Doris Duke Foundation Treehouse at Lazard

Join us for lunch ahead of the afternoon's programming.

Bill Ulfelder, New York Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy

Gerrity Lansing, Managing Director and Partner, BTG Pactual and Head, BTG Pactual Global Alternatives

Cat Burns, Managing Director of NatureVest, The Nature Conservancy

Moderated by

Sacha Spector, Director, Environment Program, Doris Duke Foundation

Since 2021, BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group and The Nature Conservancy have collaborated across TIG’s North American timberland portfolio to implement strategies designed to create meaningful benefits for nature and people. This session will share lessons from five years of implementation on how collaborations like these can unlock new approaches to working forest management and deliver environmental, social, and economic benefits at scale. Panelists will share practical, on-the-ground approaches to improved and climate-informed forest management, and explore the growing opportunities to amplify impact across working forest landscapes in the U.S.

Rather than focusing on a specific fund or investment product, the conversation will examine what has worked in practice, the tradeoffs involved, and how these approaches can be replicated or scaled by other institutional landowners and investors.

Chris Hogbin, Chief Executive Officer, Lazard Asset Management

Jennifer Anderson, Head of Investment Stewardship and Sustainable Investment, Lazard Asset Management

Jennifer will share findings from Lazard’s second annual Investor Survey on Climate, conducted in partnership with Inevitable Policy Response. Based on responses from 32 institutional investors representing approximately $2.5 trillion in assets, along with interviews with asset owners and investment consultants, the research explores how institutional investors are assessing climate-related risks and opportunities amid a shifting policy, market and geopolitical backdrop.

The session will explore evolving perspectives on transition risk, policy uncertainty, portfolio implementation and the role of climate considerations in broader investment decision-making.

Kurt Braitberg, Head of Public Markets, Builders Vision

Lauren Gellhaus, Vice President, Institutional Investments, Wilshire

Moderated by

Jennifer Ryan, Head of North American Distribution, Lazard Asset Management

A discussion on how asset owners and investment consultants are translating climate-related objectives and assessments into investment frameworks, manager evaluation and portfolio implementation. The conversation will explore the practical challenges and trade-offs institutions face as they navigate differing regional policy settings, evolving data and disclosure standards, and a rapidly changing energy and technology landscape.

Rohit Chopra, Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager/Analyst, Lazard Asset Management

Umang Choudhary, Energy Sector Research Analyst, Lazard Asset Management

Alex Lai, Equity Advantage Portfolio Manager/Analyst, Lazard Asset Management

Moderated by

Jennifer Anderson, Head of Investment Stewardship and Sustainable Investment, Lazard Asset Management

• Rohit will offer an investor perspective on the role of emerging markets in the transition. With a significant share of future energy demand growth, infrastructure buildout and clean-energy deployment expected to occur in these markets, the discussion will consider how regional differences in growth, policy, energy-resource endowments, and capital availability may shape transition pathways and associated investment considerations.
  
  
  
• Umang will explore the complex, interconnected dynamics shaping the energy sector, including geopolitics, diverging policy frameworks, energy-security priorities, and project economics. He will consider how energy companies are positioning themselves in a period of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

• Alex brings insights from many years of experiencing of integrating climate data and analytics into quantitative equity portfolios, helping clients to meet both risk return and sustainability objectives in their mandates. These solutions have become increasingly relevant for clients seeking more forward looking approaches to climate investing that use tracking error budgets more efficiently to deliver client outcomes.

George Bilicic, Global Head of Power, Energy & Infrastructure, Lazard
Samuel Scroggins, Head of Renewables & Sustainable Infrastructure, Lazard

George and Samuel will discuss insights from Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy+ report, which has benchmarked the economics of power-generation technologies for nearly two decades. This year’s analysis examines the increasing importance of speed-to-power as electricity demand grows and reliability becomes a central consideration for policymakers, utilities and investors.

The session will look at shifts in the relative economics of new-build generation, energy storage and existing assets, along with the factors shaping the ability to deliver reliable, affordable power. The discussion will place these developments in the context of a transition increasingly shaped by local market conditions, infrastructure constraints and demand growth.

Join us for a cocktail reception following the afternoon’s sessions to network with peers.