[My latest article in MIT SMR from a few weeks ago. In line with some other posts, it’s my take on where we are in general, along with quick take on Climate Week in September. Now we’re entering COP in Brazil, which should provide some new perspective on just how serious companies and countries are. I’ll be catching up on re-posting this week, so forgive a few things in your inbox!]
Every year, timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly meeting — apparently to ensure maximum traffic jams — thousands of people descend on New York City to talk climate. A series of over 1,000 events all across Manhattan, under the banner of Climate Week, gives a snapshot of where we are on tackling humanity’s biggest threat.
I joined the September gathering as a speaker, moderator, and attendee (and frequent subway rider). I got to see some of the week’s highlights, including a CEO “anti-panel” at Deloitte, where one leader would get interviewed and then switch places to interview a different CEO. For my part, I interviewed three CFOs from very different businesses to get their insights on corporate sustainability and how sustainability executives should best engage them. The range of panels was staggering, and organizers said they were expecting a total attendance above 100,000.
Even so, expectations for having a productive set of conversations in the U.S. about climate were not high. After all, the U.S. administration has been waging an assault on climate action — from trying to stop nearly finished wind farms to rolling back Inflation Reduction Act investments — and companies have gone very quiet. But somehow, the week was oddly … normal.
Setting the Stage: The State of Sustainability
Normal for Climate Week means a lot of things, including hard (and discouraging) science, broad announcements of corporate actions and partnerships, and some level of star power and let-off-steam parties.
Before diving into how my slice of how the week felt, it’s worth taking stock. Each year, new data and corporate and national disclosures set the stage. They fall into three broad areas: the climate itself, clean economy growth, and corporate commitment. Here’s where each of them is, framed by what took place at the climate conference.
The climate picture. The Stockholm Resilience Centre’s latest Planetary Health Check was tough. At a meeting on Sept. 24 at the New School, the organization released its latest findings: The planet has crossed seven of nine ecological thresholds, which cover a range of functions of the planet itself. For example, we’ve emitted more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere can handle without serious consequences from extreme weather and climate change. The latest boundary that was breached concerns ocean acidification, which deeply affects the health of the ocean (for example, coral may not survive). In short, we’re very much weakening the foundations of business and society by waging an effective campaign of domination over the natural world. As former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos put it at the Planetary Health Check event, “If you don’t make peace with nature, you’ll never have peace.”
Clean economy growth. I’ve spent a chunk of this year digging into global energy data, and it’s heartening. A revolution has reached the wealthier countries. By my calculation based on global energy generation data, the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) increased electricity generation by about 1,000 terawatt hours (about a quarter of all electricity use in the U.S.) from 2019 to 2024. Nearly 90% of that growth came from solar and wind, while (mainly) coal and nuclear dropped by the same amount. Renewables have been replacing fossil fuels in generating electricity in the OECD for 15 to 20 years.
What’s new is that developing countries are now making a similar shift. In the early part of 2025, the use of solar for electricity generation increased 32% in India, while natural gas use dropped and coal use did not grow for the first time. Pakistan is experiencing a grassroots solar boom. And Africa is setting records for solar imports. Globally, in the first half of 2025, solar and wind provided all the growth in generation and coal and oil dropped, including in China and India. The next wave is in renewables replacing not just electricity but fossil fuels in other sectors, particularly transportation. Sales of electric vehicles around the world are rising incredibly fast; half of new cars in China are electrified. In total, the growth of carbon emissions globally has slowed dramatically.
Corporate commitments. The message here is mixed. As Mary Robinson, the former prime minister of Ireland, said at the same Planetary Health Check meeting, “Leaders are not operating in a crisis mode.” She was speaking more of political leaders, but it most definitely applies to business as well, where leadership is sorely lacking. That said, even though companies are laying very low (especially in the U.S.) in what’s generally called “greenhushing” mode, survey data shows continued commitment and action:
So while the work may be quieter, the work continues.
What I Heard at Climate Week
Let’s consider the meetings and that “normal” mood of the week in New York. The discussions fit with the evidence: less public talk but continued private progress. Some leaders said they even see risks in staying silent. As Alex Habib, Head of Sustainability Communications at L’Oréal North America, put it at one event, “All comms have risk, but noncommunications have risk also.” (Also check out the report “The Cost of Silence” from Anthesis, which has some numbers to back that up.)
Despite U.S. companies being careful, a huge number of multinationals sent people to speak and listen. The tone was generally sober, realistic, and somehow positive. While some skeptics may say that business leaders were all talk without much action back home, it’s unclear how much a company would get out of lying to rooms full of people working on climate change. We’re not easily duped and can tell when real work is being done.
The reality that made this Climate Week so reinvigorating was the reminder that climate is a global project and that the U.S. is not the world. Yes, the U.S. president was at the United Nations calling climate change a big hoax that same week, but it’s worth noting that the U.S. produces only about 13% of global emissions. Even if the U.S. were to go backward — a big “if,” since the clean economy is growing fast here, mainly because it’s cheaper — the rest of the world can, as the Brits say, “keep calm and carry on.” Entire sectors and giant companies have real stakes in the clean economy, which is now attracting over $2 trillion in new investment every year. These types of investments won’t go away.
A giant meeting of people working on such an exhausting issue has some rewards beyond the tactical. As one corporate exec said, “The sessions are a combination of therapy and strategy.” I’m a big believer in both.
2525
