Scaling What Works: Finance and Tools for Resilience Beyond Pilots
18. June 17:00 - 18:00
Plenary Area
The final plenary closes EURESFO26 by synthesising the Forum’s key insights and translating them into a forward-looking message. Building on what emerged across sessions, it focuses on what cities and regions need to scale in practice: financing and investment models that match real delivery capacity, digital tools that improve risk assessment, early warning and decision-making, and partnerships that connect governance, technology and communities.
The discussion explores where current tools and support still fall short for the scale and complexity of today’s compound and cascading risks, and what distinguishes genuinely useful innovation that can be implemented on a bigger scale beyond pilots. It also addresses the guardrails required to ensure that finance, data and digital approaches remain accountable, inclusive and aligned with public value, especially for small and medium-sized cities facing tight capacity constraints.
Moderated by Natasha Walker, the panel brings together Shtilyana Koppe (ICLEI Europe), Ali Cem Deniz (UNDP Türkiye), Bernd Decker (CINEA / LIFE Programme), Maike Schmidt (New Economics Foundation), and Kit England (Paul Watkiss Associates).
Speakers
Regional Director, ICLEI Europe
Shtilyana Koppe, Regional Director, ICLEI Europe
Shtilyana Koppe is Regional Director at ICLEI Europe. She has background in Finance with a specialty in strategic management. With several years of experience in financial management she combines strong expertise in financial operations and financial mechanisms.
At ICLEI Europe she focuses on strategies and instruments to mobilise public and private funds to secure local transformation of public infrastructure and services in cities towards resilience and sustainability.
She is actively engaging in funding initiatives such as ICLEI Action Fund, supported by Google.org, that drives climate action on local level and resilience planning in cities across Europe.
Project Manager, UNDP Türkiye
Ali Cem Deniz, Project Manager, UNDP TÜrkiye
Mr. Ali Cem Deniz graduated from the Department of Environmental Engineering at Middle East Technical University and received his MSc. in Climate Change, Development and Policy from the University of Sussex. He has worked in climate change projects as a Climate Change Expert, GIS Expert and Project Manager. Between 2020 and 2023, he worked at UNDP Türkiye under the “Enhancing Adaptation Action in Türkiye Project (CCA)”. During 2020-2022, he also worked as a Project Manager at Aqwadem Consulting, contributing to feasibility studies under the FRIT Programme and infrastructure and solid waste projects under the IPA II Programme. He worked as an Environmental Engineer at the Directorate of Climate Change between 2023 and 2025, focusing on climate projections and risk assessments. Since July 2025, he has been working as a Project Manager in the EU Partnership for Local Climate Action in Türkiye Project (LCA) at UNDP Türkiye.
Assistant Researcher, New Economics Foundation
Maike Schmidt, Assistant Researcher, New Economics Foundation
Maike joined the New Economics Foundation in 2025 and works on the macroeconomic policy team, focusing on monetary and fiscal policy change in the European Union. Her research at NEF has concentrated on public and private finance, climate-related fiscal risk, and energy and monetary policy. She has a background in plural macroeconomics and has held multiple research positions focusing on climate policy, the monetary system and public finance.
Master of Ceremony
Owner, Natasha Walker Associates
Natasha Walker, Owner, Natasha Walker Associates
Natasha is an expert on communication, focussing since 1995 on designing and facilitating complex dialogue processes. She enables effective strategy implementation, sustainable change and smart organisational development all over the world (and online!). She designs and facilitates long-term change and large-scale participation processes and is also a leading moderator of exclusive high-level discussions and workshops with and for corporate boards and governments. Natasha advises decision makers and scientific institutions on civic and stakeholder engagement across the globe.
She studied English Literature and Modern Languages (German) at Oxford University and at the University of Göttingen. She lives in Heidelberg with her family and dog.