He outlined this year’s main theme: how to finance sustainable cities, what we can do to identify solutions and work towards resolutions through panel sessions, workshops, and the hackathon.

Peers explained that within the use case of cities, the panel sessions focus on nature, climate, energy, the just transition, and various levers of change such as data, AI, risk, and financial instruments. He pointed out that after the conference, the best ideas will be able to be put forward to accelerators and funded by venture capital to drive forward the sustainable agenda.

Peers provided an introductory explanation to ‘doughnut economics’ as a model for describing the strategies at play and resources available for those looking to put their ideas into action.

“There is this huge body of work, which talks about the outside which is the environmental consideration that we need to be aware of the ecological ceiling on the inside of the social foundation, of course, a huge part of what we'll talk about today with cities and when what is the safe space for humanity sitting within that doughnut and cities now? If you are going to build a sustainable city around nature, collaborating with public and private financing, both public and private. Having the metrics to prove that the citizens money is being used for the reason it was intended and transcending political cycles.”

In the first keynote of the conference, ‘How can the nexus of forces between nature, climate, energy, and society be addressed’, Mitch Cooke, director of sustainability, ESG, and sustainable finance at Greengage Environmental discussed how various cities are addressing sustainability and regulation with the resources and innovations they have.

He stated that Greengage works to integrate nature, climate, energy, and society – describing the intersection of all of these factors as “the sweet-spot”. His solutions-focused presentation aimed to define how sustainable initiatives are being delivered and constructed and how to ensure that green targets are met using the resources cities have at their disposal.

Cooke outlined various projects that Greengage is working on within London to make it a more sustainable city, focusing on current and developing projects that include sustainable design to form carbon neutral and green spaces, making more healthy, social spaces designed specifically for the local community.

His first example of sustainable design that Greegage has worked on was a collaboration with LendLease called Elephant Park in Elephant and Castle, London. The space aspires to be a net zero operation and has created a green space with enhanced biodiversity and a low carbon power plant that provides heating and hot water to over 3000 homes, community areas, and local businesses. Cooke details that the regeneration has created thousands of jobs in Elephant and Castle and formed more public spaces for the community.

“We used Elephant Park as a living lab. We have been talking to local residents and community groups, but also more widely to the sustainability and development network so we can share our learnings and form a town centre framework that sets out the vision for capital over the next 30 years. We have worked with the urban design team to set the urban greening toolkit that guides future developments to deliver climate resilient buildings and spaces, but also to encourage active travel, natural, and civic surveillance and the ability for community cohesion. These design output parameters are not just design aspirations, but based on a deeper understanding of the health and socio economic profiles of existing communities.”

Cooke highlighted how sustainable planning should address climate change and biodiversity through urban greening but also focus on the health issues within the community.

Another example that Cooke provided is a space opposite the Excel Centre that will offer affordable new homes, workplaces, and cultural hub with leisure facilities, cafes, and art spaces. It will be a green and sustainable location with heating and hot water through a zero carbon district heating network. He emphasised that a main objective of this project be to offer green spaces and create areas where people can form social connections to avoid the negative mental and physical health effects of loneliness, which is prevalent among the older generation and those that live alone.

Cooke concluded: “Cities are addressing sustainability and climate change through placemaking strategies. This requires systems thinking and collaboration designed for delivery and long-term operations. Unlocking these challenges requires a new look at partnerships leading between private and public sectors and a collaborative, not competitive, approach. This will require us to think about the needs of the community and how placemaking includes multi-layer benefits for nature, climate, and energy. Finance will play a pivotal role in more traditional mechanisms of government funding, and also more innovative methods of funding things like deep networks, renewable energy, impact investing, written bonds and sustainability-linked loans.”