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Powering the Future Economy |
27th & 28th April 2027 | Olympia London
27–28 April 2027 | Olympia London
These insightful panel discussions and presentations cover a range of topics, including AI and digitalisation, SAF, nature-positive solutions, mobilising private capital and more.
Main Stage | Energy & Grid | Innovation Showcase | Finance & Emerging Technology | Built & Infrastructure | Advanced Manufacturing | Resilient Supply Chains
Main Stage | 28th April
Climate change and nature loss are exerting unprecedented strain on the systems that underpin our global prosperity, stability and well-being. The choice is stark: accept incremental progress that falls short, or act decisively to deliver the transformative change needed to secure a stable, prosperous and sustainable future for all.
Featuring Sandy Trust, IFoA; Tim Lenton OBE, University of Exeter; Dr. Steve Waygood, The Finance Transition Centre, and Nicola Ranger, LSE
Main Stage | 28th April
The net zero transition is the growth engine of our age with the potential to create jobs, revitalise industries, strengthen trade and investment. Yet, the public debate around net zero remains polarised and often frames the transition as a cost rather than an opportunity.
Featuring Samira Ahmed; Lord Adair Turner, Energy Transitions Commission; Laura Sandys CBE, Green Alliance, and Mete Coban MBE
Main Stage | 28th April
Nations are moving fast to capture the next era of economic growth, one defined by clean technologies, secure supply chains, and long-term competitiveness. This session will explore how successful transitions are being achieved.
Featuring Samira Ahmed; Professor Emily Shuckburgh CBE, DESNZ; Julia Beck, UK Export Finance; Helen Clarkson OBE, Climate Group, and H.E. Kristina Miskowiak Beckvard
Main Stage | 28th April
Climate change and nature loss are exerting unprecedented strain on the systems that underpin our global prosperity, stability and well-being. The choice is stark: accept incremental progress that falls short, or act decisively to deliver the transformative change needed to secure a stable, prosperous and sustainable future for all.
Featuring Ahmed Al Hilayel, General Supervisor of the Environmental Sustainability Program, MODON
Main Stage | 28th April
The global transition is moving, but progress remains fragile. Rising geopolitical tensions and weakening multilateral cooperation are testing the international system’s ability to sustain coordinated climate action. As political leadership falters, the weight of responsibility is shifting to businesses, investors, and civil society to play an increasingly critical role in driving progress and translating climate ambition into real-world delivery.
Featuring Paul Dickinson, CDP; Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, Green Finance Institute, and Nigel Topping, Co-Founder / Chair, Ambition Loop / Climate Change Committee
Main Stage | 28th April
Delivering a secure net zero system will require major investment in grid expansion, renewables, storage, hydrogen, heat networks and potentially new nuclear. Without a credible approach to affordability and fairness, the transition risks losing public trust. This session explores how to unlock investment while protecting consumers and competitiveness.
Featuring Nick Wayth, Energy Institute; Chris Stark CBE, DESNZ; Chris Norbury, E.ON Next; Claire Mack OBE, Scottish Renewables, and Juliet Davenport OBE, The Crown Estate
Main Stage | 28th April
The UK’s Industrial Strategy sets out the Government’s long-term vision to boost investment, drive innovation and accelerate economic growth by reshaping the economy around the industries of the future.
However, delivering on this ambition will depend on providing the policy stability, regulatory clarity and investment frameworks needed to build business confidence and unlock private sector investment.
Featuring Rachel Solomon Williams, Aldersgate Group; Kate McGavin, National Wealth Fund; Peter Burnett OBE, China-Britain Business Council; Josh Buckland, EDF, and Louise Hellem, CBI
Main Stage | 28th April
A shortage of skilled workers threatens to slow progress and limit the UK’s ability to capitalise on this opportunity.
Addressing this challenge will require coordinated action across government, industry and education to build new pathways for education, reskilling and regional development, ensuring the transition is inclusive, future-ready, and benefits people across the UK.
Featuring Hilary Leevers, Engineering UK; Derek Walker, Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales; Maggie McGinlay, Energy Transition Zone, Helen Higgs, EDF HPC
Main Stage | 29th April
Despite the politicisation of ESG and the broader sustainability agenda, businesses and investors continue to back low-carbon technologies and resilient infrastructure as core drivers of growth, innovation, and long-term risk mitigation.
This session explores how leading organisations are embedding risk, resilience and innovation into their strategies, and the competitive advantages emerging from this shift.
