In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we’re taking listeners on a whistlestop tour of several big summer events in Europe that will shape sustainability discussions on the road to COP30, the UN Climate Change Conference in Belém, Brazil in November 2025.

We cover key outcomes from the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France — including progress toward a Marine Biodiversity Treaty.

We talk to Beth Burks, Director on the Sustainable Finance Markets team at S&P Global Ratings, about her takeaways from annual climate meetings in Bonn, Germany.

“If COP is like the big show every year, then Bonn is the dress rehearsal,” Beth explains.

Beth also shares highlights from London Climate Action Week, which in 2025 grew significantly to include more than 700 events and more than 45,000 attendees.

In the episode we also speak to Tom Beloe, Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub at the UN Development Programme, or UNDP. Tom shares big takeaways from the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, or FFD4, in Sevilla Spain. The conference took place for the first time in a decade this summer and centered around financing for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.

A unifying theme across all these events is the importance of multilateralism to address sustainability challenges that transcend borders, like climate change, nature loss and ocean conservation. Across these events, we also hear about the rising role the private sector plays in addressing and financing solutions to these challenges.

“I think we're seeing over the last 10 years a very much increasing trend of private sector participation,” Tom tells us. “Frankly, the discussions of finance that happen in these conferences are a little bit meaningless if we're not also convening with the largest financial institutions in the world.”

Learn about Climate Transition Assessments from S&P Global here.

Learn about energy transition data and services from S&P Global Commodity Insights here.

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1 and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

Copyright ©2025 by S&P Global

DISCLAIMER

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk.

Any unauthorized use, facilitation or encouragement of a third party’s unauthorized use (including without limitation copy, distribution, transmission or modification, use as part of generative artificial intelligence or for training any artificial intelligence models) of this Podcast or any related information is not permitted without S&P Global’s prior consent subject to appropriate licensing and shall be deemed an infringement, violation, breach or contravention of the rights of S&P Global or any applicable third-party (including any copyright, trademark, patent, rights of privacy or publicity or any other proprietary rights).

This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.

S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.

How these key summer events set the scene for COP30 in Brazil

All Things Sustainable

How these key summer events set the scene for COP30 in Brazil