The 2027 agenda

Leading author, advisor, and academic Alison Taylor will join us to discuss why running an ethical business has become so difficult in recent times. She will cover the tensions between legal and ethical frames, shifting societal values and the rise of ESG, and the subsequent polarization and societal discord. 

SFDR has transformed the European sustainable fund landscape, influencing product development, fund positioning and the way investors navigate sustainable investment choices. And more change is on the horizon with the next evolution of the SFDR framework. Using Morningstar data, this session will examine the flows into and out of funds, identifying the areas where investor demand has proved resilient and where enthusiasm has faded. We will also consider what the next phase of regulation could mean for the European fund landscape, and whether changes to SFDR are likely to alter investor behaviour - or simply change the labels attached to it.

Physical climate risk disclosures have expanded, driven by regulation and reporting frameworks. At the same time, underlying data has become far more granular — down to individual assets, specific hazards, and forward-looking climate scenarios. Asset managers, asset owners, and credit rating agencies are each wrestling with the same practical problem: how to turn this volume of information into clear signals informed by asset and business materiality that changes how a portfolio is built, priced, or rated.

This panel discussion brings together practitioner perspectives from across the investment chain to compare notes on what's working, what isn't, and where the gap between disclosure and decision-making still sits.

Sustainability-focused investing has moved far beyond values-based screening origins in the 35 years Morningstar Sustainalytics has been serving the markets. There has been a dramatic expansion in sustainability data, more sophisticated risk assessment approaches, and a deeper understanding of how ESG factors influence materiality and investment outcomes, all of which has driven better-informed investment decisions.

Still, new realities are emerging, from the risks and opportunities presented by AI to the growing financial impacts of physical climate change, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment. This session will take a deep dive into how sustainable investing analysis has evolved and how it has driven portfolio decision-making

The age of mega IPOs has thrown up brand new questions for sustainability-focused investors. In private markets, maintaining focus on sustainability integration and achieving true diversification are front and centre. Meanwhile in public markets, weighing up new ESG risks while managing tracking error in a concentrate market presents new challenges. This session brings together industry practitioners, and Morningstar's own private markets and indexes experts, to flesh out what's working well and what still needs to be addressed.

As the next generation of SFDR approaches, producers of ESG funds are facing the challenge of adapting to new requirements while bringing together increasingly complex data to produce compliant reporting. 

In this session, we’ll share what we’re hearing across the market, explore the practical challenges of transitioning to SFDR 2.0, and demonstrate how our SFDR Reporting Service can simplify the journey. By bringing data, calculations, narrative and reporting into one streamlined process, firms can stay compliant, reduce manual effort and focus their energy on value-add activities designing new sustainable strategies and engaging with clients.

12:30 - 12:50
Sponsored Session 1

13:00 - 13:20
Sponsored Session 2

The past few years have been rife with rapid economic, geopolitical, and technological change. How has this influenced approaches to thematic climate investing in the private capital markets? And what does this mean for the transition to a more sustainable economy? The picture differs meaningfully depending on the asset class, with venture capital, private equity, and infrastructure each adapting in their own way, shaped by forces such as the AI transformation, energy independence and security concerns, and evolving consumer preferences. While some headwinds have intensified, there are bright spots in each asset class and grounds for optimism around the role that the private capital markets will play in helping to solve some of the most pressing problems of our time.

The focus on artificial intelligence and data center expansion has dominated the investment conversation over the last year. Drawing on recent research and insights from across Morningstar's business units, we examine the investment case for the sector, and what the key opportunities and challenges are on both financial and societal sustainability.

Sponsored Session 3 (Roundtable Discussion Room) 14:50 - 15:10

Sustainable investing is facing some of its biggest tests yet: what the AI boom's vast energy demands mean for climate goals, whether the energy transition can stay on track, and how rising defence spending amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East fits into sustainability-minded portfolios.

Join our panel of investment leaders as they tackle these tensions head-on: navigating a fractured transatlantic landscape, weighing AI's power hunger against climate goals, and rethinking defence in a world at war. A candid, practitioner-led view of where sustainable investing goes from here.

As Southern Europe faces recurring extreme heat, drought and devastating wildfires, the vulnerability of food and agricultural systems is becoming increasingly evident. More frequent climate and nature-related shocks are reducing crop yields, disrupting supply chains, influencing food prices and creating new risks for farmers, businesses and consumers.

In response, attention is turning to regenerative agriculture, a sustainable farming approach based on practices such as crop rotation and diversification, reduced use of synthetic agrochemicals and techniques that minimise soil disturbance. By working with natural processes to restore soil health, enhance biodiversity and improve water retention, it offers a promising way to strengthen productivity, ecosystem health and long-term resilience.

Join Marc Palahi in a keynote which will frame why regenerative agriculture is moving from a sustainability ambition to a business and investment imperative.

Join us in the Exhibit Hall to close the day off with a networking drinks reception open to all attendees.

This showcase is a must for industry professionals that are looking to stay up to date on cutting-edge ESG technologies transforming Digital Finance, Wealth and Asset Management.

With finance increasingly pivoting toward sustainable and responsible investments, this showcase offers a crucial glimpse of the latest innovations propelling this shift.

Stewardship disclosures and proxy voting have given us important and reliable signals on investors' sustainability preferences, but those signals have been getting weaker and investor priorities are changing fast. Still, there are still important themes we can distil from what's still out there. Using data and research from Morningstar and the wider market, we examine what's important, what's new and what's next for sustainability conscious institutional investors.

Keynote from the EIOPA Chair, Petra Hielkema.

As the EU's sustainable finance framework enters a new phase of consolidation and simplification, asset owners and managers must set long-term strategy against a shifting policy and market backdrop. This session aims to map where the rules are heading, from taxonomy to the wider disclosure regime, and what it takes to allocate with conviction through uncertainty.

The context around engagement and voting is fast adapting to a world of changing regulation and new practices. Finding ways for asset managers and asset owners to work together to deliver for clients and beneficiaries has become more challenging. This discussion under the Chatham House rule, and led by Lindsey Stewart alongside leading industry practitioners, aims to find practical solutions to tackle the new challenges.

Sponsored Session 4 (Roundtable Discussion Room) 10:50 - 11:10

The gap between climate commitments and real-world impact remains a topic of ongoing debate. As frameworks evolve, political headwinds shift, institutional investors are increasingly asking a fair question: how much progress are we actually making on climate, and where might approaches need to adapt?

This panel brings together senior leaders from Europe's largest asset owners for an engaging conversation about what has and hasn't worked. The discussion will focus on the practical: where capital is genuinely needed, how data and research can sharpen decision-making, and what it will take to move from commitment to measurable impact.

Investor incorporation of climate risk into portfolio construction continues to evolve, with growing emphasis on transition credibility in high emitting industries and a broadening lens toward nature related impacts and dependencies. Climate adaptation and resilience are increasingly moving to the center of this conversation, alongside mitigation. 

This session brings together Morningstar's Sustainalytics and Indexes teams to examine how institutional thinking is shifting, what this means for data quality, signal design and portfolio construction, and the practical trade-offs investors face in translating conviction into implementation. Drawing on research and index development work, this session will discuss what separates credible transition signals from noise, and how these themes are being operationalised in systematic strategies. Attendees will leave with a sharper view of the next generation of index solutions and the decisions ahead for institutional portfolios.