Rights, Risk, and Resilience: Energy Transition Investments and Indigenous and Community Engagement
Navigating Human Rights, Nature, and Financial Materiality in Investment Decisions
An invitation-only discussion during Climate Week NYC hosted by ImpactARC and Shift
Monday 21 September 2026 | 9:00am – 11:00am
The Yale Club of New York City, Trumbull Room, 50 Vanderbilt Ave, New York, NY 10017
As investment in renewable energy, critical minerals, and transition infrastructure accelerates, companies and investors increasingly face a stark operational reality: projects cannot succeed when they sideline the communities safeguarding the land, resources, and ecosystems companies depend on. With 54% of transition minerals located on or near Indigenous lands, community engagement and partnership is no longer only a rights-based obligation – it is a core determinant of project viability and financial performance.
While community engagement is widely recognized as essential for respecting Indigenous rights and community concerns, its relevance to portfolio and systemic risk management and fiduciary duty remains under-assessed. Inadequate engagement can lead to opposition, delays, disruption, and severe budget overruns. Conversely, early, inclusive, and meaningful engagement often builds trust, improves decision-making, strengthens project resilience, and creates long-term value.
Join Shift and ImpactARC for an invitation-only discussion bringing together institutional investors, asset managers, companies, academic researchers, and Indigenous leaders to examine the evidence showing the financial materiality of high-quality engagement with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and to explore an actionable framework for integrating these considerations into investment due diligence, stewardship, and decision-making.
Together, speakers and participants will address a central question: How can investors and companies better understand and act on the financial significance of community engagement as pressures on nature increase and the energy transition accelerates?
Agenda
9:00am: Arrival & Networking
9:30am: Welcome & Opening Remarks – Judith Moore, ImpactARC
9:35am: The Financial Evidence – Jonathan Milläng presents findings from Shift's evidence review, Community Engagement, Nature, and Financial Materiality.
9:40am: The Investor Toolkit – Daisy Nicholls presents ImpactARC's investor guide and framework, Sustainable Indigenous Finance: Navigating the Energy Transition.
9:45am: Panel Discussion – Moderated by: Francesca de Meillac, Shift
Rebecca Adamson, First Peoples Worldwide
Witold J. Henisz, Wharton Impact, Value and Sustainable Business Initiative
David Rutherford, Mackenzie Investments
Nick Pelosi, Federated Hermes
10:30am: Audience Q&A
11:00am: Close & Networking
For attendance, please get in touch with jonathan.millang@shiftproject.org to request an invitation; places are limited and the event is invite-only.