Accelerating Impact, powering two acceleration programmes - the International Climate Finance Accelerator (ICFA) and the International Social Finance Accelerator (ISFA) - organised its flagship event, the Impact Finance Forum 2024. Held on the 15 th October in the beautiful Spuerkeess building in Luxembourg city, the event attracted more than 600 participants, both in-person (200+) and online (400+) from the international impact finance ecosystem. The Forum delved into the challenges how to tackle pressing climate issues through finance, and to collectively work on solutions to overcome these barriers through inspirational keynote speeches and thematic roundtable discussions. Stephan Peters, CEO at Accelerating Impact, joined by Master of Ceremony Lisa Burke, opened the Impact Finance Forum 2024 by welcoming all the attendees and giving a brief introduction to the event’s purpose, Accelerating Impact’s work and achievements ( view here).The last session of the day, titled “ Key Takeaways from the Breakout Sessions”, was kicked off by Stephan Peters who covered the workshop “
Funds set-up/structuration in Luxembourg” on behalf of Adrien Rollé and Hugo Vautier from Opportunity FS. Stephan Peters then gave the floor to the roundtables moderators to summarise the discussions highlights:
- “Leveraging on women to achieve climate resilience: the new frontier of impact investment?” presented by Maud Savary-Mornet (Beyond Finance)
- “Mobilising private capital at scale in non-OECD countries” presented by Mervin Chaumière (Annycent)
- “Deep Tech and Semiconductors: The Bedrock of Sustainable Growth” presented by Dan Choon (Cycle Management sarl)
- “Social Impact Finance: Unlocking entrepreneurial opportunities and addressing gender-specific challenges in emerging markets” presented by Paola Ravacchioli (Fund-of-funds investment specialist)
- “Measuring Climate Adaptation and Resilience: Risks and Impact” presented by Ellie Turner (60 Decibels)
- “Unlocking green capital with blended finance” presented by Willem Grimminck (One to Watch)
- “Why Nature and Biodiversity Finance will become the top priority of impact investors?” presented by Arnaud Gillin (Innpact)
Minister Serge Wilmes (MECB) joined by Master of Ceremony Melissa Dalton and Stephan Peters (Accelerating Impact) provided the closing remarks, emphasising key themes and acknowledging the collaborative spirit of the event. https://youtu.be/kWWOX0W697A As the Impact Finance Forum 2024 drew to a close, participants gathered in a vibrant networking cocktail, where further insights and perspectives were exchanged and new connections were made. With more than 200 attendees in-person and up to 600 online, the whole Accelerating Impact team hopes that this year’s Forum has created opportunities for pioneers and leaders in the impact finance space to connect, to share insights on key trends, and to forge long-term partnerships between each other. To view the recordings of the Impact Finance Forum 2024, go to our ICFA YouTube channel or ISFA YouTube channel. The breakout sessions were not recorded ; key insights and takeaways will be shared in the coming weeks on our communication channels. Stay tuned!