Every year, over 40,000 people make their way to the Grand Palais for ChangeNow Paris, the world’s largest gathering for solutions to the planet’s biggest problems. In its ninth edition this year, Oliver Dauert, founder of Wildya, was on stage as a moderator.
This year, once again Wildya was there to speak up for nature.
What is ChangeNow?
ChangeNow started in 2017 and has grown into one of the biggest annual summit covering the most pressing challenges facing the planet. Biodiversity, climate, oceans, agriculture, circular economy, every major track where nature needs solutions has a place here.
Over 40,000 people from 140 countries attend this event in Paris. Founders present their work. Investors meet companies worth backing. Scientists share what’s actually happening on the ground.
For anyone building in the nature space, it’s one of the few events where biodiversity isn’t a side track.
Wildya’s three days at ChangeNow Paris
Before the summit started
The summit officially opened on March 30. But for us, ChangeNow Paris started the evening before.
On the 29th, Oliver organised a dinner for founders, ecopreneurs, and people building in the nature space. Two breakfasts followed, on the mornings of the 30th and 31st.
Walking into a 40,000-person event cold is a lot to take on. We know how intimidating it can be. But starting the night before, in a smaller group where conversations can actually go somewhere, changes everything.
You walk in on day one already knowing faces. It’s the difference between arriving at a party alone and arriving with people you’ve already talked to.
Judging biodiversity pitches at ChangeNow Paris
Oliver also sat on a jury for biodiversity pitch sessions during the summit. Early-stage startups presented their work and received live feedback from practitioners and investors on stage.
Nature ventures, pitching in front of a room that actually speaks the language. That matters.
Oliver at ChangeNow 2026: Making Nature Protection Sexy
On March 30, Oliver took to the stage to moderate a session called Making Nature Protection Sexy.
He opened with the question that drove the whole hour: could we be the first generation in human history to experience more nature at the end of our lives than when we were born?
We spend 50 times more destroying nature than restoring it. The people on the wrong side of that equation are spending a lot. But they also don’t need to spend much for us to throw a better party, we just need to start.
The session was built around that question: how do you make protecting nature something people actually want to be part of?
Five speakers showed what that looks like from where they’re standing.
One has made nature an official Spotify artist, with royalties going straight to frontline conservation. Another runs a natural capital portfolio and argues that pricing nature is the only way it shows up in economic decisions.
A third is decoding animal communication with AI. One made a film about natural soundscapes, 73% of which can no longer be recorded because the animals are gone. And one built an annual gala designed to make investing in nature feel like the cultural moment of the year.
Watch the replay of this session!
What ChangeNow Paris 2026 left us thinking about
ChangeNow is one of those events where the problem isn’t a lack of solutions. The gap is speed and money, and how fast those solutions reach the people who can make a real difference.
Wildya was in that room at ChangeNow Paris this year, and we’ll be back. See you next year!
If you want to stay close to what’s being built at the edge of nature and business and how to build or scale your own nature venture, The Impact Millionaire newsletter is where we put it every week.
