Name: Innovation Zero 2024
Start: 2024-04-30T00:00:00Z
End: 2024-05-01T22:00:00Z
Location: Olympia London

Mobilising capital at the pace, scale and risk profile required to deliver real-world change is one of the most critical challenges facing the low-carbon transition. While global investment in clean technologies continues to grow, capital is not always flowing to the projects, sectors and stages where it can deliver the greatest system impact.

The dedicated Financing the Transition Track examines how finance, policy and market design must evolve to close the gap between ambition and deployment – from first-of-a-kind technologies and industrial transformation to large-scale infrastructure and resilience.

By bringing together investors, corporates, policymakers and innovators, Financing the Transition aims to align incentives, de-risk investment pathways and unlock capital where it matters most.

REGISTER INTEREST

Innovation Zero World | 28th & 29th April 2026 | Olympia London

Who Should Attend

Financing the Transition is designed for senior leaders involved in allocating, enabling or deploying capital across the transition, including:

Finance & Investment

Institutional and infrastructure investors
Banks, export credit agencies and public finance bodies
Venture capital and corporate venture teams

Corporates & Industry

CFOs, finance and strategy leaders
Energy-intensive and infrastructure-heavy sectors
Corporate buyers shaping demand signals

Policy & Enablers

Policymakers and regulators
Public banks and national investment institutions
Innovators navigating FOAK and scale risk

Why Attend?

The Financing the Transition Track convenes organisations working across the capital stack, from early-stage innovation to large-scale deployment.

Attendees will benefit from:

A clearer view of where capital is flowing - and where gaps remain
A focused environment for building bankable pathways and partnerships
Direct engagement with investors, public finance bodies and corporate buyers
Practical examples of blended finance, guarantees and offtake models
Insight into policy, regulation and risk-sharing mechanisms shaping investment decisions

What Will You Learn?

Across the programme, sessions will explore:

How to unlock investment for infrastructure, industry and frontier technologies
How capital allocation can accelerate delivery at scale
Financing pathways for hard-to-abate sectors and FOAK projects
The role of policy certainty and demand signals in bankability
Models for sharing risk between public and private capital

Key Sessions

Financing the Transition is a cross-cutting Track within the Innovation Zero World Congress programme, connecting content and participants across energy, industry, infrastructure and innovation to accelerate investment-led delivery.

Loading

Who Pays for the Energy Transition? Balancing Fairness, Investment & Public Trust

Main Stage

14:40 – 15:25

Delivering a secure, affordable net zero energy system will require massive infrastructure investment, from new transmission lines and hydrogen hubs to heat networks and advanced nuclear. But who shou ...

Moderator

Kingsmill Bond, Energy Strategist - Ember

Confirmed Speakers

Chris Norbury, CEO - E.ON Next

Financing the Transition: Is UK Capital Backing the Right Innovation?

Energy & Grid

11:45 – 12:30

The UK’s pathway to a resilient, decarbonised energy system depends not only on how much private finance is flowing, but whether it is reaching the innovations that deliver whole-system impact. This s ...

Confirmed Speakers

Jenny Hill, Challenge Director: Clean Energy Mission - UKRI

Leah Ramoutar, Director of Environmental Sustainability - Aviva

Financing Heavy Industry’s Transition: Capital for Hard-to-Abate Sectors

Finance & Emerging Technology

10:00 – 10:45

Heavy industries such as steel, cement, and utilities are essential to the global economy but remain among the most carbon-intensive and hardest to decarbonise. Transitioning these sectors requires ma ...

Confirmed Speakers

Irina Gorbounova, Vice President M&A and Head of Xcarb Innovation Fund - ArcelorMittal

Sophie Lu, Global Head of Heavy Industrial Decarbonisation - HSBC
Unlocking CDR at Scale: The Role of Policy, Markets, and Demand

Finance & Emerging Technology

15:35 – 16:20

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions, from afforestation to carbon mineralisation, are critical to driving large-scale emissions reductions and achieving our low-carbon ambitions. The UK has a signi ...

