The Climate Group, United Nations (UN), and the City of New York (NYC), held the 16th edition of Climate Week NYC from the 22nd-29th of September 2024. This annual event brought together delegates from various fields to address the global climate emergency.
From student protests and interruptions to key announcements and collaborative actions – the much-awaited Week saw it all.
- Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced a campaign to encourage 1 million Californians to take actions to help combat climate change.
- A report by Climate Group and Ramboll revealed that ~50% of global businesses were prepared to pay a premium for lower emission steel and concrete, i.e., support sustainable materials.
- The Climate Crisis Advisory Group’s report recommended the widening of climate targets to include Greenhouse Gas (GHG) atmospheric levels and for governments to urgently commit to ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- There was a call for The Global To-Do List – 7 climate actions across key sectors. Some of these included powering down coal and tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030; banning relining of coal-based steel furnaces; reducing methane (CH4) emissions; and making buildings more energy efficient.
- ACEN joined >100 international organizations in supporting the Global Renewables Alliance’s open letter to world leaders, urging them to set ambitious, specific and actionable targets to meet the world’s 1.5°C target.
- UN-backed Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the Clean Air Task Force launched a Fossil Fuel Regulatory Programme, to support low and middle-income governments to reduce emissions from their oil, gas and coal sectors.
- International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) stated that annual investment in renewable capacity must more than double to $1,550 billion annually to achieve the target of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030.
- Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU) and CDP announced a collaboration to make key climate data from >10,000 companies publicly available.
- Members of the Utilities for Net Zero Alliance (UNEZA) committed to spending >$116 billion a year on clean power generation and grid infrastructure, but stated that reforms within the supply chain in particular were needed.
- To triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, 14 financial institutions (including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) backed nuclear energy financing.
- C40 mayors, regional and subnational leaders urged greater action on fossil fuels, and a coalition of U.S. green banks launched a national partnership focused on accelerating the clean energy transition.
- Frontier (supported by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, and JPMorgan) announced an agreement with CarbonRun for river liming CO2 removal worth $25 million. In addition, Climeworks, signed British Airways (BA) as its third airline customer along with Swiss and Lufthansa Group.
- To build its momentum for COP29, the first ever Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) Day was held with an aim to grant the private sector-led carbon market more validity.
Substantial steps were also undertaken by nations to address the global climate crisis. This was critically important given that C40 data predicted severe water shortages and floods by 2050, in turn impacting millions of people and causing billions of USD in economic losses.
- The United Kingdom (UK) joined the Coalition for High Ambition Multi-Level Partnerships (CHAMP) to address the climate crisis.
- At The Climate Pledge Summit, C40 Co-Chair and London Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, joined actor Matt Damon and Water.org co-founder Gary White to discuss tackling worsening floods and droughts.
- Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister Andrew Muir stressed that “climate change was one of his top priorities and working with the other devolved governments had the potential to ensure a just transition to net-zero”.
- Deputy First Minister of the Welsh Government, Huw Irranca-Davies emphasized that “it’s vital to focus on clean air, better homes and places to live and work – the wider benefits of taking climate action”.
- Gillian Martin, Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy for the Scottish Government mentioned that “it is time to move from ambition to action, and this can be achieved by a focus on a just transition to net zero through shared learning from other devolved administrations”.
- To address the surge in emissions from power-heavy data centres and artificial intelligence (AI), Meta and Netflix joined a list of companies expressing interest in backing a carbon credits scheme.
- Liverpool Football Club (LFC) hosted a panel discussion on the role of sports driving change through sustainability through its pioneering sustainability strategy – The Red Way.
It’s time to play our part
The Climate Week NYC 2024 focused on transparency and practical actions to address the climate risks. Conrad Energy continues to work towards supporting this energy transition in a reliable and sustainable way. The new Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD) provides us with a splendid opportunity to report on our social impacts.
Summing up, it’s vital that climate goals should continue to be forward looking and ones that make a timely impact.
