Highlights: 24 September 2026

07.55pm ET

Day five, and the conversation kept circling the same question: how climate gets talked about, and who does the talking.

The Under2 Coalition and the Government of Québec brought governors and ministers from across the Americas together on cross-border cooperation. At Nest Campus, the final day opened on sport. At the Associated Press offices, insurance was named as the place where climate lands for most people. At UN Headquarters, the conversation turned to information integrity. And at the Empire State Building, our Smart Energy team looked at what a retrofit can achieve in a historic, occupied building.

We'll be back tomorrow with more from across the city.

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05.20pm ET

Starting shortly in the East Village, Swissnex and the ETH Alumni Association bring together researchers, founders and designers on the cities we actually need.

The premise is that decarbonization and resilience are no longer optional for cities, and that the technical tools already exist: more efficient buildings, lower embodied carbon, better ways of modeling urban systems at scale. The harder question is how any of it gets through established, highly regulated planning processes, which takes political will, agility and people willing to work across disciplines.

Markus Schlaepfer of Columbia University, Leeland McPhail of Here Here, Lee Altman of Starr Whitehouse, Carmen Sprus of VAULTED, Daniel Sanz Pont of Aeroskin Tech and urban resilience consultant Sophie Chanson will be showcasing technology from ETH spin-offs and talking through what it takes to apply it at scale.

It's part of Assembly, the main Swiss stage at Climate Week NYC, running three days in the East Village while the world's leaders gather in Midtown.

Register now.

04.30pm ET

Missed a session from Monday or Tuesday? The Opening Ceremony and The Hub Live are available to watch on demand. The first sessions are up now and we'll keep adding more through the week.

Watch on demand.

01.00pm ET

At the Indonesian Consulate General in New York, the Indonesia Solar Investment Forum brought investors, government and industry together on what it takes to finance solar at scale in Indonesia.

Laura Thomas of RE100, Climate Group, joined the panel alongside the Indonesia Solar Energy Association, the Indonesia Investment Promotion Center, S&P Global, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, the US-ASEAN Business Council and the Pakistan Solar Association, following a keynote from Eddy Soeparno, Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian Parliament, and remarks from Tessal Febrian, Director of the Indonesia Investment Promotion Center.

The Indonesia Solar Investment Forum at the Indonesian Consulate General in New York during Climate Week NYC 2026

11.15am ET

At the Nest Campus, a session on the journey from source to shelf turned to tuna, with Walmart's Chief Sustainability Officer on what sustainable sourcing looks like at the scale of the world's largest retailer.

10.45am ET

A busy morning for Smart Energy, all of it inside the Empire State Building.

It started with the second in-person meeting of the Global Policy Working Group, picking up where discussions at CGAAS left off. Members went deeper into our Global Policy Principles for energy efficiency, with a particular focus on Minimum Energy Performance Standards and where to take that work next.

Then a panel on decarbonizing an icon. The Empire State Building is a model for what high-performance retrofits can do in a historic, occupied, landmarked building, and Corgan's new office on the 54th floor is a case study inside that case study: renovated to minimize material use and choose products with low global warming potential, and on track for Zero Carbon Certification from the International Living Future Institute.

Nicola Cullen, Head of Energy Innovation, Climate Group, was joined by Varun Kohli, Director of Sustainability, Corgan, Lindsay Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Living Future, and Dana Schneider, Director of Energy and Sustainability, Empire State Realty Trust, to talk through how the two have worked together on efficiency, electrification and occupant wellbeing. A tour of the building followed.

09.25am ET

On the final day at the Nest Campus, a main stage session started from a simple observation: climate change is rewriting the rules of sport. Extreme heat, poor air quality and more frequent weather disruption are already changing how athletes train, compete and recover, from cooling breaks at the World Cup to heat stress in tennis and marathon events.

Athletes know what to do when they're outmatched. They adapt.

Senator Rick Fox, three-time NBA champion and Senator of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Linnae Harper, former WNBA player and six-time Team USA gold medalist, and Lucas Leiva, former professional footballer for Liverpool and Brazil, joined Alan Dangour, Director of Climate and Health, Wellcome Trust, in conversation with Maeve Campbell of Channel 4.

Dangour made the case that getting the change we need means communicating and acting differently. Athletes bring a voice and a perspective the climate conversation doesn't usually reach for, and an audience that comes with them.

Senator Rick Fox, Linnae Harper, Lucas Leiva, Alan Dangour and Maeve Campbell on the main stage at Nest Campus during Climate Week NYC 2026

09.30am ET

The Climate Week NYC Daily Show is back, produced with Newsweek and Hi-Impact. Three episodes of interviews, highlights and content from across the week and across town.

Episode one looks at the geopolitical shifts climate change is driving, episode two turns to the US, and episode three looks ahead, including Vice-President Fleming Voetmann of VELUX on how climate change is shaping the cities of the future.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

09.20am ET

At the Associated Press offices for a session on how we talk about climate change, Eric Asche of the Potential Energy Coalition made the case for starting from what people already share rather than from what divides them.

His example was insurance, which is where climate is now landing on people's household budgets whatever they think about the science.

"I don't want my neighbors' insurance cost to go up, and I certainly don't want my insurance to go up."

A panel on how we talk about climate change at the Associated Press offices during Climate Week NYC 2026

08.20am ET

A session with The Sidebar asked why climate communications keeps failing, and came back with three things worth sitting with.

Moral framing matters more than we give it credit for. Too much of our communication is about the future rather than for right now. And the climate space is too afraid of failure. In other sectors, particularly tech, failure is treated as part of experimenting and learning, which is something climate could stand to borrow.

06.40am ET

Four days in, and the city shows no sign of slowing down. Climate Week NYC runs through Sunday, with well over 1,500 events across New York and plenty online if you're joining from home. We'll be covering selected events here throughout the day.

Find your own with the events map and the full calendar.

A few to add to your calendar:

• Rooted and Flowing: Stewarding Land and Water for a Resilient Future — Riverkeeper | Thursday, September 24, 10am| Exploring how land, water and food stewardship can build climate resilience across the region
• Who Gets the Climate Capital? Financing Women-Led Climate Solutions in Africa — Women Leading Climate Action | Thursday, September 24, 11.30am | Exploring how finance can help women-led African climate businesses scale solutions
• People Positive: The Human Side of Climate Action — Liveable | Thursday, September 24, 5pm| Exploring how lived experience can shape better decisions across buildings, communities and climate