Moderator

Ita Kettleborough, Director - Energy Transitions Commission

Confirmed Speakers

Georgia Berry, CDR Programme Director - Green Finance Institute

Carrie Harris, Director of Sustainability - British Airways

Jess Mackenzie, Head of Greenhouse Gas Removals Strategy - Department for Energy Security & Net Zero

Mobilising Capital: Financing Infrastructure Transformation

Built & Infrastructure

10:00 – 10:45

Infrastructure is essential to achieving the UK’s net zero and growth ambitions, but delivering it requires unlocking unprecedented levels of private capital across key sectors, including energy, tran ...

Moderator

Harvey Chandler, Head of Policy & Public Affairs - Global Infrastructure Investor Association

Confirmed Speakers

Steve Lomas, Managing Director, Banking and Investments - National Wealth Fund

Tim Lord, Head of Climate Change and Energy - HSBC UK

Meg Nicolaysen, Deputy Director, Climate Change & Sustainability - UK Export Finance

Joe Robinson, Director, ESG & Sustainability - Equitix

From Pilots to Pull: Creating Bankable Demand and Strategic Partnerships

Innovation Showcase

09:50 – 10:35

Innovators often struggle to demonstrate demand at the scale investors require. This session explores how startups, corporates and venture investors can work together to create credible market pull, f ...

Moderator

Cindi Bough, Managing Director - Climate Investment

Confirmed Speakers

Mats Bredborg, Electrification Leader - Volvo Construction Equipment

Sam Hill, Investment Analyst - TDK Ventures

Yash Rane, Investor - Fortescue Ventures

Charles Vaslet, Senior Partner - Emerald
Spotlight On: Corporate Venture Capital and Building Partnerships That Work

Innovation Showcase

11:35 – 12:05

Corporate venture capital operates on a completely different rhythm from both traditional VC and corporate procurement, demanding new ways of working from startups and CVC teams alike. This session un ...
From FOAK to Scale – Lessons in Commercialising Big Hardware

Innovation Showcase

13:25 – 14:10

Hardware-heavy cleantech faces the toughest path to market, with innovators often forced abroad to scale. This session looks at what it takes to move from seed and FOAK (first-of-a-kind) to Series B a ...

Moderator

Sarah Mackintosh, Director - Cleantech for UK

Confirmed Speakers

Carlota Ochoa Neven Du Mont, Principal - Extantia

Jim Totty, Managing Director - Viridis Capital

Climate Investment: Driving Growth, Resilience & Innovation

Main Stage

10:00 – 10:45

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, innov ...

Moderator

Arlo Brady, CEO - Freuds Group

Confirmed Speakers

Ezgi Barcenas, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer - L'Oréal

Darshana Myronidis, Global Director of Sustainability - Virgin

Elsa Palanza, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainability - ICG
The Capital Challenge: Financing Frontier Climate Solutions

Main Stage

11:40 – 12:25

Whilst global investment in clean technologies reached a record $2.1 trillion in 2024, nearly 90% of this capital flowed into mature solutions, leaving frontier technologies such as carbon removal, gr ...

Moderator

Beverley Gower-Jones OBE, Founder & Managing Partner - Clean Growth Fund

Confirmed Speakers

James Cole, Chief Innovation Officer - Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Leslie Maasdorp, CEO - British International Investment

Financing the Risk Curve: Securing Early Climatetech Capital

Innovation Showcase

09:45 – 10:30

For climatetech founders, the leap from seed to growth capital remains one of the hardest to navigate. Early investors must take big bets on market timing, regulatory shifts, and emerging commercial m ...

Confirmed Speakers

Viola Jardon, Programme Director, Accelerator - Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Sarah Jones, Principal - Zero Carbon Capital

Cam Ross, CEO - Green Angel Ventures
Spotlight On: How do We Accelerate the Involvement of Banks in Innovative Solutions?

Innovation Showcase

11:30 – 12:00

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 bod ...

Confirmed Speakers

Richard Barker, Partner - Counteract