Director (Environment and Sustainability),

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Adonai leads the EBRD’s work on nature and the blue economy, and designed the Blue Mediterranean Partnership, the multilateral platform set up to mobilise capital for ocean sustainability. He brings a view of what it takes to move institutional money into marine projects at scale.

Professor

TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland

Justine’s research shaped Australia’s first blue carbon methodology, which lets coastal restoration earn tradeable carbon credits. She now works on the legal barriers to scaling restoration up: permitting, tenure, and what a second methodology needs to do differently. She will set out what transfers to the UK and what does not.

Head of Communities & Data

Protected Areas Foundation

After founding NatureMetrics just over a decade ago, Kat established herself as a pioneer in the fast-growing nature technology field.

Kat’s career took a new direction after she led the Sea Change rowing expedition – evolving from collecting data on the health of our coastal seas, to capturing the stories of coastal communities working to protect, restore and regenerate marine ecosystems. That experience cemented her belief in the need to empower communities to manage their marine natural resources – and led her current role with PAF.

Commercial Director

Offshore Shellfish Ltd

Sarah has spent over 20 years in UK and international seafood, across fisheries, aquaculture, marketing and sustainability.

At Offshore Shellfish Ltd she has helped build the UK’s first large-scale offshore mussel farm, a site that doubles as a platform for marine biological research and is building the evidence base for sustainable aquaculture.

Restore Nature Delivery Manager

National Trust – Purbeck Estate

David leads the National Trust’s strategy to catalyse landscape-scale nature recovery across Purbeck, overseeing a 4,000-hectare estate and a 14-strong team managing internationally significant heathland, wetland, coastal, grassland and woodland habitats. David is also co-founder and Chair of the Studland Bay Marine Partnership, a flagship example of turning an area of coastal conflict into consensus for nature recovery, delivering measurable recovery in seagrass beds and seahorse populations.

David played a leading role in the 2020 declaration of 3,500 hectares of Purbeck Heaths as the UK’s first “super-NNR,” bringing together seven landowners around a shared vision that has since enabled the UK’s first licensed wild beaver release, a 1,400-hectare wild grazing unit, and multiple peatland restoration projects. He has been instrumental in securing over £3 million in external funding for nature recovery in the region.

Nature Opportunities & Development Director

The Crown Estate

Andreas joined the Crown Estate as Director for Nature Opportunities & Development, with responsibility for developing opportunities to protect and enhance natural capital now and into the future, including supporting the development of high-integrity natural capital markets.

Andreas joined the Crown Estate from the Civil Service where he held several roles working on green finance, advising on innovative finance and financial disclosures, and international climate finance. His prior experience includes climate finance consultancy and market analysis, particularly in the EU emissions trading scheme and Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms.

Building investable natural capital markets for marine nature

Blue carbon, marine net gain, nutrient neutrality and biodiversity credits are where governments, regulators and private buyers are all working now. But markets only scale if buyers trust what they’re buying and sellers can deliver what they promise.

Making public and philanthropic money work harder

First-loss layers, guarantees, concessional capital and blended vehicles — what actually crowds money in, and why so many structures never reach close.

Getting finance to communities and the coast

The heart of the event. Capital accumulates at the top; the people who deliver recovery operate at a scale finance isn’t built to serve, in a marine space that’s contested and heavily consented.

Financing prevention, not just repair

The biggest lever for preventing harm isn’t new capital — it’s the conditions attached to capital and trade that already exist. Purchase orders, sourcing standards and disclosure rules often move practice faster than a fund or a regulator can.