Featuring Gerard McTigue, Freuds; Elsa Palanza, ICG; Darshana Myronidis, and Marisa Drew, Standard Chartered
Main Stage | 29th April
The need to place resilience and adaptation at the centre of climate action has never been more urgent.
Yet despite mounting evidence of these risks, the UK, like many other countries, remains underprepared for a more volatile and unpredictable climate. Bridging the gap between risk assessment and real-world action will require stronger policy leadership, greater investment in resilience and closer collaboration between the public and private sectors.
Featuring David Shukman; Emma Howard Boyd CBE, National Heat Risk Commission; Juliet Mian, Arup, and Jonathan Smith, London Fire Brigade
Main Stage | 29th April
Global investment in clean energy and climate technologies reached a record $2.1 trillion in 2024. Yet nearly 90% of this capital flowed into mature, proven solutions, leaving frontier technologies such as carbon removal, green hydrogen and advanced materials significantly underfunded and struggling to scale.
Bridging this gap will require clearer policy frameworks, stronger demand signals and new financing models capable of managing risk and mobilising capital.
Featuring Susannah McClintock, Clean Growth Fund; James Cole, CISL; Bailey Morrow, HSBC Innovation Banking, and Scott O'Brien, Innovate UK
Main Stage | 29th April
A global surge in grid expansion and modernisation is essential for reaching net zero. However, investment structures, cross-border governance and enabling policies are lagging behind the pace required. This session convenes global leaders to examine the innovations, finance models, and cooperative governance needed to unlock the next wave of green grid development.
Featuring Marcus Stewart, Green Grids Initiative; Rob McDonald, SSEN Transmission; Swetha Ravi Kumar, FSR Global, and Dean Cooper, WWF
Main Stage | 29th April
From optimising energy grids and supply chains to accelerating innovation and improving manufacturing efficiency, artificial intelligence is already reshaping the path to a low-carbon future.
Its transformative potential could unlock breakthroughs across industries, but it also comes with risks. As data centre demand surges and environmental impacts rising, the challenge is to ensure AI becomes a driver of innovation, resilience and abundance rather than a source of new emissions.
Featuring David Shukman; Arshad Mansoor, EPRI; Shubhi Rajnish, NESO, and Lucy Yu, Centre for Net Zero
Main Stage | 29th April
From pylons to substations, the dominant narrative in the energy transition is build, build, build. But as connection queues lengthen and capital requirements soar, a critical question emerges: are we underestimating the capacity of the grid we already have? This session explores whether flexibility could be the fastest, cheapest route to a secure, low-carbon power system.
Featuring David Shukman; Greg Jackson CBE, Octopus Energy, and Basil Scarsella, UK Power Networks
Main Stage | 29th April
More than half of global GDP depends on healthy ecosystems, yet nature continues to decline at a staggering rate, putting economic stability, climate progress and long-term prosperity at risk. With the business case for nature stronger than ever, companies and financial institutions need the tools and incentives to turn nature related risks into drivers of resilience, growth and value creation.
Featuring Thomas Maddox, CDP; Ewan Andrew, Diageo; David Craig, TNFD, and Suresh Yadav, The Commonwealth Secretariat
Main Stage | 29th April
The global transition is not only an economic or technological transformation – it’s a race to preserve society itself. This closing session brings together leaders working at the intersection of public health, food systems, defence preparedness and economic innovation to explore this threat and how integrated strategies can prevent cascading risks and unlock durable resilience.
Featuring Hugh Montgomery, Real Zero; Claudine Blamey, Aviva; Richard Nugee, CCIP Ltd, and Professor Paul Behrens, Oxford University
Energy & Grid | 28th April
From grid expansion to hydrogen, offshore wind to CCUS, the UK is betting big on capital-intensive, hardware-heavy industries to meet energy goals. This session explores how government and industry can overcome long lead times, capital intensity, and technological risk to scale major infrastructure projects.
Featuring Sepi Golzari-Munro; Richard Bodal Hansen, Ørsted; Jonathan Mills, DESNZ; Sally Prickett, Arup; Dhara Vyas, Energy UK, and Tristan Zipfel, EDF power solutions UK&I
Energy & Grid | 28th April
Nuclear is set to play a transformative role in the UK’s clean power mix, both via large-scale projects like Sizewell C and developing SMR technology, which has the flexibility, scalability and regional economic impact needed to reach net zero. This session explores what it will take to accelerate nuclear roll-out and position the UK as a global leader in technology development.
