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13:00
Check-in and networking coffee
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14:00
Welcome remarks
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14:15
Physical risk & protection gaps: implications for credit and capital
- Are rising physical climate risks widening insurance protection gaps?
- What are the transmission channels from protection gaps to credit risk?
- How do adaptation investments impact risk profiles and long-term credit resilience?
- Can capital market solutions scale to narrow these gaps?
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15:00
Building resilience: innovation in risk management
- How are financial institutions and investors measuring and addressing physical risk and insurance protection gaps?
- Will insurance gaps grow as risks rise or are insurance gaps an opportunity for insurers?
- What are some innovations in risk management strategies and transfer mechanisms?
- What is the role of regulations in ensuring risk is priced in and supporting solutions?
- Is there a need for public-private partnerships?
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15:45
Networking break
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alt_route
IN-FOCUS TRACKS
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16:15
From credit exposures to financing solutions: spotlight on transition, water and natural capital risks
Suggested for sustainable finance investors, intermediaries and portfolio managers
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16:15
Integrating physical risk analytics for decisioning: case studies & discussions
Suggested for risk management leaders in banking, insurance, corporates, and asset management
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Session 1: Water as economic infrastructure: credit risk, resilience, and investment
- Water access as a material constraint on growth, industrial continuity, and fiscal stability
- How allocation frameworks, governance, and infrastructure adequacy shape credit outcomes under water stress
- Financial flexibility and investment capacity as drivers of credit differentiation
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Session 2: Making adaptation investable: case studies in structuring resilience finance
- Adaptation financing in practice: debt-for-nature swaps, resilience-labelled bonds
- Credit implications and risk allocation considerations for investors
- The role of credible frameworks in scaling demand for adaptation‑linked issuance
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17:15
Reception
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18:30
End of the event
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CloseMoody's Events
closeSimon Harris is a Managing Director at Moody’s. Simon’s current role is focused on Moody’s consolidated offerings to the Insurance industry – including the ratings services provided by Moody’s Investors Service, and the data, software and models provided by Moody’s Analytics.
Previously, Simon led Moody’s Ratings Global Financial Institutions Group for 5 years, steering the ratings and research work of Moody’s Ratings Insurance, Banking and Asset Management teams globally, having previously led the Ratings Global Insurance team. Simon joined Moody’s Ratings in 1998 after qualifying as an Actuary and working in the UK Insurance market. Simon is Fellow of the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (FIA), and holds a BA in Economics from Leeds University.
Rebecca is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Sustainable Finance group, where she leads thought leadership on the impact of environmental, social and governance factors on credit and capital markets. In her role, Rebecca is responsible for the coordination and execution of the Sustainable Finance group’s thematic research program and market outreach activities. She also serves as a visible subject matter expert to internal and external stakeholders and supports outreach and engagement with strategic partners.
Prior to joining the ESG team, Rebecca was a member of the Strategy and Research team at MIS, where she led cross-sector research and analytics on the credit implications of key macroeconomic and policy developments in North America. Rebecca first joined Moody’s in 2011 as an associate analyst in the Sovereign Risk Group.
She holds a dual Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University (SIPA), in New York, and Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po), in Paris, as well as a BA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ben is Managing Director, Advisory Services, Insurance Solutions. Ben has held a variety of positions over the best part of two decades at Moody’s , cutting his teeth in the consulting team, and helping to build products and services for the ILS market. More recently, Ben led a team exploring new market opportunities for Moody’s and helping clients deploy risk insights in exciting new ways. Ben holds a Masters of Engineering from University of Bristol.
Lucia Lopez is the Global Head of Credit in Moody’s Ratings Sustainable Finance group.
In her role, Lucia manages a global team of talented analysts responsible for developing and implementing initiatives to transparently integrate the impact of environmental, social, and governance considerations into credit ratings, analytics, research and outreach. This includes building data platforms, tools, and insights to assess the credit impact of these considerations in Moody’s Ratings rated universe.
