Top 5 Takeaways from ClimateWeekNYC 2024
NY Climate Week is an annual event held in New York City, alongside the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), that brings together leaders from governments, businesses, and civil society to discuss and advance climate action. The event features over 600 different events from conferences, workshops, and networking opportunities focused on different dimensions of climate change work, including policy, finance, technology, and community engagement. The event attracts everyone from world leaders – Joe Biden, to the heads of private companies – Jesper Brodin, CEO of Ingka Group (IKEA) to actors like Leonardo DiCaprio (yes – spotted by our team at Goals House).
This year’s theme was ‘It’s Time’ as the world broke the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise – which is the critical threshold set by the Science Based Target initiative and Paris Agreement.
Climate Week is frequently used to launch new policies, frameworks and research reports. But this year the pace of news and new breakthroughs was notably muted, as uncertainty over the US election continues. That said here are some notable announcements:
1.Policy Updates:
Governors’ Climate-Ready Workforce Initiative: This new effort, launched by U.S. Climate Alliance governors and Biden-Harris leadership, aims to grow career pathways in climate and clean energy fields, while also strengthening workforce diversity. The goal is to have 1 million apprentices trained in cleantech by 2035.
Environmental Justice Climate Corps - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and AmeriCorps announced a new Environmental Justice Climate Corps, which will deploy over 250 members to assist community-based organizations in environmental justice communities.
California ratifies Textile Recovery Act SB 707 - The Circular Economy received a significant boost as California becomes the first state in the country to implement an extended producer responsibility for textile waste. The bill aims to reduce textile landfill waste by promoting upcycling and recycling initiatives across California. CalRecycle will oversee the bill’s implementation of the bill, with regulations expected to be in place by 2028.
California signs Climate Disclosure Bill SB219 into law - The new SB219 consolidates bills SB253 and SB261. SB253 mandates that all large corporations with revenues over $1 billion doing business in California report on Scopes 1, 2 and 3. SB261 requires corporations with revenues over $500 million to publish a reports on their climate risk and mitigation actions. Under SB 210, Scope 1 and 2 reporting will begin in 2026 (for FY 2025) with limited assurance until 2030, transitioning to reasonable assurance thereafter. Scope 3 reporting will start in 2027, with limited assurance required by 2030.
2.New Frameworks:
Just as the Taskforce for Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) is officially sunsetted within the IFRS, the concept of mapping the impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities as part of investor due diligence has now been extended to both Nature & Biodiversity (TNFD)and, as of this week, social responsibility. The Taskforce on Inequality and Social-Related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) aims to incentivize business and investors to create fairer and stronger economies. View the 30 minute launch webinar here.
3.GHG Accounting & Measurement Updates:
GHG Accounting Upgrades -As regulation for reporting GHG grows there’s more pressure than ever that the standards for accounting are robust and that the right data is accessible for measurement. Two key developments this week The GHG Protocol, the accounting standard for carbon, announced new technical working groups to review and enhance Scope 1, Scope 2 and 3 standards. Meanwhile the latest Land Sector & Removals Guidance remains in review following public consultation and is slated for launch in Q1 2025.
GHG Data Transparency - In addition, CDP announced a partnership with the Net Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU) to make reporting companies GHG Scope 1, 2 and 3 data publicly available in a free to use database. This could help companies trying to map their Scope 3 through greater access to their supplier emissions through a central and publicly available database. However, a quick review of the tool revealed only a few companies per sector are reporting to CDP and making their data available. The real benefits of this partnership with further growth in CDP reporting and those that report making their disclosure public.
4.Research Reports:
It is good business to be a good business. The WEF Alliance of CEO Leaders pubished a report this week that shows a 10% emission reduction while growing revenue by 18% (2019-2022). Check out more here.
Shaping Consumption for Good. The Purpose Disruptors published a case study of how Ad Shops M&C Saatchi and OLIVER are tackling Serviced Emissions, the emissions related to the consumption driven by advertising spend by clients. Check out more here.
Survival of the Fittest - From ESG to Competitive Sustainability. Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership highlights the inevitable market failure of ESG within our existing paradigm and suggests that it’s still possible for us to change the story, but only if we are ready to change both our mindsets and the market. Read more here
Stakeholder Engagement that doesn’t suck - So much of materiality analysis is a tired old echo chamber that leads to more of the same old strategy. Forging new paths requires that we ask new questions, and better yet, find different people to ask those questions. Qb Consulting shares work they did with Verizon to help them understand the real role tech could play in climate resilience and adaptation. Read more here
5.Final Thoughts:
Working in a climate is like working for a business that’s in perpetual decline. Each year, we breach new thresholds; this year scientists claimed we exceeded yet another planetary boundary, bringing the total from seven to nine. Additionally, NASA officially declared Summer 2024 the hottest on record.
The true value of attending events like these lies in the strength and energy they provide to continue our work. For us, it was the people we met - both old friends and new acquaintances. These conversations offer fresh perspectives on the world and our influence to shape it for the better. Such encounters can shift ideas and inspire us to keep giving our all, despite the challenges.
Regulatory measurement is needed but not the full story - The climate crisis needs consistent frameworks of carbon measurement, and it’s great that the California SB219 on disclosure and the EU CSRD have succeeded in making it mandatory but…real action on climate needs more than compliance. How do we wrestle carbon management back from the accountants and ensure R&D and marketing teams remain at the table? Because we desperately need more innovation and we need more advocacy from business to help shape a world in which we can all thrive. Futerra’s Solution House said they wanted Answers Only but then raised important questions. How can we encourage climate reporting, innovation and advocacy through spheres of influence? Thanks to Solitaire Townsend, Kaya Axelsson and Chante Harris for a thought-provoking session. Read more here
The best insights are not on the main stages and far from the usual suspects - If you are coming to Climate Week to learn and find solutions, avoid the main stages. It can feel like a pay-to-play exercise in sharing corporate pilot projects that might never scale, while business as usual continues unabated. Instead, conversations at places like Regen House, were refreshing in their honesty and were places of true collaboration on the tough to solve problems we all face in our day jobs.
Lead with the heart - The most profound takeaway for us came from a conversation with @Jeremiah Julius of the Lummi Nation at the Sierra Club salon who said ‘We are not above rocks, nature, land and sea. We are below. Because they give us the gift of life’. And, until we change in our hearts, nothing is going to change.
Wise words that helped us return to work recharged and ready for another year of climate action.
* Presentations on Demand:
The irony of burning fossil fuels to fly in and talk about reducing fossil fuel dependencies is not lost on Climate Week’s critics. Most events are recorded to allow greater access - and to allow those of us that wanted to be in more than one place at the same time. Here are some relevant links:
Climateweeknyc.org Official convenor of Climate Week events, the Climate Week NYC sessions feature a combination of public and private sectors leaders.
SolutionsHouse Futerra’s online space for social justice, climate action and sustainability. 2023 Sessions live, 2024 coming soon.
Nest Climate Campus. The Nest Climate Campus, the official event partner of Climate Week NYC, is a climate action platform mobilizing climate-committed doers and thinkers from leading companies, NGOs, government, academia, and the community-at-large. 2024 sessions coming soon.
