Workforce 2.0: Unlocking your employees’ sustainability potential  

29 October, 8:30-11:00 AM

Climate House, Paris

Sustainability is no longer the domain of a single department. The most forward-thinking companies implement measures at speed and scale by empowering their employees, across all levels and functions, to become active drivers of sustainability. For these companies, sustainability is a dynamic, organisation-wide movement that sparks innovation and shapes culture.  

How should companies turn this vision into reality?  

At Kite Insights, we believe the crucial first step is to understand where your workforce stands - measuring both their motivation and their knowledge.   

In this hands-on workshop, we'll introduce the concept of sustainability readiness, explore some key readiness measures and metrics, and learn how to harness these insights to accelerate implementation and drive tangible progress. 

Debate: "Businesses will never be brave"

Thursday 6 November, 5:15 - 6:05PM

Place Vendôme, Paris

This New York Times Debate is curated by DEBATABLE. by Kite Insights.

In an increasingly polarised and volatile world, business leaders take huge personal risks, staking their reputation on innovation. Whether starting a company or steering a major organisation through instability, they must navigate uncertainty with real bravery. But while individuals may be brave, the system is not. Our economic model rewards short-term, risk-reducing strategies that maximise shareholder profit. Yet we see examples of businesses thriving through long-term investments in the common good, resilience, and adaptation — and it can make economic sense: every $1 invested in resilience can generate more than $10 in benefits over ten years, according to a recent WRI report. Could leaders follow these examples into a market-wide shift — and should we question their bravery if they don’t? Or are we deceiving ourselves - does the responsibility to transform economic culture ultimately fall to policymakers?

More events to be added - watch this space. 

Debate: "Nature will set the price." 

Monday, 10 November, 6:00-8:00 PM

EY House, curated by DEBATABLE. by Kite Insights 

Financial tools such as carbon markets and biodiversity credits aim to harness market mechanisms to drive capital towards restoring nature and away from extraction. Are these effective, or do we in fact need a regenerative economy modeled on nature that nurtures and renews value?

And what if nature doesn’t negotiate in terms of price at all? When there’s nothing left to buy, pricing becomes irrelevant. What if our financial system, no matter how sophisticated or regenerative, is fundamentally dependent on a system that plays by utterly different rules?  

Express interest to attend here. 

AI for Nature: Speed, Scale and Access

Tuesday, 11 November, 6:30-9:00 PM

TED Countdown House at COP30, hosted by Google and WRI 

Urgent global action is needed for nature, and AI presents promising opportunities to accelerate the collection, dissemination, and utilization of nature-related data. Google and WRI invite you to a dinner discussion grounded in a new white paper, "AI for Nature: How AI can democratize and scale action on nature." Moderated by David Gelles from The New York Times, this event gathers a group of practitioners, policymakers, innovators and more to discuss how AI can broaden access to information, amplify conservation initiatives, and empower stakeholders from local communities to governments. The discussion will delve into challenges related to finance, governance, accessibility, and human oversight, while forging partnerships and strategies for leveraging AI's potential, and setting a clear path for demonstrable progress at COP30 and beyond. 

Saint-Gobain Sustainable Construction Talk: Delivering on the Global Mutirão through sustainable construction: Priority actions to make the world a better home. 

 Wednesday, 12 November, 6:30 - 8:00 PM (arrivals at 6:00 PM and cocktail dinner from 8:00 PM onwards)  

Museu do Estado do Pará, Belém  

 At COP30, the Brazilian Presidency has called for a Global Mutirão — a collaborative movement to turn climate pledges into action. How might the construction value chain deliver on this mandate? Transformation of the built environment is central to addressing the interconnected social, economic, and environmental crises that we are facing today. While awareness of sustainable construction is on the rise, and actions are well underway, a coordinated step change is urgently needed to accelerate progress. To address this, Saint-Gobain's Sustainable Construction Observatory will host a Sustainable Construction Talk in Belém.  In collaboration and consultation with its community at global and local levels, the Observatory has developed an Action Paper to be launched in Belem. It will promote priority actions on six issues identified as having the greatest potential to unlock new pathways for impact and real-world progress. This session is a call to action, inviting participants to build on these foundations to explore how we can join forces, break silos, and scale solutions to make the world a better home.  

