Interview Series: Sebastian Davila

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Welcome to the Green Digest Interview Series, our weekly feature showcasing conversations with the industry’s leading voices - CSOs, sustainability directors, and other senior professionals shaping the sustainability landscape. Each edition dives into their professional journeys, hands-on insights, and outlook on the challenges and opportunities defining corporate sustainability.

These interviews are designed to be quick, insightful reads, offering you actionable takeaways and a personal glimpse into the people leading the way. Stay tuned for stories, strategies, and lessons that matter to you.

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PROFILE

This week’s guest:

Sebastian Davila

Sustainability and Climate Strategy Expert, and Ecosystem Partner at KanataQ

Sebastian Davila is a sustainability leader with over 18 years of experience spanning consulting, banking, and climate technology across seven countries. Recently, he worked for Scotiabank, Canada’s fourth-largest bank, where he held several roles, including Director of Climate Change & Sustainability, and also at EY as Strategy Manager, providing strategic advice across multiple industries. His expertise covers sustainable finance, reporting, product development, just transition, and stakeholder engagement with regulators and institutional investors.

Today, Sebastian focuses on the intersection of social impact, sustainability, and technology, particularly how AI can be leveraged to advance climate action and support vulnerable communities. The son of Colombian conservation pioneers who have safeguarded hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, Sebastian combines a deep family legacy in environmental protection with a forward-looking approach to sustainability innovation through his current work in the sustainability solutions space at KanataQ.

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You’ve been working at the intersection of sustainability and finance for over two decades. How have corporate sustainability and climate action evolved during this time, both for better and for worse?

It is important to understand that climate action has been around for more than 30+ years, only after the Paris agreement do we see corporates starting to talk about climate and sustainability. In my 18+ years spanning consulting, banking, and now sustainability solutions, I've witnessed a remarkable transformation. When I started at EY in 2015, sustainability was often a separate CSR department. By the time I was presenting climate strategies to regulators and institutional investors, sustainability had moved into the C-suite and boardrooms.

For better: I've seen corporations genuinely integrate climate risk into their core strategy. In my previous role we deployed billions of dollars in sustainable finance across multiple sectors in Latin America, and I watched clients go from asking 'Do we need to do this?' to 'How fast can we implement?' The shift from compliance to competitive advantage has been striking.

For worse: I've also seen sophisticated greenwashing. Companies make bold net-zero announcements while their actual business models remain unchanged. Having worked with multiple clients, I can tell when a company has done the hard work versus when they've hired a good PR firm. 

The question for every business leader reading is: when you look at your company’s sustainability strategy, are you building competitive advantage or just checking a compliance box?

Across your roles in consulting, policy, banking and climate-tech, where do you feel your work has had the most tangible influence on advancing sustainability or climate action?

Impact comes from both legacy and innovation. My parents started protecting endangered Colombian ecosystems in 1990, and what began as a small family project now safeguards hundreds of thousands of hectares. I continue this work because some impacts transcend careers.

Professionally, my most significant influence came through engaging with regulators and institutional investors to present and educate them on sustainability and climate strategy, as well as talking to clients to help them fund real impact projects. Seeing how they linked business strategy with the sustainability content I was presenting to them was very rewarding.

Now at KanataQ, I'm approaching impact differently. The sustainability solutions space operates at the speed and scale we desperately need. While banking moves mountains slowly, tech can transform industries much faster. Also, to see the range of solutions developed by entrepreneurs is incredible and it fills me with energy and drive.

But here's what I've learned: everyone can create impact. Whether you're a big four consultant delivering efficiency improvements that reduce carbon footprints, or a banker structuring green bonds, or someone starting a community garden, the key is choosing your arena and committing fully. Small actions compound into transformational change when they're sustained and strategic.

Sustainable finance commitments often sound impressive - billions mobilized, targets announced, etc. But how much of that is genuinely transformational versus reclassified business as usual?

This is an interesting question. I think both are true at the same time. There is increasing demand for labeled products that are driving real change across some industries and banks are capitalizing on this opportunity.  Banks are developing sustainable finance capabilities and expert knowledge to provide relevant advice and products to clients. They have mobilized billions to support industries in their transition to a lower carbon economy and have been very successful at it. But also, there are many deals labeled as “green” that were business as usual with better marketing, and many banks have not stopped lending to traditionally high carbon emitting industries. 

Many banks are now working on their energy supply ratios, the real question is whether this ratio will genuinely drive change in their lending, or would it just be a reporting exercise? Personally, I have met very committed and dedicated bankers and Sr Leaders to driving sustainability within the organizations they work at and this to me is a very positive sign of how banks are slowly trying to integrate sustainability into their strategy.

You’ve also spent much of your career driving sustainability initiatives across Latin America. What makes this region distinct in terms of both opportunities and barriers for advancing sustainable finance and climate action?

While contributing only 10% of cumulative global GHG emissions, LAC is the second most exposed region to climate impacts due to its geographic, climatic, socioeconomic, and demographic characteristics. The region faces complex structural challenges of socioeconomic vulnerability that amplify sensitivity to climate impacts. Being the world's most unequal region, climate change could push 2.4 to 5.8 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean into extreme poverty by 2030, worsening existing vulnerabilities.

In terms of opportunities there are many. Blended finance structures to drive climate and social aspects are essential to further bring capital to the region. Another opportunity is leveraging the regulatory frameworks across the region, including multiple taxonomies to better allocate capital where it can really make a difference. The other one is nature financing. Latin America is blessed with amongst many natural richness the amazon forest. We need to protect it and the people who live in it. This is essential to ensure temperature regulation around the world.   

In terms of barriers, I see the lack of robust sustainability regulations as a significant obstacle to driving capital as well as political instability disrupting long term climate planning. 

Looking back at your career, what experiences most shaped your understanding of how change happens within complex institutions - and what’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned trying to push sustainability inside large, traditional ones?

When I was in banking, I spent three years implementing climate strategy across international subsidiaries, and it taught me a lot about institutional change. Leading subsidiaries sustainability reporting meant coordinating with risk teams, legal departments, product groups, banking teams and headquarters. Talk about complexity.

Here's what I learned: change happens in cycles, not straight lines. I'd present climate strategy to senior executives and get enthusiastic buy-in, then spend months navigating the practical implementation through various departments. The breakthrough came when I was able to link sustainability to their existing business strategy, metrics and vision, suddenly, sustainability became everyone's job, not just mine.

My key lessons from mobilizing capital in sustainable financing and engaging with regulators and institutional investors: First, speak their language: link sustainability to their business. Second, celebrate small wins - every green bond issuance and training to a new team-built momentum for larger commitments. Third, build redundant alliances - in large organizations, people move constantly, so you need champions at every level.

The hardest lesson? Persistence beats perfection. Change takes longer than planned, but it compounds faster than expected once it reaches critical mass.

Whether you're trying to green your company's supply chain or convince your local government to invest in renewable energy, remember: the person who outlasts the resistance often outlasts the resistance itself.

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