Event information
Missed out on securing your place at our upcoming Green Summit Finland? Don’t worry, although our event is now at capacity, our event sponsor Castren & Snellman, will be hosting an online link for individuals to attend online.
Link: Login (reloadmedia.fi)
Agenda
3.30pm – 4.00pm Arrival and Registration
4.00pm – 4.10pm Welcome Address and Opening Remarks
4.10pm – 5.00pm The evolving role of the general counsel and corporate legal teams
- Nora Steiner-Forsberg, general counsel, Fortum
- Christian Ståhlberg, general counsel, Neste
- Taru Uotila, general counsel, Aspo
- Chair: Anna Kuusniemi-Laine
5.00pm – 5.15pm Coffee Break
5.15pm – 6.05pm Current trends in sustainable finance– Financing the net zero transition
- Juho Maalahti, country lead sustainable finance advisory, Nordea Bank
- Antti Malava, head of sustainability insights & analytics, Danske Bank
- Vilppu Tarvainen, head of DCM Finland & Baltics, SEB
- Chair: Minna Korhonen
6.05pm – 6.10pm Closing Remarks
6.10pm – 7.00pm Networking Drinks
Speakers
Anna Kuusniemi-Laine, partner, head of sustainability, Castrén & Snellman
Anna Kuusniemi-Laine oversees and develops Castrén & Snellman’s sustainability work. Driven by a strong personal interest in sustainability, her mission is to help lawyers make corporate responsibility an integral part of their work. She believes lawyers have great potential to make a positive impact in society and that they have an important role to play in the transition to a green economy. Anna is known as a first-generation EU law expert in Finland and as a specialist in public procurement, state aid and competition law, and she has long promoted sustainability in her fields of expertise. Anna is also a founding member of the Finnish Corporate Responsibility Law Association. She was appointed Castrén & Snellman’s head of sustainability in 2019.
Minna Korhonen, partner, Castrén & Snellman
Minna Korhonen advises financial institutions, investors and borrowers in a wide range of domestic and cross-border transactions, including acquisition and other leveraged finance and real estate finance transactions as well as corporate lending and refinancing and sustainable finance. Sustainable finance plays a key role in mitigating climate change, as achieving the international climate targets will require allocating funds into environmentally friendly initiatives. By supporting our clients in their sustainable financing arrangements, we contribute to accelerating the green transition and sustainable development.
Nora Steiner-Forsberg, general counsel, Fortum
Nora Steiner-Forsberg is EVP Legal, Group General Counsel of Fortum, a leading Nordic clean energy company with a purpose to power a world where people, businesses and nature thrive together. As one of the cleanest energy producers in Europe, Fortum nestles sustainability at the very core of its strategy. The company’s target is to be carbon neutral by 2030 and to create no net loss of biodiversity from existing and new operations from 2030 onwards.
Nora joined Fortum in 2011 and has over the years led, for example, the Group’s competition and trading law matters and headed the legal unit of Fortum’s Generation Division comprising Nordic nuclear, hydro power and trading businesses. She was appointed member of the Fortum’s Leadership Team and secretary of the Board of Directors in 2021. Nora has a Master of Laws degree from the Helsinki University and a Master of European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.
Christian Ståhlberg, general counsel, Neste
Christian Ståhlberg serves as of 2017 as General Counsel, member of the Executive Committee and Secretary to the Board and Audit Committee of Neste Corporation. Neste’s transformation journey from a regional oil refinery to becoming a global leader in renewable and circular solutions has for example put Neste on Harvard Business Review’s list of the 20 most transformative companies of the last decade globally. Christian also serves as a member of the Board and Personnel and Responsibility Committee of Olvi Plc, a listed brewery and soft drinks company.
Taru Uotila, general counsel, Aspo
Taru Uotila (Master of Law Helsinki University, LL.M European Law, College of Europe, Bruges) is senior vice president and general counsel of Aspo Group. Taru is responsible for legal affairs, sustainability and HR and is a member of Aspo’s Group Executive committee.
She started in her position on 2 January 2023. Ms Uotila previously Uotila worked as VR Group’s general counsel from 2017 to 2022 and as a member of VR Group’s management team from 2019 to 2022.
In VR Group’s management team, Uotila was responsible for legal, regulatory and sustainability matters.
Prior to VR Group, Uotila worked in various positions in business law at law firms, Fortum and GE Healthcare.
Juho Maalahti, country lead sustainable finance advisory, Nordea Bank
Juho is among the pioneers of sustainability linked loans in the Nordics, having structured some of the first sustainability linked loans in the region. He has previously headed the sustainable loan franchise at Nordea’s investment banking platform and has actively developed the Nordic SLL marketsince its inception.
Juho has also been establishing Nordea’s green lending approach at the time when the Nordic green loan and bond markets took off. He has been building and advising on Nordea’s internal sustainability-related loan origination and funding processes, and has also advised a vast number of large Nordic companies in their use of proceeds and sustainability linked bank and capital market financing.
He is a member and contributor to various working groups on sustainable finance, and has been part of the former TEG’s EU GBS work. Currently he heads Nordea’s sustainable finance advisory services in Finland.
Antti Malava, head of sustainability insights & analytics, Danske Bank
Antti Malava is a sustainable finance professional. He is heading responsible investment research & analytics at Danske Bank Asset Management. He oversees development of proprietary analytical tools and ESG related investment research, as well as facilitating implementation of various commitments such as net zero in investments. In addition, he is head of responsible investments at Danske Bank Finland. Antti is also a board member in Finland’s Sustainable Investment Forum (Finsif). Antti holds MSc in engineering physicals and has overall more than 15 years of experience from various roles in financial industry.
Vilppu Tarvainen, head of DCM Finland & Baltics, SEB
Vilppu leads SEB’s DCM business in Finland and the Baltic region, with a focus on corporate customers and IG and HY products. He has a ten-year experience of global debt markets. Before joining SEB in 2020, he worked at an international investment bank in London.