The team also produces thematic research that continue to cement Moody's Ratings' thought leadership in Sustainable Finance and lead related outreach efforts with regulators, investors, and other market participants.
Lucia frequently represents the firm as a speaker through conversations with investors, policymakers and other market participants around the world.
Lucia brings multi-disciplinary expertise through past positions as a senior credit officer and senior underwriter in leading investment banks.
Before moving to the Sustainable Finance team, Lucia was a lead analyst in the EMEA Corporate Finance Group since 2018.
Prior to Moody’s, Lucia held several roles over 15 years at a number of banks including Deutsche Bank and Barclays, specializing in leverage finance, commodities and natural resources.
Lucia holds a Masters in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Zoe is a VP/Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Sub-Sovereign Group and holds lead analytical responsibility for ratings on a portfolio of local authorities, housing associations and other government-related issuers in the UK.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Zoe worked as an Associate Director at Arup in London, undertaking a range of economic and financial consultancy projects with public and private sector organisations in the UK and internationally
.Zoe holds a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Birmingham, an MPA in Public Economics and Policy from the London School of Economics and is an Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
Firas Saleh, Ph.D., is a Director of Product Management at Moody's based in New York, specializing in insurance, wildfire, and flood risk. He leads strategy and innovation for Moody's RMS U.S. flood and wildfire solutions, bridging quantitative analytics with insurance industry applications.
Alan is a catastrophe risk and exposure management leader with 22 years’ experience influencing how extreme risk is understood, governed, and acted upon. Most of his career has been spent in global (re)insurance, where he was recently an executive director of the International Society of Catastrophe Managers, leading the development of global professional standards in the industry. He joined Moody's in 2025 to focus on physical climate risk analytics supporting banks, investors, and other non-insurance sectors.
Swenja Surminski is Managing Director Climate and Sustainability at global risk management and professional services firm Marsh, working across the wider Marsh family with colleagues across Oliver Wyman, Marsh Risk, Mercer and Guy Carpenter to help clients achieve a resilient climate transition and to develop innovative approaches to climate risk and resilience. She is also Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics, where she oversees cross-sectoral work on climate risk and resilience. In 2022 Swenja was appointed by the UK Government to the UK Climate Change Committee, the UK's independent advisor on climate change, initially serving on the adaptation committee and since 2025 as member on both mitigation and adaptation committees. Since 2021 Swenja is also the elected Chair of the Management Board of the not for profit MCII, the world’s longest running think tank on climate insurance and resilience solutions for most vulnerable communities, hosted by United Nations University in Bonn, Germany.
Thomas leads on sustainable investing for the fixed income asset class, including ESG research, integration and associated engagement.
Thomas joined Aviva Investors in 2019 from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office where he advised ministers and senior officials on the links between economic developments and the UK’s foreign policy objectives.
Thomas holds a BA in Economics and Social Studies from the University of Manchester and an MSc in Development Economics from SOAS University of London.
Lucia Lopez is the Global Head of Credit in Moody’s Ratings Sustainable Finance group.
In her role, Lucia manages a global team of talented analysts responsible for developing and implementing initiatives to transparently integrate the impact of environmental, social, and governance considerations into credit ratings, analytics, research and outreach. This includes building data platforms, tools, and insights to assess the credit impact of these considerations in Moody’s Ratings rated universe.
The team also produces thematic research that continue to cement Moody's Ratings' thought leadership in Sustainable Finance and lead related outreach efforts with regulators, investors, and other market participants.
Lucia frequently represents the firm as a speaker through conversations with investors, policymakers and other market participants around the world.
Lucia brings multi-disciplinary expertise through past positions as a senior credit officer and senior underwriter in leading investment banks.
Before moving to the Sustainable Finance team, Lucia was a lead analyst in the EMEA Corporate Finance Group since 2018.
Prior to Moody’s, Lucia held several roles over 15 years at a number of banks including Deutsche Bank and Barclays, specializing in leverage finance, commodities and natural resources.
