The global transition to renewable energy systems will be mineral intensive and, under the current linear economy conditions,...
The global transition to renewable energy systems will be mineral intensive and, under the current linear economy conditions,...
CCSI convened a series of events during Climate Week to bring actionable research and diverse stakeholders into dialogue on the most pressing issues at the nexus of investment, climate, and sustainable development. In addition to hosting our own events, CCSI also contributed to a range of discussions convened by partners across sectors.
Read our reflections and our vision for NYCW 2026.
September 22 | 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Financing the Future of Mobility: How Innovation Can Unlock Sustainable Growth and Investment Returns
Organized by: Oliver Wyman
This discussion will bring together leaders from the World Climate Foundation, Blackhorn Ventures, Uber, and Oliver Wyman to examine the future of sustainable urban mobility. While much of the debate often centers on trade-offs, CCSI’s Lisa Sachs will highlight the real task ahead: charting practical roadmaps, addressing barriers, and scaling solutions.
Location: Marsh McLennan (1166 Avenue of the Americas)
September 22, 2025 | 10 AM – 11:30 AM
Advancing Integrated, Reliable, & Resilient Energy Systems in the Age of AI
Organized by: CCSI, Utilities for Net Zero Alliance, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP29/30
CCSI recently published an article highlighting how data centers are uniquely positioned to boost clean energy, grid, and storage finance while lowering system costs. This Climate Week roundtable will gather utilities, hyperscalers, financiers, and policymakers to address two challenges: scaling investment in grids and storage, and using AI and digital technologies to enhance efficiency and resilience. Insights will directly feed into the COP30 Action Agenda and identify opportunities for regional pilots and global coordination.
Location: Columbia University, Faculty House, Garden Room 2
September 22 | 10 AM – 12 PM
The Role of Insurers and Investors in Driving Sustainable Transformation
Organized by: Bankable Zero
Insurance is increasingly entering discussions on climate finance. Ana Maria Camelo Vega will join a panel with speakers from S&P Global and Fortescue Capital. Take a look at our related briefing on Distinguishing Among Climate Change-Related Risks.
Location: To be announced
September 22 | 11.45 AM – 1 PM
Intertwined Supply Chains: The Missing Link in Automakers’ Climate Strategy and Disclosure
Organized by: Solutions for our Climate
As one of the most globally integrated industries, automakers are well-positioned to lead supply chain decarbonization in line with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement. Steel, which constitutes over 70% of an automobile’s raw materials, represents the most strategic starting point for such efforts. Laura Garcia Cancino will moderate a panel with speakers from Responsible Steel, Ceres and more. Take a look at our publication A Market Mechanism for the Creation of a Climate-differentiated Market in the Steel Industry.
Location: WeWork Office Space & Coworking (1460 Broadway, New York, NY 10036)
September 23 | 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM
Unlocking Capital for Climate Action – Green & Climate Finance
Organized by: UN Global Compact
Ana Maria Camelo Vega will speak at this panel exploring how private sector actors are deploying financing strategies to accelerate climate action and support the green transition. Speakers will highlight practical examples of green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, blended finance structures, and other innovative tools that mobilize private capital, reduce risk, and align business models with national and regional climate goals.
September 23 | 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Meeting the Moment: Shaping the Sustainable Finance and Climate Agenda 2025–2035
Organized by: EDF, NRDC
The next decade will be pivotal for sustainable finance. This event brings together investors, policymakers, technologists, and development leaders to explore how sustainable finance can remain relevant and effective in a radically changed environment. Discussions will address the role of AI in climate and decarbonization, where finance should focus to accelerate resilience and development, and how to confront global inequities alongside capital efficiency. Lisa Sachs will join in on a discussion with Aniket Shah (Jefferies), Thierry Déau (Meridiam), and moderators Doug Sims and Leslie Labruto.
Location: Convene, Midtown East
September 23 | 2 PM – 3:30 PM
Breaking the Barriers: Regional Integration for a Just and Competitive Energy Transition
Organized by: CCSI, Resource Justice Network, Public Citizen
The global energy transition offers a historic chance for resource-rich nations in the Global South. Instead of just supplying the rest of the world with the critical minerals needed for this shift, they can leverage these resources to power their own development and shape their own futures. However, a major roadblock stands in their way: the current international economic system. Bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, and even new critical minerals deals often work against these nations. Martin Dietrich Brauch will moderate a panel to highlight how, by collaborating at the regional level, Global South countries can break free from a purely extractive model and build diverse, competitive economies that benefit their people for generations to come.
Location: Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115 (enter at 61 Claremont Ave), Lobby Meeting Rooms A,B,C, and D
September 23 | 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Firestarter Panel: So You Started an Energy Revolution… Where Is It Headed?
Organized by: Bellwethers
Advancing the clean energy transition is not only about technology — it requires coalitions broad enough to shift norms, and align investment with practical solutions. This discussion will examine what signals can help anchor wider social change and how new alliances can turn ambition into systemic change. Lisa Sachs, Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, will join this conversation.
