As investment in renewable energy, critical minerals and other transition infrastructure accelerates, companies and investors increasingly face questions about impacts on land, water, nature and the rights and concerns of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The quality of community engagement can play a decisive role in whether these issues lead to trust, partnership, and resilient projects, or to opposition, delays, disruption and financial loss. This event will examine the growing evidence that community engagement is financially material to investors and companies. Shift will present conclusions from its evidence review on the financial effects of engagement with Indigenous Peoples and local communities in relation to nature-related issues. ImpactARC will then share findings from the investor guide, Sustainable Indigenous Finance: Navigating the Energy Transition, developed in collaboration with First Peoples Worldwide and US SIF, on how investors can navigate such complexities in practice. Following the presentations, a moderated panel will bring together Indigenous, academic, sustainable finance and asset management perspectives. Panelists will explore what the research means in practice, including how companies can build meaningful relationships with affected communities, how investors can assess the quality of engagement, and how these issues should inform due diligence, stewardship, capital allocation and sustainability-related disclosure. The discussion will consider both risk and opportunity. It will examine how inadequate engagement can contribute to conflict and financial loss, as well as how early, inclusive and meaningful engagement can improve decision-making, strengthen project resilience and support more sustainable investment outcomes. Together, the speakers will address a central question: How can investors and companies better understand and act on the financial significance of community engagement as pressures on nature increase and the energy transition accelerates?