Leveraging Credible Sustainability Systems for Resilient Investments

Alistair Monument joined ISEAL in August this year to support credible and effective sustainability systems through robust practices, multistakeholder engagement and supply chain solutions at a global scale. Alistair leads the Impacts and Innovations Programme, driving impact on climate, biodiversity, livelihoods and human rights while also helping to shape strategy and build global partnerships.

Before, he was WWF International’s Conservation Impact Director in Asia Pacific, supporting regional and national teams to build impactful strategies, partnerships and programmes. He previously served as Global Forest Practice leader for WWF, as the Asia Pacific Director for FSC and was the founding Director of ASI. Alistair has expertise across fields including conservation, forestry, climate, labour rights, land rights, development, standards and certification.

Nate Aden is Head of Asia and Head of Financial Institutions at the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). As a staff member with the World Resources Institute, Nate co-founded the SBTi in 2015. Over the years, he has contributed to the technical development of the initiative including leading standard development for financial institutions and the chemicals sector development. Nate has over 20 years of experience in industry, energy, trade, and climate across China, the U.S., and Europe, and holds a PhD from UC Berkeley, with degrees from Stanford and Cornell.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

• Doubling the number of Hong Kong entities with validated SBTs from the current 90 to 180.
• Linking targets with Hong Kong policies and regulations.
• Defining new business models whereby companies reduce GHG emissions while thriving economically.

Matteo Marinelli is a senior sustainable finance leader with more than twenty years of international experience spanning sustainable finance, impact investing, financial inclusion, ESG strategy, and institution building across Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

He currently serves as Asia Pacific Lead, Sustainable Finance, at WWF International, where he leads the development of innovative finance solutions for nature, climate, and sustainable development, working with governments, financial institutions, development agencies, and private sector partners across the region.

Matteo began his career at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh under the mentorship of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, an experience that shaped his enduring commitment to harnessing finance as a tool for social and environmental impact.
Over the course of his career, Matteo has held leadership roles with organizations including BlueOrchard Finance, Fullerton Financial Holdings (Temasek), MEDA, Banyan Global, WHO and FAO. At BlueOrchard, he established and expanded the firm’s presence across South and Southeast Asia, China, and Mongolia. At Fullerton Financial Holdings, he led strategic initiatives including the launch of Cambodia Post Bank and the development of the group’s market entry strategy in Myanmar.

As Chief Executive Officer of Maha Agriculture Microfinance, Matteo transformed a USD 3 million greenfield initiative into a USD 90 million financial institution focused on serving smallholder farmers and rural communities. Throughout his career, he has been directly involved in the creation and growth of multiple financial institutions and investment platforms across emerging markets.

Between 2021 and 2024, Matteo advised and implemented sustainable finance and inclusive finance initiatives across Africa and Asia, including the establishment of a new financial institution in Ethiopia on behalf of a consortium of Norwegian and Ethiopian investors. He also contributed to FAO’s FISH4ACP programme in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, supporting the development of more resilient and sustainable aquaculture value chains for small-scale producers.

Today, his work focuses on mobilizing public and private capital for conservation, climate, landscape finance, carbon markets, and nature-positive development. He has extensive experience in blended finance, impact investing, rural finance, green finance, and sustainable value-chain development, and regularly engages with senior leaders from governments, multilateral organizations, development finance institutions, and the private sector. Matteo holds a degree in Economics from Bocconi University and has undertaken executive and academic programmes at the London School of Economics (LSE), New York University (NYU), the University of Niigata, the University of California Berkeley, and INSEAD, where he earned an Executive Management Diploma. He is fluent in Italian, English, and Spanish.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

My hope is to see Hong Kong continue to evolve as a leading sustainable finance hub for Asia, with greater flows of private capital into climate and nature solutions, stronger integration of biodiversity into financial decision-making, and a growing role in supporting sustainable development across emerging markets in the region.

Neha has been working on market-based mechanisms that promoting the uptake of sustainably sourced commodities for the last two decades across the Asia Pacific region. Her work has focused on advancing nature-based solutions (NbS) and managing deforestation risk in key commodity value chains like timber, fiber, and rubber, among others. At FSC Neha has been building commodity-focussed platforms that help link demand and supply of FSC certified material from APAC. Neha also represents the organization in strategic market engagements and partnerships. She drives a comprehensive range of value-chain-related programs that build FSC as a trusted forest solution and market tool in the region.

Neha has lived, studied and worked in India, Bangladesh, Singapore and is currently based in Hong Kong.

My Sustainability Goals for 2026:

I will aim to demonstrate how FSC continues to effectively strengthen the business case for responsible sourcing, linking downstream demand to upstream production and supply. I will discuss how businesses can meet stakeholder expectations and address the growing demand for sustainability while remaining competitive in the market, while also effectively restoring, enhancing, and protecting biodiversity through forest certification. Through this session, I also hope to provide an overview of our work with key value chains, including rubber, tropical timber, textiles, and packaging, in the context of the fast-paced Asia-Pacific markets.

Ms. Feifei Teng joined the RSPO in August 2019 and successively served as the Country Representative of China and the market transformation manager. She works with multi-stakeholders in China to improve the awareness and leverage acceptance of sustainable palm oil, and transferring the market towards sustainability in the ways of corporations with stakeholders and various supply chain actors.

Before RSPO, Ms. Feifei served in the sustainability relevant functions in private sectors and international non-profit organisations for over 14 years. She is deeply diving in business sustainability and supply chain’s transparency, and wide knowledge on leveraging green financing tools to engage stakeholders and industry participants in the palm oil sector.

Ms. Feifei Teng has obtained a master’s degree from Fudan University and Melbourne University, and a certificate of completion of the course from MIT.