Kite Insights is supporting the curation of this event.  

Request an invitation (No Blue Zone badge required) 

Driving Sustainable Construction Forward: Pathways and priority actions for transformative change across the value chain: A COP30 Interactive Session on Sustainable Construction

Wednesday, 12 November, 09:30 - 11:00AM

COP30 Buildings and Cooling pavilion (Blue Zone), Belém   

Co-organized by Saint-Gobain’s Sustainable Construction Observatory and the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), and hosted by GlobalABC and the UNEP Cool Coalition.  

This session will explore two catalysts for sustainability in the building sector:  

• Conceived at COP28, The Buildings Breakthrough unites countries and partners co-ordinated by UN GlobalABC to accelerate decarbonization and resilience. In support of this, a new set of definitions and principles for near-zero emission and resilient buildings has been developed ahead of COP30 with lead partner WorldGBC through the Priority Action B1 [Standards and Certification] Steering Committee.   

• Complementary to the goals of The Buildings Breakthrough, a new action paper will be launched by Saint-Gobain's Sustainable Construction Observatory at COP30. Developed with their community of global and local leaders, it outlines priority actions identified as having the greatest potential to drive impactful social, economic, and environmental transformation.   

Together, participants will explore the objectives and ambitions of both initiatives as they move to implementation, in an interactive session inviting the perspectives and solutions of leaders from across the value chain.  

Kite Insights is supporting the curation of this event.  

Request an invitation (Please note that a Blue Zone badge is required to access the event) 

Debate: "Green is the new brown"

Thursday 13 November, 3:45-5:15 PM 

TED Countdown House at COP30, curated by DEBATABLE. by Kite Insights

Will the rush for transition minerals power a just green future or fuel a new era of extraction? Renewable energy promises a future free from fossil fuels and a pathway for economic growth, but it comes with trade-offs. Meeting the demand for solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries requires mining rare minerals at unprecedented rates—often in regions already burdened by conflict, exploitation, and child labour. Can policies harness renewable energy to drive growth while respecting human rights, protecting ecosystems, and ensuring fairness across generations? Or will the rush to decarbonize simply repeat old patterns of extraction under a green guise?

Express interest to attend here. 

Hot Work: Climate, Health, and the Future of Employment: From Fields to Factories to Boardrooms — Building Resilience for Workers in a Warming World 

Thursday, 13 November, 7:00-9:00 PM (session followed by drinks and canapes)

TED Countdown House at COP30, hosted by Wellcome Trust

Climate impacts including extreme heat and poor air quality are affecting workers across the world, from fields, to factories, to boardrooms. In this dynamic session, join the conversation with stakeholders from the private sector, philanthropy and international institutions to explore how businesses can respond to heat and deliver solutions that balance productivity, well-being and equity. 

Express interest to attend here. 

Building a Mutirão for Food Systems: Cultivating ambition to drive food systems transformation beyond COP30 

Monday, 17 November, 5:00 - 7:00 PM (session followed by drinks and canapes)

TED Countdown House at COP30, hosted by  Erol Foundation, Instituto Ibirapitanga, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Instituto Arapyau and Porticus. 

  This event is a moment to connect across the global food system to share insights and perspectives critical to driving collective action. Representing the leadership from the global south, join farmers, activists, indigenous and community leaders, and special envoys for a dynamic evening of conversation to build a shared foundation for action for well beyond this COP and the next.  

Express interest to attend here.

More events will be added soon. In the meantime, please let us know whom from your organisation will be there by filling out this form.