Lucia holds a Masters in European Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Lylah Davies is a Policy Analyst at the OECD Environment Directorate, where she leads work on water-related risks to financial systems. She is the lead author of the OECD report Embedding Water-Related Risks in Financial Stability Frameworks, and works with central banks, financial supervisors and finance ministries to integrate water risks into financial stability frameworks.
Her wider work supports policy reforms in emerging economies, including recent National Policy Dialogues on Water in Latvia, the Philippines and Mongolia. Before focusing on water, Lylah specialised in investment and finance for renewable energy and energy efficiency, at the OECD and previously as a Senior Consultant at EY.
Lylah holds an MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Ram Sri is Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in Moody’s Ratings’ Sustainable Finance Group. He leads Moody’s global initiative to integrate water risk and water management considerations into analysis, ratings and research, and is the author of Moody’s recent report, Water Management – Middle East: Desalination disruption could trigger cascading credit effects in Gulf countries. He has also authored Moody’s global environmental and social risks heat maps and associated framework reports.
He previously worked in Moody’s Financial Institutions Group in New York, covering US regional and global investment banks, securities firms and asset managers, and holds Master’s degrees from Warwick Business School and Warwick University.
Alan is a catastrophe risk and exposure management leader with 22 years’ experience influencing how extreme risk is understood, governed, and acted upon. Most of his career has been spent in global (re)insurance, where he was recently an executive director of the International Society of Catastrophe Managers, leading the development of global professional standards in the industry. He joined Moody's in 2025 to focus on physical climate risk analytics supporting banks, investors, and other non-insurance sectors.
Firas Saleh, Ph.D., is a Director of Product Management at Moody's based in New York, specializing in insurance, wildfire, and flood risk. He leads strategy and innovation for Moody's RMS U.S. flood and wildfire solutions, bridging quantitative analytics with insurance industry applications.
Theresa is a Director in the Moody’s Advisory group, overseeing a range of projects and strategic initiatives on the topic of physical climate risk. Her work focuses on working with a range of clients in the financial, corporate and public sector across the globe, to help them identify, quantify, and effectively manage climate risk through the application a state-of-the-art modeling tools and analytics.
Her responsibilities include leading detailed physical hazard and impact assessments as well as supporting the results of such assessments into downstream business processes and stakeholder communications. In addition, Theresa oversees the analysis of risk transfer mechanisms and their placement into the insurance and capital markets.
Prior to joining Moody’s, Theresa worked as an engagement manager for climate projects in the financial and public sector at McKinsey. Theresa holds a master's degree in Mathematics from Cambridge University.
Swami Venkataraman, CFA, is an Associate Managing Director in the Sustainable Finance group at Moody's Ratings. He manages a global team of analysts responsible for producing assessments and thematic research on the credentials of sustainability debt instruments and financing frameworks (Second Party Opinions) and the strength of entities carbon transition plans (Net Zero Assessments). He also leads related outreach efforts for Moody's with regulators, standard setters, investors, corporates and other market participants.
Swami regularly participates in high-profile working groups, conferences and media engagements. He is a member of the International Energy Agency's Finance Industry Advisory Board, the Institute for International Finance's (IIF) Sustainable Finance Working Group, the Executive Committee of the ESG Integrated Disclosure Project (IDP) for private capital markets and manages key external relationships for Moody's such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and Ceres. He has presented on climate finance topics at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) and at various initiatives of the World Bank.
Prior to this role, Swami led the team responsible for the systematic integration of ESG considerations - including climate - into all Moody's credit ratings and the launch of the Moody's Issuer Profile Scores (IPS) and Credit Impact Scores (CIS). Earlier, he was a Senior Vice President in the North American utilities and infrastructure team, with rating committee chair responsibilities. Before Joining Moody's in 2013, Swami was a Director of Project and Export finance with Standard Chartered bank in Asia. He has broad credit and banking expertise in power, clean energy, infrastructure and sustainable finance for over 25 years. He has worked in New York, San Francisco, London, Mumbai and Mexico City.
Swami is a CFA charter holder, with a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras and an M.B.A. in Finance and Information systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM),Calcutta.