Featuring Sepi Golzari-Munro; Simon Barber, Assystem; Nigel Cann, Sizewell-C, and Simon Roddy, Great British Energy – Nuclear
Energy & Grid | 28th April
With the UK committed to world leading offshore wind deployment, expanded electricity interconnection with Europe and a new generation of nuclear assets, the transmission system is rapidly becoming the defining infrastructure of the energy transition. This session explores what it takes to build a power system that is secure and future proof by design.
Featuring Molly Lempriere, Carbon Brief; Cordi O'Hara OBE, National Grid Electricity Distribution; Dai Richards, Hitachi Energy, and John Wilkinson, Royal BAM Group
Energy & Grid | 28th April
Grid flexibility offers a cheaper, faster path to balancing supply and demand than traditional infrastructure expansion. This panel will assess the current state of play and explore market mechanisms, consumer flexibility, and enabling technologies.
Featuring Guy Newey, Energy Systems Catapult; Wayne Davies, Enel X; Sarah Honan, ADE; Julian Lennertz, E.ON Next; Cy MacKinnon, Equitix, and Duncan Stone, DESNZ
Energy & Grid | 28th April
Data centres are fast emerging as one of the most energy-intensive parts of the system. With innovative design and the right incentives however, they could evolve into active participants in a flexible, decarbonised grid. This session explores how AI, infrastructure and innovative solutions have the potential to turn data centres into energy assets.
Featuring Arshad Mansoor, EPRI; Chris Crosby, Compass Datacenters; Ram Ramachander, Hitachi; Anna Carolina Tortora, NESO, and Izzy Woolgar, Octopus Energy
Energy & Grid | 28th April
As the power system electrifies at pace, green gases such as biomethane and low-carbon hydrogen are increasingly recognised as critical system enablers. Beyond decarbonising hard-to-electrify sectors, green gas can provide dispatchable, storable energy that supports grid resilience, peak demand management and long-duration flexibility. This session explores how green gas infrastructure, markets and policy can complement electrification to deliver a secure, flexible, low-carbon energy system.
Featuring James Earl, Future Energy Networks; Matthew Hindle, Wales & West Utilities; Lucy Hopwood, Alder BioInsights, and Miya Paolucci, Engie
Energy & Grid | 29th April
From new electricity market models and grid planning frameworks to digital infrastructure and flexible demand, nations are experimenting with new approaches to enable faster, more resilient energy system decarbonisation. Bringing together perspectives from global finance, policy, infrastructure and innovation, this session will explore how different regions are tackling the structural challenges of system transformation and what the UK can learn from this progress.
Featuring Phoebe O'Hara, Energy Transitions Commission; Ariel Ezrahi, MENA 2050 / NewVest; Meng Ni, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Richard Youngman, Cleantech Group
Energy & Grid | 29th April
By 2026, local and regional authorities will take on new powers and responsibilities for energy planning. This session explores how regions can rise to the challenge of delivering place-based energy strategies that deliver social, environmental and economic value.
Featuring Aaron Gould, ADE; Stephen Cook, Arup; Kate Gilmartin, British Hydropower Association, and Ryan Jude, Green Finance Institute
Energy & Grid | 29th April
The energy transition must work for people and businesses- not just infrastructure. From tariffs and smart meters to electric vehicles and heating, consumers are on the frontlines of change. Yet today’s energy system remains complex, fragmented, and difficult to navigate. This session explores how the UK can redesign its markets, systems, and interfaces to place the consumer at the heart of energy transformation
Featuring Lucy Adams, Make UK; Steven Gough, Elexon; Andy Manning, Citizens Advice; Marcia Poletti, Octopus Energy, and Gráinne Regan, E.ON Next
Energy & Grid | 29th April
Industrial decarbonisation is core to the UK’s clean growth ambitions, but progress hinges on electrifying traditionally hard-to-abate sectors. This panel discussion explores technology pathways, grid readiness, and cross-sector coordination to scale electrification where it’s needed most.
Featuring Ben Westerman, Electrify Britain; Eoin Bailey, 7-Steel; Seb Henbest, HSBC; Mercedes Maroto-Valer OBE, IDRIC, and Catherine McFarlane, Mission Possible Partnership
Innovation Showcase | 28th April
From Innovate UK to public banks, to university ecosystems and angel syndicates, the innovation support landscape can be confusing. This session demystifies how the cleantech ecosystem fits together and how entrepreneurs can engage most effectively with public finance and innovation networks.
