IoD & Chapter Zero NZ 2025 Climate Governance Forum

Overview 

Directors across every sector – from listed companies and financial services, to agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, tourism, and not-for-profits – are facing growing expectations and obligations around climate change governance. Navigating this landscape requires clarity, confidence, and strategic foresight. From new regulatory frameworks and mandatory disclosures to shifting stakeholder demands, climate governance is now central to long-term sustainability, profitability, and reputation.

Why should you attend? 
The IoD & Chapter Zero NZ 2025 Climate Forum will help you; 

  • Clarify your evolving governance responsibilities related to climate across multiple sectors.

  • Take away practical strategies for complying with mandatory climate disclosures and upcoming regulations.

  • Learn how your peers from diverse sectors have successfully navigated climate challenges.

  • Discover strategic opportunities for innovation and long-term value creation.

  • Engage directly with key regulators, investors, community leaders, and climate governance experts shaping New Zealand’s response.

This event also provides a great chance to network with other directors who are dealing with similar climate-related opportunities and challenges.    

Registrations are limited, so secure your place today and join us on Monday 28 July 2025.

The forum programme and full speaker line-up will be announced soon.

Speakers

Gerri Ward MInstD

Gerri is the Principal Consultant at Oxygen Consulting. She is a sustainability and climate change specialist with 18+ years’ experience in sustainability leadership.

In her time at Oxygen, she has led engagements with Christchurch City Holdings Ltd, Freightways, the Institute of Directors, Ecocentral, Trust Horizon, the Centre for Strategic Philanthropy, Zespri, Lyttelton Port, and CityCare. She currently works with the Boards of many high-profile New Zealand organisations (including the IoD itself) in delivering board training on climate change impacts, reporting requirements, and transition planning.

Gerri is a well-known thought leader through her regular LinkedIn articles, and her interview series’ with sustainability thought leaders and young entrepreneurs and innovators. She has spoken frequently at the Climate Change Business Conference, and at the SBN Conference, the Net Zero Summit, the CFO Summit and various industry conferences.

Gerri is a member of the Institute of Directors NZ, and has previously held Board roles with the Sustainable Business Network, and as Vice-Chair of the Sustainable Business Council.

Mike Casey

Mike Casey is an entrepreneur and cherry orchardist from Central Otago who has electrified all the machines on his farm and demonstrated how the transition away from diesel can save farmers tens of thousands each year and significantly reduce emissions. He is also the CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, a New Zealand charity dedicated to electrifying millions of fossil fuel machines across the motu as quickly as possible. Rewiring Aotearoa’s Electric Homes report proved New Zealand had reached the electrification tipping point, where electric appliances and vehicles were cheaper than their fossil fuel equivalents over their lifetime, even with upfront costs and finance built in. The Electric Farms paper proved there are similar benefits for the rural sector if we can turn farms into power plants. It showed New Zealand’s farmers could reduce their operational costs by going electric and generating a lot of their own electricity through mid-scale solar and battery systems - and they can also make money by feeding electricity back into the grid at times of high demand. “Whether in the home or on the farm, electrification is a real win-win. It’s not just the right environmental decision anymore, it’s the right economic decision. It’s a no-brainer. We just have to figure out how to make it easy.”


Kirsten (KP) Patterson MNZM CMInstD

Kirsten Patterson MNZM (known as KP) is the Chief Executive of the Institute of Directors and is a Chartered Member of the IoD. In 2025 she was awarded the New Zealand Royal Honour, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to governance and women.  She is a qualified lawyer and a Distinguished Fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, Chair of the Global Network of Directors Institutes (GNDI), and a member of the New Zealand External Reporting Advisory Panel (XRAP). She serves on the Boards of the mental health charity, Voices of Hope, is Chair of the Brian Picot Ethical Leadership Advisory Board at Victoria University in Wellington and an Ambassador for the Wellington Women’s Homeless Trust.   

A strong advocate of diversity, KP is a member of Global Women New Zealand and was one of the founding members of Global Women’s ‘Champions for Change’, a group of senior executives and directors who commit to diversity in the workplace. KP was the founder and is Executive Sponsor for Chapter Zero New Zealand – the New Zealand Chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative - hosted by the IoD NZ to mobilise, connect, educate and equip directors and boards to make climate-smart governance decisions, thereby creating long term value for both shareholders and stakeholders.  

Additional information

Contact

Kristyn Chandler-Yates
National Sponsorship and Events Manager
+64 27 207 2592
Kristyn.Chandler-Yates@iod.org.nz

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