights are missed. By hosting candid and sometimes provocative conversations in a public forum, this season aimed to widen the debate and make the complexity of sustainable finance easier to understand.
In the opening episode, John Kerry reminded us of what genuine leadership requires, both within institutions and across society. As he put it, “We need political leadership, corporate leadership, civic leadership and faith-based leadership. The technologies are moving. The hard worker souls that are committed to this quietly are working and things are happening.” This is a powerful reminder that progress depends on many voices, and that we need to keep creating spaces where those voices can challenge and inspire one another. The episodes reflect the breadth of issues shaping markets today. John Kerry and Rhian-Mari Thomas began with a frank assessment of political headwinds, evolving narratives and the credibility gap between ambition and investable pipelines. Their discussion set the tone. It was rigorous, honest and rooted in the need to accelerate early-stage solutions and emerging-market investment. The transition is needed, it has begun and it is unstoppable.
The season then explored how fiduciary duty is evolving. David Blood and Emmanuel Jaclot examined how sustainability is becoming central to responsible investment and how the balance between short and long-term value is shifting. They also considered whether ignoring sustainability could now be viewed as a breach of duty.
Nature and biodiversity came to the forefront in the next conversation. Tony Goldner and Vian Sharif unpacked advances in data and analytics that are making nature visible in financial decision-making, together with the role of global frameworks such as the TNFD. Their insights showed how quickly nature is entering the core of risk management and opportunity identification.
On the built economy, Harrison Méan and Linda Freiner examined how climate and financial risks are transforming real estate and infrastructure. Rising insurance pressures, climate modelling and early risk prevention are reshaping how assets are designed, valued and insured. Their discussion outlined what resilience now means for both investors and developers.
The season concluded with Marc Palahí and Margaret Kim, who explored the financial materiality of nature and the integrity requirements that underpin credible nature-based solutions. They made a compelling case for why measurable, science-based approaches are essential for long-term resilience and prosperity.
What connects all these episodes is a shared understanding that the challenges facing sustainable finance cannot be addressed from a single vantage point. Real progress requires different disciplines, incentives and worldviews to meet in genuine conversation rather than in parallel statements.
This is the purpose of Building Bridges and this season shows what becomes possible when leaders engage openly, listen across sectors and treat dialogue as a tool for progress rather than a platform for positioning. Even in a fragmented public debate, it is still possible to bring complexity into the open and to work together toward stronger and more credible pathways for sustainable finance. As my friend and mentor, the late David Nabarro would say, systems change comes when leaders learn to find comfort in complexity.
We hope these episodes encourage more people across sectors to join the conversation. Sustainable finance is moving quickly. The decisions made today will shape the economic and social landscape for decades. Let us keep building the bridges that make those decisions stronger.
Across five episodes, we brought together leaders who do not always sit at the same table. Senior figures from global finance debated with policymakers. Innovators in nature and climate data spoke with investors. Practitioners from emerging markets exchanged perspectives with infrastructure and insurance leaders. This season was deliberately structured around pairing two guests from different parts of the sustainable finance ecosystem. The aim was not consensus. The aim was to surface tensions, challenge assumptions and identify the points where collaboration becomes possible.
This commitment to open dialogue reflects the purpose of Building Bridges. Too often, debates on sustainable finance happen in silos. Public discourse becomes fragmented, expertise is scattered and opportunities to connect insights are missed. By hosting candid and sometimes provocative conversations in a public forum, this season aimed to widen the debate and make the complexity of sustainable finance easier to understand.
In the opening episode, John Kerry reminded us of what genuine leadership requires, both within institutions and across society. As he put it, “We need political leadership, corporate leadership, civic leadership and faith-based leadership. The technologies are moving. The hard worker souls that are committed to this quietly are working and things are happening.” This is a powerful reminder that progress depends on many voices, and that we need to keep creating spaces where those voices can challenge and inspire one another. The episodes reflect the breadth of issues shaping markets today. John Kerry and Rhian-Mari Thomas began with a frank assessment of political headwinds, evolving narratives and the credibility gap between ambition and investable pipelines. Their discussion set the tone. It was rigorous, honest and rooted in the need to accelerate early-stage solutions and emerging-market investment. The transition is needed, it has begun and it is unstoppable.
The season then explored how fiduciary duty is evolving. David Blood and Emmanuel Jaclot examined how sustainability is becoming central to responsible investment and how the balance between short and long-term value is shifting. They also considered whether ignoring sustainability could now be viewed as a breach of duty.
Nature and biodiversity came to the forefront in the next conversation. Tony Goldner and Vian Sharif unpacked advances in data and analytics that are making nature visible in financial decision-making, together with the role of global frameworks such as the TNFD. Their insights showed how quickly nature is entering the core of risk management and opportunity identification.
On the built economy, Harrison Méan and Linda Freiner examined how climate and financial risks are transforming real estate and infrastructure. Rising insurance pressures, climate modelling and early risk prevention are reshaping how assets are designed, valued and insured. Their discussion outlined what resilience now means for both investors and developers.
The season concluded with Marc Palahí and Margaret Kim, who explored the financial materiality of nature and the integrity requirements that underpin credible nature-based solutions. They made a compelling case for why measurable, science-based approaches are essential for long-term resilience and prosperity.
What connects all these episodes is a shared understanding that the challenges facing sustainable finance cannot be addressed from a single vantage point. Real progress requires different disciplines, incentives and worldviews to meet in genuine conversation rather than in parallel statements.
This is the purpose of Building Bridges and this season shows what becomes possible when leaders engage openly, listen across sectors and treat dialogue as a tool for progress rather than a platform for positioning. Even in a fragmented public debate, it is still possible to bring complexity into the open and to work together toward stronger and more credible pathways for sustainable finance. As my friend and mentor, the late David Nabarro would say, systems change comes when leaders learn to find comfort in complexity.
We hope these episodes encourage more people across sectors to join the conversation. Sustainable finance is moving quickly. The decisions made today will shape the economic and social landscape for decades. Let us keep building the bridges that make those decisions stronger.
"We need political leadership, corporate leadership, civic leadership and faith-based leadership. The technologies are moving. The hard worker souls that are committed to this quietly are working and things are happening"
John Kerry
