Protecting and enhancing nature and biodiversity panel

Join us for a panel discussion with Giles Atkinson, Marisa Drew, and Nicola Ranger

There is a disconnect between nature’s fundamental role in economic prosperity, financial stability and social wellbeing, and its systematic exclusion from policy, finance and investment decisions. This disconnect helps drive biodiversity loss, economic vulnerability and systemic risk, problems compounded by weak data, misaligned incentives and limited evidence on what delivers durable, nature‑positive outcomes in the real economy. What are the implications of reframing nature as a core economic asset – and the loss of nature as a major source of risk? Where are the most important levers to address this gap? How can we best restore and enhance nature, where damage has already been done?

Meet our speakers and chair

Giles Atkinson is Acting Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and Professor of Environmental Policy in LSE’s Department of Geography & Environment. His specialist expertise is sustainability economics and economic appraisal of environmental policy. Within both, Giles’ research has explored distributional issues including public preferences for environmental equity, carbon taxation and inequality and the distribution of natural capital value.

Marisa Drew is the inaugural Chief Sustainability Officer for Standard Chartered Bank. Previously, during her nearly 40 year career, Marisa worked at several global banks including Merrill Lynch in leveraged finance and Credit Suisse in investment banking, ultimately co-heading investment banking. In 2017 Marisa was appointed CEO of the Impact Advisory and Finance Group and then became the bank’s first Chief Sustainability Officer. She was appointed in early 2022 as a NED of the US-listed broadband and mobile company, Liberty Global plc, and in late 2021 as a non-executive director of Agronomics. She also serves on the advisory council of the City of London Corporation, on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Sustainable Finance Panel, on McKinsey’s Sustainable Finance Council, and on several High-Level Groups sponsored by the World Economic Forum and the UN with a heavy emphasis on the Ocean and Sustainable finance. Marisa’s external activities also include a charitable Advisory Board roles Room-to-Read. In 2025, Marisa was recognized by CNBC as a Changemaker materially influencing global business, in 2024, she was named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Climate Leaders and in 2021 as one of 100 Global Visionary Leaders by Meaningful Business and EY. She has also been recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in International Business.

Nicola Ranger is Executive Director of Earth Capital Nexus and Professor in Practice of Natural Capital, Risk and Finance in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She leads interdisciplinary research and policy engagement at the nexus of finance, investment, natural capital, resilience and sustainable development with a global focus. Professor Ranger is a globally recognized expert in sustainable finance, climate and nature, and systemic resilience. Her research focuses on integrating climate and nature risks into financial decision-making.

Sir Andrew Steer, is a Professor in Practice in the Global School of Sustainability at LSE (GSoS) and the International Growth Centre (IGC). He is also Distinguished Research Professor of the Practice in Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and the Earth Commons and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Sir Andrew served, most recently (2021-2025) as the inaugural President and CEO of the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund, the world's largest philanthropy for nature and climate, investing in systems change across nature protection, food and agriculture, industrial and energy decarbonization, financial reform, and the application of AI and big data. He was President and CEO of the World Resources Institute (2012-2021). Previously, he served as Special Envoy for Climate Change at the World Bank, Director General at the UK’s Department of International Development, and Director of the World Bank in East Asia. He serves on the UK Foreign Secretary’s External Foreign Policy Board, is co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Innovative Finance; and a member of the boards of BRAC, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, and the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

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The Global School of Sustainability Forum 2026 convenes international leaders, private and public sector agenda setters and policy makers, and social science researchers at the cutting edge of sustainability innovation. Where the path to global sustainability requires deep and interdisciplinary engagement across human economy, society, politics and behaviour, we are driving dialogue and framing opportunities for a hopeful and prosperous future for all.

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