Climate Week NYC

Background

Climate Week NYC is an annual global environmentalist advocacy event. It was established by Climate Group founders Steve Howard and Helen Clarkson and has been held every September since 2009 to bring together leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society to promote climate action acceleration. It coincides with the United Nations General Assembly also held in New York City and is run in coordination with the City of New York and the United Nations. ^{6  7}

Some of the high profile speakers at previous Climate Week NYC events included Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ); Chad Frischmann, the vice president of Project Drawdown; and Maria Mendiluce, the CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition in 2020. ⁸ Its 2023 speakers included Aryana Elizabeth Johnson, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab; Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization; and professors from Harvard University. ⁹ New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Andrew Mayock, chief sustainability officer for the Biden Administration, participated in the 2024 event. ^{2  3}

The Climate Group is an international network founded in 2004 that advocates for halving global emissions by 2035 and for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Its supporters include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Climate Imperative Foundation, the ClimateWorks Foundation, the European Climate Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the New York Community Trust, the Volo Foundation, and the We Mean Business Coalition. ¹⁰ In addition to organizing and hosting Climate Week NYC, the Climate Group operates several climate-focused programs including the 24/7 Carbon Free Coalition; ConcreteZero, which focuses on developing a market for net zero concrete; RE100, a group of companies switching to weather-dependent energy; and EV100, which promotes electric vehicles. The Climate Group has offices in London, Amsterdam, Beijing, New Delhi, and New York. ^{11  12  13} It is the secretariat of the Under2 Coalition, the biggest network of worldwide government organizations that have committed to net zero by 2050. ¹⁴

Climate Week NYC 2025

Climate Week NYC 2025 claimed to be the world’s largest climate gathering other than the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, referred to as COP). ^{1  15} The theme of the week was “Power On for Climate Action.” There were over 200 speakers and over 1,000 events. Attendees included individuals from organizations, governments, academia, philanthropy, and policy leaders. ^{16  17}

Agenda, Notable Speakers, Attendees

Climate Week NYC 2025 was organized into 10 themes: energy, finance, food, health, nature, policy, industry, built environment, transport, and sustainable living. ¹⁸ The events included panel discussions, presentations, entertainment, and cocktail parties. It is a major networking event for businesses, environmental nonprofits, governments, and philanthropists to discuss opportunities and next steps for advancing their climate change initiatives. ¹⁹

The Nature Conservancy hosted or participated in over 15 events throughout the week. ²⁰ The Bezos Earth Fund TEDx event explored how artificial intelligence can support climate action and environmental protection. ²¹

Speakers for the event included Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission; Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy; Denmark’s Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities; the California Attorney General; actor and left-wing activist Mark Ruffalo; co-founder of the environmental advocacy group Solutions Project; actress and climate activist Jane Fonda; Beverly Wright, founder of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice; Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group; ⁵ and former Senator and United States Secretary of State John Kerry (D-MA), who was also the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate in the Biden administration. ⁴

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) attended the event with a California delegation including its Secretary of Environmental Protection, Energy Commission Chair, and directors of the Governor’s office. ²²

Sponsors

Program sponsors included the Climate Group; McKinsey Sustainability, a program of McKinsey and Company; the Estee Lauder Companies; the Boston Consulting Group (BCG); Microsoft; Mission 2025; the Potential Energy Coalition; the National Audubon Society; KPMG; the Zero Waste Foundation; the Cleantech Leaders Roundtable; the Volo Foundation; Johnson & Johnson; the Edison Electric Institute; and E2 (Environmental Enterprises). ²³

Leadership

Helen Clarkson is the co-founder of Climate Week NYC and was the CEO of Climate Group as of 2025. She has been a environmentalist and humanitarian activist for over 25 years, working at Doctors Without Borders, Forum for the Future, and the SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust. ²⁴ As of 2025, she was on the board of the We Mean Business Coalition and the Sustainable Development Capital Energy Efficiency Income Trust. ²⁵

Criticism

Some environmentalists have criticized Climate Week NYC over corporate sponsorship of the event. Materials manufacturer Saint-Gobain was the headline sponsor of Climate Week NYC 2023. Saint-Gobain has been linked to the contamination of several communities’ public water supplies from its plastic manufacturing plant and was sued by regulators and residents of the impacted communities. ExxonKnews published an article questioning why a “notorious polluter” like Saint-Gobain was Climate Week NYC’s headline partner. ²⁶

A follow-up article from ExxonKnews questioned the choice of McKinsey Sustainability, a program of McKinsey and Company, as a Climate Week 2023 sponsor as well as its opening ceremony partner. McKinsey and Company is a global consulting firm that provides consulting services to many companies that environmentalists claim are the biggest corporate polluters. The article also mentions other event sponsors such as PepsiCo, Nestle, and Unilever as some of the worst plastic polluters. ²⁷