After five intense days of panels, meetings, and strategy sessions, I came home from Climate Week NYC with a renewed sense of hope. Despite early concerns about attendance, this was the biggest Climate Week ever! More than 100,000 people showed up at over 1,000 events across the city, bringing energy, resilience, and commitment to getting climate solutions implemented.
Shifting the Conversation
This year was less about splashy announcements and more about collaboration, partnerships, and getting the work done. The conversation also took on a refreshing new frame—climate not only as an environmental issue, but as an economic opportunity. Sessions focused on the real-world challenges of rising energy demand, the cost of electricity, scaling up promising new technologies, and recognizing nature as a central part of the solution.
The economic benefits of renewable energy were a recurring theme. Despite geopolitical headwinds, the cost of renewables keeps falling, making them not just the cleanest but the cheapest energy source worldwide. With electricity demand rising—driven by AI, data centers, and the electrification of transport and buildings—the urgency to procure low-cost, clean power quickly and efficiently was front and center.
Equally encouraging was the optimism from companies across all sectors. While few announced new targets, they were also not shying away from existing commitments. From finance to manufacturing, businesses were investing in the hard work of implementation and signaling that they understood climate risk by embedding resilience and sustainability into their value chains.
Nature: From “Nice-to-Have” to Non-Negotiable
As I shared in my pre-Climate Week story, the most promising conversations were about nature. Protecting and restoring ecosystems is no longer treated as a feel-good add-on—it is now seen as core climate infrastructure. I heard watershed protection described as essential resilience infrastructure, tropical forests and mangroves positioned as frontline carbon removal solutions, regenerative agriculture elevated for its climate and food benefits, and ocean health framed as indispensable to a prosperous, decarbonized future.
Ramping Up Climate Finance
Despite nature’s central role in climate solutions, current finance flows for conservation remain billions below what is needed to meet global targets. WWF was proud to debut our new Nature Finance and Investment (NFI) strategy at the Nature Hub event Nature Needs Us Now: Unlocking Finance for Nature and Climate. The goal is simple but ambitious: accelerate and scale the flow of capital into the world’s most vital natural places by channeling more private and upfront financing into conservation priorities—ensuring resources reach the ground where they make the biggest difference.
Integrating Resilience Efforts
One of the most urgent themes was resilience. Climate impacts are here—stronger storms, floods, fires, and health crises—and we are underprepared. I moderated a panel that brought together leaders from insurance, health care, finance, and consumer industries to examine climate risk. What struck me was the willingness of sectors that rarely collaborate to share data, coordinate strategies, and build cross-cutting approaches to resilience.
This is exactly the kind of integration we need. No single sector can withstand climate disruption on its own. By connecting expertise—from public health to finance—we can better safeguard communities, protect businesses, and strengthen the systems we all rely on.
Time to Act
This Climate Week, cities, states, NGOs, and businesses showed up ready to “do more.” With COP30 fast approaching, national governments must now catch up. Only 52 of 198 countries have submitted updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). That shortfall is unacceptable given the scale of the challenge.
I return to WWF headquarters encouraged by the innovation, determination, and collaboration I witnessed. Headwinds remain strong, and the work ahead is enormous. But if Climate Week taught us anything, it’s that momentum builds when we act together—and that’s what will carry us forward.
