Day one of Climate Week NYC kicked off yesterday. 

World leaders and business executives convene in the city for a week of climate-related events, hosted by Climate Group and coinciding with the U.N General Assembly. 

The political atmosphere in the U.S is tense. There’s the looming potential of a return to Trump presidency and what that means for the planet, whilst the democrats reinforce their message that the United States isn’t deserting the climate cause. 

World leaders will meet in public and private forums this week to discuss critical issues that could come up during COP29 negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan. Environmental activists hope national leaders will use the General Assembly to elevate climate issues in their speeches from the U.N. rostrum, which then could increase momentum going into the talks in Azerbaijan.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres framed this week as a pivotal moment to “reboot” multilateralism with the adoption of the Pact for the Future.

The overall theme of the 2024 event is “It’s Time”. With over 900 sessions running in person and via livestream, there will be a lot of noise. 

The Cognito team is on the ground in New York to help navigate you through it. 

Transition Finance Takes Centre Stage 

One of the most hotly debated topics was transition finance—the capital required to help carbon-intensive industries decarbonise.

This conversation has moved from theory to implementation, with financial professionals asking hard questions about risk, timelines, and incentives.

During the “Transition Finance: Unlocking Capital for a Sustainable Future” panel, speakers from major financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock, emphasised the need for a consistent global framework to evaluate transition projects. A highlight was the discussion on green bonds and sustainability-linked loans, with panellists pointing out that these instruments have the potential to grow exponentially if transparency and regulatory alignment improve.

“The success of transition finance will hinge on clear definitions and global cooperation, especially in emerging markets,” remarked one panellist from BNP Paribas.

Facilitating the Energy Transition 

We attended several sessions hosted by Deloitte that focused on the energy transition. These included sessions on: 

• The cyclical nature of the energy transition – how industrial manufacturing, the sourcing of minerals, decarbonising infrastructure, and grid modernisation are inherently linked. 
• The importance and role of talent, reducing capital costs with financing structures that mitigate risk, business models that support societal shifts, and new technologies 
• The role of public-private partnerships in helping to de risk and drive capital investments

We listened to speakers from Commonwealth Fusion, the Clean Air Task Force and Baker Hughes talk about the role out of new technologies including fusion reactors, grid upgrades and carbon capture, utilisation and storage

Nvidia and Siemens presented on the emergence of autonomous power plants and how AI can be used to plan renewable sites around shifts in weather patterns and to help efficiently utilise capacity on national grids.  

We also heard from communications leads at FREYR and Mach2 talk about the importance of communications, community engagement and inclusion when it comes to scaling up battery and hydrogen infrastructure and deployment

Carbon Markets: Standards and Scaling 

Carbon markets remain a contested area of focus for financial professionals. A fireside chat on the potential of voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) discussed how they can provide additional revenue streams for industries while helping to achieve net-zero targets. However, panellists stressed that VCMs are still maturing, with concerns about the quality of carbon credits and the risk of greenwashing.

The role of technology—especially blockchain—for verifying carbon credits was also highlighted as a solution to ensure transparency and traceability in these evolving markets.

At the South-North Carbon Markets Dialogue convened by the ASEAN Alliance on Carbon Markets we listened to governments from ASEAN countries talking about the important role that carbon finance plays in helping these economies grow, while also transitioning rapidly. 

We also heard from the VCMI and IETA on the importance of setting standards in quality and integrity that are ultimately achievable for over 300 million companies in the world. A reminder that while over 4,000 companies have SBTi standards in place, this is a mere drop in the ocean. 

Some have talked about the progress being made by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on guidance for listed voluntary carbon market listed derivatives. We spoke to some organisations who are supportive of this, while others talk about gaps that remain in the guidance. 

Soundbites 

“I’m there to nudge our friends to do more, but also to reassure them that the IRA will not and cannot be repealed,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said. He added that the climate law “puts everybody in a position to support more ambitious” national climate plans at COP29.

“We are hoping for political signals that will give us hope on the road to the COP,” Fernanda Carvalho, head of policy of the climate and energy practice at WWF International, said in a news briefing Tuesday.

“It’s the conversations happening now in capitals around the world, that are about to happen in the U.N. General Assembly, New York Climate Week … these really set the context and the drive for the deal that will take place in COP29,” said Melanie Robinson, director of the global economics and finance program at the World Resources Institute.

“I’m tired of talks, I want to see some action…We have been talking about climate change for 29 years now where are we today? For the first time in one whole year, we have been over 1.5C – that should shake us. I’m not listening now, I want to see some action, real action.” Philip Davis, prime minister of the Bahamas

Useful Articles 

• Bloomberg: Climate Week NYC is Here
• Politico: Trump looms over Climate Week as UN return
• Forbes: A Step Forward? UN Adopts Pact for The Future As Climate Week Begins
• Sustainability Magazine: Climate Week NYC: The Opening Ceremony’s Who, What & Why

Looking Ahead: Day 2 Themes

Day two promises to dive deeper into the challenges and opportunities surrounding climate tech, sustainable infrastructure investment, and the role of institutional investors in driving net-zero ambitions.

Today, world leaders will be under pressure to announce new strategies for tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030 – a goal set at last year’s UN climate summit in Dubai. The president of this year’s COP, Mukhtar Babayev, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are among the leaders expected to give details on the work and cost to reach the target as they address attendees of the Global Renewables Summit at the Plaza Hotel in New York.

Stay tuned for more updates and insights