Featuring Viola Jardon, CISL; Mareike Chalkley, Venturenomix; Steve Foxley, ORE Catapult; Stafford Lloyd, Innovate UK, and Hannah Scott, CEO / Co-Founder, Oxfordshire Greentech / Climate Tech Supercluster
Innovation Showcase | 29th April
Banks are often hesitant to engage with emerging solutions, citing regulatory constraints, technical unfamiliarity, or insufficient scale. This session unlocks how commercial banks, public finance bodies and innovation programmes can work together to build bank-ready projects, channel capital to early commercial technologies, and reduce perceived risk.
Featuring Sarah Mackintosh, Cleantech for UK, and Matthew Jolley, HSBC Innovation Banking
Innovation Showcase | 29th April
Bringing together leaders from National Grid, the discussion will focus on overcoming barriers to deployment, unlocking constrained capacity, and ensuring innovation delivers real, measurable benefits for consumers under RIIO‑T3. From digitalisation and AI to collaboration with startups, academia and investors, this session will examine how to turn promising ideas into system‑wide impact—and what success must look like by the end of the decade.
Featuring Roger Harrabin; Andrew Burns, National Grid; Gary Stockdale, National Grid Electricity Transmission, and Luke Wainwright, National Grid Partners
Finance & Emerging Technology | 28th April
Heavy industries such as cement, steel and utilities underpin the global economy but remain among the most carbon-tensive and hardest sectors to decarbonise. Transitioning these industries will require significant levels of investment in low-carbon solutions, many of remain immature or high risk.
Mobilising capital at scale requires balancing investor risk, strengthening policy signals and creating market demand for low-carbon industrial solutions.
Featuring Paola Sáenz, Sightline Climate; Caroline Ashley, SteelWatch; Sophie Lu, HSBC UK, and Daniele Manzi, Close Brothers
Finance & Emerging Technology | 28th April
Aviation accounts for 2-3% of global emissions, with the sector set to grow significantly over the coming decades. Decarbonising the sector will therefore be critical to achieving global climate targets.
Sustainable aviation fuel will play a central role in reducing the aviation sector’s carbon footprint However, scaling these solutions will require overcoming major barriers, from high production costs and uncertain demand to the infrastructure needed to support new fuel systems.
Featuring Andrew Chadwick, Ventura System Solutions; Martin Atkins, Green Lizard; Leigh Hudson, International Airlines Group; Matthew Gorman, Heathrow Airport; Natasha Mann, Future Energy Global, and Mahesh Roy, Green Finance Institute
Finance & Emerging Technology | 28th April
Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation are accelerating across every region of the world, undermining nature’s ability to provide these critical services.
As nature declines, businesses and financial systems face growing exposure to operational disruption, resource scarcity and systemic economic risk. By measuring and understanding nature-related impacts and exposure, businesses can move beyond mitigation to unlock new opportunities in restoration, sustainable supply chains and nature-positive growth.
Featuring Charlie Dixon, Green Finance Institute; Robert gardner, Rebalance Earth; Richard Pywell, UKCEH; Kirsty Schneeberger MBE, Athena Blue, and Eliot Whittington, CISL
Finance & Emerging Technology | 28th April
Forward-thinking companies committed to Net Zero are increasingly seeking high-integrity carbon removal credits – those that deliver strong co-benefits and secured delivery over the long term.
Demand is projected to reach 900 million credits annually by 2040. Yet most nature-based removal projects today remain small-scale and undercapitalised. How can this growing demand be met?
A new approach is emerging: treating nature-based solutions as investment-grade infrastructure assets.
Featuring Siqalane Taho, PEI; Fabio Ferrari, aDryada; Agustin Silvani, Bregal Sphere; Priya Sinha, CrossBoundary Group, and Philip Skinner, PIDG
Built & Infrastructure | 28th April
Infrastructure will play a central role in delivering the UK’s net zero transition while supporting long-term economic growth. From clean energy and transport to housing and industrial systems, transforming the country’s infrastructure will require unprecedented levels of investment.
Mobilising the scale of private capital needed will depend on policy certainty, innovative financing models and strong public–private collaboration.
