Uniting Leaders Across Sectors to Drive Ambitious Action for a Nature-Positive Future
The third edition of the WWF Earth Summit 2025 concluded, welcoming over 700 leaders, innovators, and decision-makers from across the region.
Singapore, 29 May 2025 –
- The third edition of the WWF Earth Summit 2025 concluded, welcoming over 700 leaders, innovators, and decision-makers from across the region.
- Organised by WWF-Singapore, this flagship event was held under the theme ‘Climate. Nature. Transition.’, emphasising the urgency of uniting climate and biodiversity goals for a net-positive future.
- A major announcement from the summit: the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions (SCeNe) Coalition, of which WWF is a member, revealed plans to expand its climate technology NbS tool to support NbS project development. Originally launched in 2023, the upgraded Version 2.0 of the platform will feature enhanced country and species data layers to support pre-feasibility assessments and will be launched in the middle of 2025.
The summit began with Vivek Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, WWF Singapore and Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, President of COP20 and Global Leader, Climate & Energy, WWF-International welcoming guests and setting the stage for what the rest of the day had installed.
This was followed by a powerful keynote by Paul Polman, Former Chief Executive Officer, Unilever, and co-author of ‘Net Positive: How courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take‘, that underscored the need for urgent transitions in both policy and industry practices.
“This year’s WWF Earth Summit brought together leaders across sectors with a clear message: we cannot solve the climate crisis without protecting nature. As the foundation of climate stability, economic resilience, and human wellbeing, nature was central to every conversation, from sustainable finance to net-zero pathways. True leadership now means turning urgency into action. Asia-Pacific is poised to lead, and WWF is committed to driving that momentum toward COP30 and beyond.” – Vivek Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, WWF- Singapore and Vice-Chairman, SCeNe Coalition
Across the day’s sessions, several recurring themes emerged:
- Scaling Climate Finance: Speakers emphasised the need to unlock USD 674 billion annually to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. In the Maximising Impact through Carbon Finance segment, WWF called for a shift from compensation-based approaches to contribution models, encouraging companies to invest beyond their value chains. The session highlighted the role of blended finance, biodiversity credits and high-integrity carbon markets in de-risking investments and scaling nature-positive solutions.
- Nature-Based Solutions (NbS): Examples from across Southeast Asia, including mangrove restoration and urban greening, showed how NbS deliver climate, community and biodiversity benefits. Emphasis was placed on data-driven planning, local engagement and scalable solutions like the upgraded SCeNe tool.
- Private-Public Sector Alignment: Case studies from businesses highlighted how aligning public policy with corporate action can accelerate sustainability goals. Stronger collaboration across sectors was seen as essential to bridge ambition and delivery on climate and nature targets.
“The WWF Earth Summit 2025 demonstrated a clear shift: nature is no longer seen as a cost centre but as essential infrastructure for economic resilience. From supply chain security to carbon markets and disclosure frameworks like the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), it’s evident that integrating nature into business and finance strategies is no longer optional. The depth of discussion across sectors signals strong regional momentum to mainstream nature-positive models and to unlock long-term value.” – Kamal Seth, Climate & Sustainability Director, WWF-Singapore.
The Summit reinforced WWF’s role as a convenor and catalyst for integrated action in the region, reflecting a growing urgency and opportunity to reshape sustainability agendas at every level, from grassroots to boardrooms to government ministries. The participation of WWF offices from Singapore, the US, Australia, Indonesia and International Secretariat offices highlighted the importance of global collaboration in addressing local and regional challenges. Their presence brought together a wide range of expertise, from policy and finance to community-based conservation, demonstrating how WWF connects global priorities with practical action on the ground.
One of the summit’s most forward-looking announcements came from the Southeast Asia Climate and Nature-based Solutions (SCeNe) coalition, of which WWF is a member. The coalition revealed plans to launch an upgraded version of its AI-powered spatial data tool, designed to support carbon project developers and investors in assessing nature-based opportunities across the region. Originally covering just two countries, the new platform will expand to include six Southeast Asian nations and feature 84 data layers, up from 50, integrating environmental, demographic, and land-use indicators. This marks a significant step forward in mainstreaming high-integrity, nature-based solutions, enabling more rigorous and data-driven pre-feasibility assessments for carbon projects. By improving transparency, reducing investment risk and supporting equitable access to high-quality nature data, the tool represents a leap in regional capacity to scale climate and biodiversity action in tandem.
This year’s summit has laid a strong foundation for deeper partnerships, scalable innovation, and collective momentum toward a net-positive future. The discussions and connections formed will continue to inform our work across the region, as we push forward integrated approaches to the twin crisis of climate change and nature loss.
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About WWF-Singapore
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is one of the world’s largest and most respected independent conservation organisations. WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. As one of WWF’s international hubs, WWF-Singapore supports a global network spanning over 100 countries.
WWF-Singapore works closely with local stakeholders towards a greener and more sustainable Singapore and the region around us. We work to address key conservation areas, such as deforestation, illegal wildlife trade, oceans, food security, sustainable finance and sustainable consumption through education and outreach efforts with individuals, businesses and governments. For more information, please visit wwf.sg.
Annex A
Special thanks to:
Venue Partner:
- Marina Bay Sands
Supporting Partners:
- Agoda
- Watsons Singapore
Strategic Partner:
- EuroCham Singapore
Supporting Associations:
- Singapore International Chamber of Commerce
- TiE Singapore
- Singapore National Employers Federation
- Singapore Sustainable Finance Association
- The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS)
- Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS)
- The Marketing Society
- Singapore Green Building Council
- Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF)
- Latin American Chamber of Commerce, Singapore
- The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
- The CMO Council
- Women in Sustainability and Environment (WISE)
- WEConnect International
- CPA Australia
- Sustainability Alliance
