Our Path to COP28 Sustainable Finance Summit series began with words of welcome from Dame Heather McGregor, Omar Shaikh, and Christian Kunz of hosts DIFC.

Simon Thompson of The Chartered Banker Institute then presented a keynote address on how the industry can drive success at the Dubai summit, highlighting the Principles for Responsible Banking Academy.

Next, a panel featuring Sebastian Frederiks from ING, Nadia Boumeziout from Zurich Insurance, and Dr Maria Carvalho from NatWest Group moderated by Dame Heather McGregor, discussed the practical implementation of sustainable finance principles into strategic decision-making.

Eline Skeurink then delivered a presentation on Principles for Responsible Investment and their role in supporting signatories in the Middle East and globally in their responsible investment activity, before Sultan Choudhury OBE from Islamic Finance Council UK (UKIFC) presented the findings of the UKIFC Global Islamic Finance Retail Banking Survey (click here to download the report).

The second and final panel saw Charles Haresnape from Gatehouse Bank plc, Mohieddine (Dino) Kronfol from Franklin Templeton, and Christian Gueckel from SEDCO Capital | سدكو كابيتال join Mustafa Adil from LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group)/Refinitiv, an LSEG business. The panel built on Sultan’s presentation, discussing how to unlock Islamic finance at COP28.

Learn more about the Path to COP28 campaign, and how it is driving action from finance at this year’s summit at pathtocop28.com, or visit our event page to find out more about the second in the series.