Featuring Harvey Chandler, GIIA; Steve Lomas, National Wealth Fund; Tim Lord, HSBC UK; Meg Nicolaysen, UK Export Finance, and Joe Robinson, Equitix
Built & Infrastructure | 28th April
A first of its kind trial in the UK used a 3D printer to manufacture low-carbon substation foundations to reduce the waste, emissions, and cut the cost to help deliver more sustainable grid and achieve net zero targets. A series of laboratory and on‑site tests on 3D‑printed foundations intended for electrical substations have been completed, marking what has been described as the UK’s first validation of the technology for this application.
Featuring Dr Muhammad Shaban, National Grid Transmission
Built & Infrastructure | 28th April
The built environment is one of the most resource- and carbon-intensive systems globally, responsible for over half of emissions, a third of waste and nearly half of raw material use. Transitioning to circular models in design, construction and operation is critical to cutting emissions and reducing pressure on ecosystems. Beyond sustainability, circularity presents opportunities for cost efficiency, innovation and long-term value creation across the built environment.
Featuring Melissa Zanocco OBE, UKRI Mission Accelerator Programme; Alan Ritchie, SSEN Transmission; Roxana Slavcheva, Worlds Resources Institute, and Debbie Ward, Alliance for Sustainable Building Products
Built & Infrastructure | 28th April
Responsible for approximately 5% of global emissions, the healthcare sector sits at the intersection of human and planetary well-being. Decarbonising healthcare estates, through improving building efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy, and adopting circular waste management practices, is essential to achieving deep and sustained emissions reductions.
Success in this transformation would not only lower the sector’s carbon footprint but also strengthen the resilience of healthcare systems and support improved health outcomes.
Featuring Fiona Adshead, Sustainable Healthcare Coalition; Lisa Dittmar, HCA; Joel Hamilton, Translating Energy, and Simon Tranter, Howard de Walden Estate
Advancing Manufacturing & Industry | 29th April
The clean energy transition hinges not only on expanding renewable power, but also on how enabling technologies, such as solar panels, grid equipment and batteries, are designed, manufactured and recycled. The embodied carbon in these assets is substantial and, if left unaddressed, risks undermining progress toward net zero.
Reducing these impacts will require innovation in materials, manufacturing processes and circular design, alongside stronger standards and incentives to drive adoption across supply chains.
Featuring Tasha Lyth, BEAMA; Dr. James Cadman, Action Sustainability; Johanna Honkanen, ABB; Prof. Mercedes Maroto-Valer OBE, IDRIC, and Sean Smith, Michael Smith Swtichgear
Resilient Supply Chains | 29th April
Tackling Scope 3 emissions remains one of the most significant challenges companies face in their decarbonisation efforts. For many organisations, the majority of emissions lie within complex global supply chains, where fragmented data, limited oversight and competing commercial pressures make measurement, collaboration and accountability difficult.
Addressing these emissions will require companies to work closely with suppliers, aligning incentives, building technical capacity and embedding sustainability into procurement and sourcing strategies.
Featuring Monika Žilionytė, VINCI Facilities; Gopal Iyer, Waterfront Ventures; Hessam Lavi, Climatiq; Chris Low, Haleon, and Emma Littlewood, 51toCarbonZero
Resilient Supply Chains | 29th April
Scope 3 is where the real emissions, and the real challenge, sit. Yet most initiatives stall before they deliver impact. Not due to lack of ambition, but due to a lack of visibility, clear action, and arduous supplier engagement.
This session cuts through the noise to focus on what actually works, demonstrating that supply chain decarbonisation does not have to be expensive.
Featuring Billy Fitton, Zeroute
Resilient Supply Chains | 29th April
Water stress is emerging as a major risk to global supply chains, with sectors from agriculture and manufacturing to construction and mining among those most at risk. With trillions of dollars of assets exposed, investors and corporates must begin viewing water stress as a business risk and take action to mitigate these risks.
Featuring Paul Horton, Future Water Association; Tom Abel, Business Stream; Phoebe Cox, Green Finance Institute; Andy Griffiths, Diaego, and Mads Steinmüller, Danske Bank Asset Management
Resilient Supply Chains | 29th April
The food and beverage sector accounts for nearly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and remains one of the most resource-intensive parts of the global economy. As pressure mounts from regulators, investors and consumers, FMCG companies are increasingly being challenged to move beyond traditional linear models of production and consumption.
Featuring Helen Clements, GoUnpackaged; Kaly Chatakondu, Arbobrea; Madison Wright, WRAP, and Sandrine Ricard, Pernod Ricard / Chivas Brothers
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