Impact Days 2025

12–13 May 2025 | Vienna, Austria

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Elise Van Middelem

Founder & CEO

SUGi

Zürich, Switzerland

2 profile visitsSpeakerSpeaker

My organisation

SUGi

SUGi

Other

London, United Kingdom

SUGi is a global movement that brings life to cities by creating ultra-dense, biodiverse pocket forests of native species, inspired by the Miyawaki method. It highlights the power of restoring biodiversity to tackle urban challenges, transforming both urban and semi-urban areas into lush green spaces that celebrate nature, enrich ecosystems, boost climate resilience, and foster a stronger sense of community and well-being. Since launching in May 2019, we have created over 240 SUGi Pocket Forests in 54 cities on 6 continents and reconnected 85,000 youth & community members to Nature.
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About me

Elise Van Middelem is a mission-driven leader known for fostering public engagement and collective action. Elise has built powerful coalitions amongst diverse groups to deliver on a common purpose. She created SUGi as a catalyzing network of expert forest makers and community keepers dedicated to greening cities & reimagining urban life.

Speaker sessions (1)

Tuesday, 13 May 2025

12:40 - 13:30

Investing in Nature: Unlocking Capital for a Regenerative Economy

Location:Rathaus - Nature Stage

With biodiversity loss posing material risks to economies and supply chains, this session explores how investors are redefining nature as an asset class — from innovative financing models to scaling solutions for protecting and restoring NC.