Summary 

Climate Week NYC draws to a close. 

It marked a milestone on the World Climate Foundation’s 2024 Roadmap to COP29 in Baku, and even COP30 in Belem,  argued to be the more significant Conference of the Parties. 

Yesterday, closing the climate finance gap was a central theme. Attention was on action – how can we close the gap, quickly? 

Suggested actions included scaling public-private partnerships, particularly through initiatives like the Climate Investment Coalition. Experts highlighted the need for stronger financial instruments to accelerate capital flows toward climate projects in emerging markets. 

We attended a session on transition finance, highlighting how the UK can leverage its existing strengths to become the best place in the world to establish a global transition finance market that can fund economy-wide transitions to net zero.

The overwhelming consensus on day four was that policymakers must collaborate more deeply with private investors to create incentives that mobilise significant climate investments. 

International Cross-Sector Collaboration Imperative

Closing the climate finance gap will require decisive policy interventions, multigenerational and cross-sector leadership, and clear demand signals from the private sector to influence policymakers. 

This will be the focus of COP29 in Baku, where efforts are underway to set a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, specifically aimed at supporting emerging and developing markets.

Several discussions revolved around integrating climate finance with global megatrends, particularly through forums like the G20 and Davos. 

Financial leaders noted that climate finance should be at the centre of global economic strategies, aligning with broader shifts in sustainable growth and decarbonisation efforts. There were calls to bridge the gap between policymakers and the private sector to ensure that financial solutions are linked to broader global agendas​. 

Risk Insurance and Resilience 

We attended a roundtable with EY on greenwashing, which examined “sustainability risk” broadly, identifying the specific disclosure, operational and greenwashing risks that companies are encountering. 

The takeaway was that due to the reporting and disclosure rules companies are now facing, greenwashing risk is a real danger for companies to contend with. Tacking it requires a holistic approach bringing all  stakeholders together who are responsible for climate disclosure and regulations. This includes c-suite, procurement, legal, communications and marketing, finance and product-focused roles. 

We heard about the role that AI can play in helping companies identify greenwashing risks in public-facing materials. 

A panel discussed how to help companies move forward against a backdrop of greenwashing concerns – including a principles based approach, the importance of good governance, honesty and truth.

We attended a fixed income session at the New York Stock Exchange on pricing climate risk. Audience poll showed no one thinks climate and nature risk is priced in but the panel seemed more confident things are slowly changing.It comes down to financial materiality to financial markets. But insurance markets have acted as a mitigant, as has diversification. 

Experts from global insurers and financial institutions emphasised the need to quantify physical and transitional risks to build more resilient portfolios. The conversation also touched on the growing demand for sustainability reporting and how financial professionals can utilise climate risk data to drive investment decisions​. 

Transformative power of Climate Tech

One of the standout sessions yesterday for financial professionals focused on the potential of AI and climate tech to revolutionise sustainable finance. 

Speakers advocated for breaking down regulatory and technical barriers to enable greater investment in these technologies. They highlighted the intersection of fintech and climate solutions, suggesting a future where advanced AI tools drive both impact assessments and risk management for sustainable projects​

Climate tech entrepreneurs, Marissa Beatty and Apoorv Sinha spoke at NYU along with Dan Goldman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Clean Energy Ventures. They spoke about the role of venture capital funding in the transition, and how policy can support innovative new businesses.

For clean tech, Climate Week was a stock-taking moment of what’s next for the industry. “Dropping interest rates, a coin-toss presidential election and a decline in funding for the next wave of carbon-cutting technologies are all weighing on the minds of startup founders and venture capitalists” – Bloomberg. 

Soundbites 

“With a diversity of brilliant speakers and a high-profile venue during Climate Week NYC, we were able to emphasise the importance of engaging the leadership, knowledge, and innovations of Arctic peoples in strategic climate collaborations”, said Melody Brown Burkins, Director of the Institute of Arctic Studies. “Each of these dialogues, followed by informed, inclusive climate action, brings us closer to a more secure, more resilient, more equitable future for the Arctic and our planet.”

“One of the challenges that we need to overcome is the global south mindset that we did not cause this global problem of climate change. It is a challenge to overcome that mindset because that leads to inaction or a passive mindset. But we think different,” said Eric Francia, President and CEO of ACEN. “We rise to the challenge, thanks to transition credits. We believe that this is a huge opportunity to show the world that it can be done.”

“There’s a real sense of reality, I think. But there’s also a worry that, because we’re so off track with our decarbonisation pathways and we have climate and weather events causing great difficulties, we’ve got to move and try things. We’ve got to take risks and be prepared to fail… and learn from that process. “We’re very bad at accepting failure in this space. This was always a problem in government – you could do something and have it go wrong because you were so highly criticised.” Claire Perry O’Neill, the UK’s former Minister for Energy and Clean Growth. 

Useful Articles/ Sources  

• Bloomberg: Clean Tech Prepares for Turbulence 
• Sustainable Views: In Brief: Highlights from Climate Week NYC and Labour party conference
• Sustainable Views: UK Government to consult on voluntary carbon and nature markets 
• Smart Energy International: NYC Climate Week: Energy Financing in the Buildup to COP 29

Looking Ahead: Day 5 Themes

Climate Week NYC is tapering off, with many departing from the Big Apple today. 

That said, there are some important events on the agenda for today including the World Biodiversity Summit and Resilience Hub this morning and the Circular Supply Chain Coalition and GRP Challenge Funds this afternoon. 

In wider news, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy is set to meet Donald Trump in New York today despite Republican backlash to his lobbying efforts in the US this week.

Stay tuned for more updates and insights!