Location: Spyglass Rooftop, Archer Hotel (West 38th Street, New York)
September 24 | 8 AM – 9:30 AM
Sustainable Prosperity for Coffee Farmers: An SDG-based approach
Organized by: CCSI, CAF, World Coffee Producers Forum, SDSN
CCSI’s Lara Fornabaio will join partners at the launch of our handbook for governments to align investments in coffee-producing regions for sustainable development. Co-author Jeffrey Sachs will present the findings.
September 24 | 9 AM – 10 AM
From Hard to Abate to Hard to Ignore: Shipping’s Historic Climate Regulation and the Impact on Developing States
Organized by: Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping
The recent approval of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) Net Zero Framework (NZF) marks a major turning point for the shipping industry – and presents a significant opportunity for developing countries. Lisa Sachs will explore how this climate regulation can shape global maritime decarbonization efforts and support clean energy infrastructure in the developing world.
Location: Online
September 24 | 10 AM – 1:30 PM
Credible Pathways to Change: Aligning Companies and Countries on Climate Goals
Organized by: CCSI, World Benchmarking Alliance, and BSR
Those international decarbonization pathways currently under development lack the granularity required to reduce emissions across contexts. Join us for a half-day, in-person event focused on the role of transition pathways in guiding companies and countries toward credible climate action. CCSI’s Perrine Toledano will lead a workshop exploring how local and sectoral pathways can serve as a strategic compass, helping businesses and policymakers align with national targets and long-term low-emissions strategies. Through expert presentations and multistakeholder breakout discussions, we will examine how pathways are developed, how to identify and apply the most relevant ones, and what benefits they bring across different contexts.
Location: Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115, (enter at 61 Claremont Ave), Lobby Meeting Rooms A, B, C, and D
September 24 | 3 PM – 5 PM
Industrial Policy for the Energy Transition
Organized by: CCSI, Harvard Growth Lab, CETEx
Hear from CCSI’s Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Laura Garcia Cancino and our partners about their work helping different countries build an industrial base in clean energy technologies and attract energy-intensive industries using their renewable electricity. Opening remarks will be provided by Rt Hon Chris Skidmore OBE, former Minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (United Kingdom), Salata Climate Action Fellow at Harvard, and Chair of CETEx.
3 PM – 3:50 PM: Green Value Chains: Redefining Tomorrow’s Manufacturing Powerhouses
Places that manufacture technologies for decarbonization (or their inputs) will be well-positioned to win the industries of the future. In this session, CCSI will profile green industrial policy initiatives in Indonesia, South Africa, and Mexico based on its critical minerals market assessment conducted for UNIDO, with some insights based on its African-led Industrial Policy Dialogues and forthcoming mapping of critical minerals negotiations.
3:50 PM – 4:40 PM: Powershoring: The Industrial Transition to Clean Energy
Renewable power now represents the cheapest, fastest form of electricity.Mining operations, with their high energy needs, and growing energy-intensive industries such as aluminum and cement, will anchor demand for stronger power systems. In turn, these energy systems create the foundation for further industrialization, reinforcing a positive feedback loop between mining, industry, and energy. Learn more about CCSI’s work on the Mining-Industry-Energy feedback loop which will be presented alongside learnings by the Growth Lab, Columbia University’s Eric Verhoogen, and Vale.
Location: Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115, (enter at 61 Claremont Ave), Lobby Meeting Rooms A,B,C, and D
September 25 | 9 AM – 11.30 AM
Mining Together: Nature, People & Just Transitions
Organized by: CCSI, Vale Base Metals
As global mineral demand rises alongside climate and social imperatives, mining stakeholders are increasingly called to act as long-term land stewards. Join CCSI’s Perrine Toledano and Lara Fornabaio as they facilitate a workshop designed to move beyond strategy and into actionable insights. CCSI will share the range of corporate motivations for adopting a land-stewardship approach, and align them with a range of opportunities for nature-based solutions and land-related circular economy approaches along the mining lifecycle.
Location: Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115, (enter at 61 Claremont Ave), Lobby Meeting Rooms C and D
September 25 | 14:30 – 16:00 EST
Just & Inclusive Transition: Evidence-Based Solutions to Advancing Sustainable Economic Growth, Productive Employment & Decent Work For Women and Girls
Organized by: Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Gender & Energy Compact (UNIDO, ENERGIA, GWNET, SEforALL)
Despite progress, women’s participation in the global labour market remains below 50%—a result of both institutional and behavioural barriers. Structural constraints include discriminatory laws and policies, gendered labour market segregation, and limited access to STEM education and digital skills, which are key to entering growing sectors like clean energy. Women also face entrenched social norms that disproportionately burden them with unpaid care work and restrict their career mobility and leadership opportunities. Laura Garcia Cancio will join this panel exploring the systemic barriers, including the lack of social protections, informal work conditions, underinvestment in gender-responsive policies, and the power dynamics that hinder progress.
Location: Hybrid
September 24 – 25
We Need to Think Differently about Risk and Impact: Here’s How
Organized by: Accountability in a Sustainable World
Lisa Sachs will speak about this timely topic, and the shifts we need in terms of mindset and problem-framing, so that capital flows can help us reach our development goals.
Location: Online
