Nature, Risk, and Dependency: Setting the Systemic Context (Session 1 in a 4-part series)

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Dear IFB Global Family,

On Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 09:00 a.m. EST-New York, as part of our ongoing Nature based Solutions programming, we are kicking off a 4-part series on Making Complexity Investable: The Plastics Transition as a Systemic Case. This initial session, Nature, Risk, and Dependency: Setting the Systemic Context, reframes the plastics challenge from a downstream clean-up exercise to a system-design question and is led by Joseph Naayem from Kalmus Capital and Hari Balasubramanian from EcoAdvisors.

Plastics have become one of the most visible symbols of environmental failure, yet most responses still focus on managing the consequences rather than redesigning the system that produces them. Recycling rates remain stubbornly low, waste continues to leak into ecosystems, and new materials struggle to scale, despite growing awareness, capital, and innovation. The uncomfortable truth is that many proposed solutions leave the upstream raw material system largely unchanged, locking in the same cost structures, dependencies, and incentives that created the problem in the first place.

This session explores what changes when we start with the outcome we want to achieve and work backwards through materials, supply chains, and economic constraints. In doing so, the conversation shifts from viewing the ocean solely as a victim of plastic pollution to understanding its potential role as productive infrastructure in a transition that is increasingly shaped by regulation, supply-chain pressure, and industrial economics.

As regulatory and input-cost pressures accelerate, the plastics system is approaching an inflection point. Fragmented responses will remain uneconomic; aligned transitions toward common upstream solutions can tip the system toward inevitability.

Core Themes & Questions:

• How does shifting the plastics transition upstream, toward raw materials and feedstocks, change where risk and value sit for investors?

• How does reframing the ocean from a victim of pollution to productive infrastructure reshape viable transition pathways?

• How does starting from system-level transition logic, rather than deal flow, change how impact investment strategies are designed and executed?

• Where do coordination gaps across supply, processing, and offtake prevent scale, and how can investors help unlock these constraints beyond providing capital?

• Where does the plastics transition create persistent mispricing, and how can system-level approaches translate that into durable, risk-adjusted returns?

Who Should Attend?

This session is designed for investors, family offices, and ecosystem builders who recognise that plastics is not just an environmental issue, but a system-design and capital-allocation challenge. It will be particularly relevant for participants with exposure to operating companies, supply chains, or regulated industries who face increasing pressure to respond to plastics transition risks but cannot act in isolation. The discussion is intended for those interested in how coordination, not just capital, determines whether large-scale transitions succeed.

Takeaways:

• A reframed understanding of plastics as a system problem, not a collection of isolated opportunities.

• A clearer lens on why upstream material choices and portfolio design drive both risk and returns.

• New mental models for engaging with complexity, coordination, and value creation in system-level transitions.

We look forward to your participation.

Keyvan & The IFB Global Family

Zoom Link