Over 100 sessions and workshops around pressing global issues will be featured in the 3-day summit in Paris

LONDON, UK — April 4, 2023 — ChangeNOW, the largest event of solutions for the planet, today unveiled the main conference programme for the event in Paris on 25-27 May 2023. 400 visionary speakers from the political, business and public sectors will share their insights to address pressing issues around climate, resources, biodiversity and inclusion.

Partnering with the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, ChangeNOW will run its session ‘MIT Climate Pathways: Policies to prevent every fraction of a degree’ on the opening day. Using the MIT Climate Initiative’s EnRoads simulator, this interactive session moderated by John D. Sterman, Faculty Co-Director of MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, will gather policy makers, activists, CEOs and scientists to explore the impacts of a range of climate policies and discuss priority actions needed to limit global warming.

Another highlight of the first day’s programme — ‘Aligning business with Planetary boundaries’ — will feature speakers from multinational organisations including Kate Raworth, Economist & Co-founder of the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini, Marie-Claire Daveu, Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer of Kering, Alexandra Palt, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer of L’Oréal, and Chris Turner, Executive Director of B Lab UK. The session will discuss the need for businesses to raise the bar by implementing transformational strategies based on scientific knowledge and moving towards a holistic approach that encompasses the planet’s boundaries.

Other conference programme highlights include:

• COP15, biodiversity & businesses — At a time of alarmingly rapid biodiversity loss, this session will outline what the newly established COP15 Framework for Biodiversity means for businesses around the world. Speakers, including Christophe Béchu, French Minister for Ecological Transition, will look at which commitments companies are already making across the value chain and the importance of assessing their impact on nature.
• Building sustainable and resilient cities — As the official closing ceremony of the Sustainable Cities Programme, involving over 30 participating mayors from cities all over the world, this session will shed light on how cities can tackle sustainability challenges around clean energy, water and food; adapt to the effects of climate change and alleviate poverty.
• Civic Action: From Awareness to Movements — This session will bring a range of changemakers together to explore how individuals and communities can transform society through concrete and collective action. Confirmed speakers include Clover Hogan, Founder and Executive Director of Force of Nature; Christian Vanizette, Co-founder of Makesense and Regroop; and Jeremy Heimans, Co-founder of Avaaz and CEO of Purpose.
• Ocean: Making the Invisible Visible — Ocean advocates Emmanuelle Périé-Bardout and Ghislain Bardout, Founders of Under The Pole, Tony Long, CEO of Global Fishing Watch, and Titouan Bernicot, Founder and CEO of Coral Gardeners, will share their vision for the protection and regeneration of marine ecosystems.

In addition to the main conference programme, this year’s summit will feature an array of events hosted by ChangeNOW’s key ecosystem partners, involving a range of incubators, accelerators, foundations, public organisations, and NGOs. These events will include:

• Earthshot Prize Meetup — The global community of environmental champions will gather at the Earthshot Prize Meet-up and connect with partners and finalists who are leading the charge in driving positive change. Created by Prince William, the EarthShot Prize is the world’s most prestigious prize for the environment.
• Extreme Tech Challenge — Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC), the world’s largest ecosystem and competition for purpose-driven technology inspired by the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will host the launch of their inaugural XTC Sustainability Startup Challenge at ChangeNOW 2023. The event will consist of a pitch competition of new ventures that have developed breakthrough innovations in climate solutions centred on the circular economy or urban development. It will be followed by a roundtable discussion and networking opportunities with startups, partners, VCs and other industry leaders.

With the aim of accelerating the deployment of concrete solutions for a sustainable world, ChangeNOW 2023 will continue to serve as a platform for collaboration, connecting 1,200 investors from 120 countries with founders and entrepreneurs of 1000 innovative solutions for the planet. 1.5 billion euros in fundraising is expected to take place during the 3 days of the summit.

During its call for solutions, ChangeNOW received a record-breaking number of more than 1000 submissions, from which over 300 solutions will be showcased in the 8000 square metre exhibition area. More than 200+ solutions will participate in the pitch sessions.

Exhibiting Solutions will include:

• Rainforest Connection (USA) – Initiated in Amazonia, this solution is spreading around the world. It helps better understand and protect biodiversity by using AI and acoustics to automate and integrate meaningful biodiversity data in threatened ecosystems.
• Gaiago (France) – As the European leader in regenerative agriculture, this solution helps regenerate dead soil into living soil.
• Resistomap (Finland) – This solution helps monitor antibiotic resistance genes, one of the most pressing health issues of our century. Resistomap offers an end-to-end service to monitor hundreds of AMR and pathogen markers in the environment, with a turnaround time of 10 working days.

Santiago Lefebvre, Founder and CEO of ChangeNOW, said:

“In the face of unprecedented challenges in every domain: climate, resources, biodiversity and inclusion, we are in a race against time to accelerate changes and introduce actions to secure a sustainable future. That is why we are bringing back ChangeNOW this year with an even stronger selection of changemakers, as it is the only event that gathers so many impact entrepreneurs, investors, companies, policy makers, media, and citizens, from all around the world.”