Climate Week NYC 2024 Takeaways
At this year’s Climate Week NYC, FTI Consulting Strategic Communications team members participated in important conversations and supported companies and their leadership teams with meaningful engagement. Between the 900+ events that took place, this year’s Climate Week NYC was widely regarded as the climate event of the year, even surpassing the projected attendance levels at next month’s COP29 in Azerbaijan. A record number of attendees and high-caliber leaders helped to raise the stakes for more unfiltered conversations about the critical climate challenges facing business and society, what is practicably being done, and what still needs to be tackled.
Key Climate Week 2024 Themes
U.S. election represents moment of opportunity. While the U.S. presidential election made its way into nearly every conversation, leaders reiterated that neither outcome spells doom for climate action. On the contrary, businesses are preparing for either scenario, noting that there will be opportunities regardless of who is in the Oval Office in 2025.
The clean energy transition drove many conversations throughout the week in the context of the election to illustrate the many challenges and opportunities ahead. With a clean energy market growing rapidly across the world, policy alone will not be enough to strike down decarbonization efforts, and both candidates have impetus to support the clean energy industry in some capacity.
Policy can impact support for new technologies, but they will keep coming – what’s at risk is not necessarily progress on climate goals, but U.S. competitiveness in these new and developing sectors if greater action is not taken by the public sector to support greater R&D, innovation and commercialization.
Stakeholders expecting practical climate solutions. This year’s conversations demonstrated a new threshold for stakeholder expectations around climate action. The tolerance for corporate lip-service has waned. Many conversations focused on a real, raw challenges, and even failures, and the insights that have emerged from these experiences which require multifaceted, practicable solutions that are grounded in reality. This was a marked shift from talk of lofty goals and philosophical ideas in years past.
Specifically, many leaders highlighted factors impacting the speed of adoption of climate-friendly solutions. Using EVs as one example, a lack of viable choices for customers (such as affordable models) and the politicization of the technology have both been headwinds to scaling the industry.
Speakers also acknowledged that 2050 – the year many companies have committed to net-zero emissions – is a short timeline given the long processes of permitting and development for clean energy and infrastructure projects. This further underscored the urgency of scaling available technologies in the immediate term, while newer innovations reach maturity.
Collaboration and cross-sector partnerships permeating conversations. This work cannot be done alone. With the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in the background, this year’s conversations drove home the need for public-private partnerships to enable broader and more significant decarbonization. Supportive policy, along with adequate, accessible finance, are two essential factors for investment in decarbonization technologies and infrastructure. Additionally, the importance of collaboration between businesses – such as the partnership announced recently to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear facility – cannot be underestimated.
This year, more than in years prior, social considerations rose to the surface in conversations about sustainable solutions. The need to center community in decisions – from construction to energy project development to mobility – was echoed across industries. Putting people first was discussed as a key consideration in ensuring the value and long-term viability of investments in sustainability and resilience.
Sustainability has multidimensional value. Climate Week NYC has grown into one of the preeminent global environmental conferences, further reinforced by the prestigious and highly diverse line-up of speakers and guests, including CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, who appeared on stages speaking about sustainability across the city as part of the 2024 programming.
With the backdrop of a growing anti-ESG movement, this seems counterintuitive – however, our experts heard CEOs and other prominent leaders describing sustainability investments as “good business” rather than just a box-checking exercise. As one speaker noted, “While [sustainability] is about values, it is also about value.” Notably, ESG was not a common term this year. Instead, our experts noted a shift towards language around “sustainability,” “impact,” and “decarbonization”.
In that vein, companies are not backing down from sustainability goals and commitments. Rather, the way these targets are communicated is changing to be quieter, while progress continues to be made. However, having clear, actionable, and specific goals at the organizational level are now tables takes – vague targets discredit businesses, rather than protect them from risk.
As we look ahead to Climate Week NYC 2025, we anticipate the event will continue to grow in influence and be a key jumping off point for COP30 in Brazil, helping shape the agenda ahead of and set the tone for negotiations.
Climate Week 2025 Readiness: Key Engagement Considerations
Engage with Purpose
With more than 900+ events to choose from, there are many considerations that must be taken into account to maximize opportunities to make meaningful connections while at Climate Week NYC. From invite-only “side events” to large-scale media events, there are a variety of opportunities to engage and it is important to be clear on the objectives you are looking to achieve to select the right forums.
Invite-only events tend to be more interactive, with programming more tailored to the business community who made up a higher percentage of the audience. This environment can allow for more frank perspectives to be shared, when under Chatham House rules, creating more opportunities for meaningful conversations with actionable outcomes. These events typically included a networking element as well.
Open events presented an opportunity to speak to a wider audience, with greater control of messaging. The audiences at these events had more representatives from ENGOs and university students, and conversations were less industry-specific and technical.
When convening an event, marketing is critical to ensure attendance given the hundreds of events vying for space on schedules throughout the week. Simply put, Climate Week NYC is crowded. Providing added value to attendees through prominent speakers, networking opportunities or news making can help draw interest and maximize the investment.
Plan Ahead
As 2025 budget planning is underway, now is the time to start mapping out whether, and how, your organization will engage at Climate Week NYC. Earned speaking slots and sponsorships for top events go quickly once the events are announced – typically in early summer – so get it is important to get in touch with organizers early.
The official events calendar is usually released in July and updated on a rolling basis as new events are announced. Some events are announced as late as the week before, but looking at events from the year prior can provide insight into what might take place again.
If you plan to attend rather than participate as a sponsor or speaker, plan to register for events or request invitations in late August or early September. This year, more events were invite-only as organizers sought to both curate audiences and manage event capacity.
Court Media
Given the crowded conversation and overwhelming schedules at Climate Week NYC, engaging reporters on-the-ground can be difficult. Setting up pre- or post-Climate Week conversations is often a more fruitful strategy and allows your organization to have a stronger voice rather than competing with the buzzy news cycle week-of.
While setting up in-person meetings may not be feasible, engaging meaningfully at Climate Week NYC – whether participating actively in conversations on advancing climate solutions, or tuning in to identify opportunities to speak on a common theme or emerging topic – can help set your organization up for successful media engagement down the line.
Getting Around
Our best advice for next year? Bring comfortable shoes! With traffic notoriously congested during Climate Week NYC and UNGA, walking is often the best way to get around. Spontaneous road closures are common, and rideshare prices spike dramatically during the week. New York City’s public transit system is also one of the best in the country, so don’t be afraid to hop on the subway to get to your events on time.
Our team, comprised of multidisciplinary communicators with deep industry expertise, stand ready to help companies navigate the evolving and competitive environment. Look to us for recommendations on messaging, format, and promotional strategies that drive results.
Ready to discuss your Climate Week NYC strategy for 2025? Please contact us.
Related Expertise
The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals. FTI Consulting, Inc., including its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a consulting firm and is not a certified public accounting firm or a law firm. FTI Consulting is an independent global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal, operational, political & regulatory, reputational and transactional. FTI Consulting professionals, located in all major business centers throughout the world, work closely with clients to anticipate, illuminate and overcome complex business challenges and opportunities. ©2024 FTI Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. www.fticonsulting.com |
