Climate Week NYC 2024 and the question finally asked

Fifteen years into its existence, Climate Week NYC 2024 hosted hundreds of events on every aspect of climate issues from every corner of the world.  

Let me tell you the one story that brought all of it into focus for me.

Super Storm Sandy and the Whitney Museum of American Art 

On Friday, September 27, I took a boat tour around Manhattan with the American Institute of Architects to learn how New York City is adapting to climate change. As we left Chelsea Piers and turned south, the Whitney Museum appeared just a block from the Hudson River shoreline. The Whitney houses over 26,000 works of art by American artists, including Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns and Georgia O’Keeffe, along with about 4,000 others. The collection is priceless.  

Nearly twelve years earlier, in October 2012, the Whitney was under construction when Super Storm Sandy hit NYC. Sandy brought high winds and a 14” storm surge of water from the Hudson. The destruction was inconceivable before it happened.   

The water completely flooded the Whitney construction site — and caused the building’s designers to devise a whole new plan. Because of Sandy, all of the museum’s artwork is displayed and stored on the fifth floor and above. 

The original plan was something much more common with galleries on low floors. Now imagine if the architects had kept that plan, the building opened and Sandy arrived a year or two later.  

For me, the story of the Whitney Museum explains why we do this work. Our lives — and our collective livelihoods — are priceless. Climate instability poses a risk to what we have created.  

So, to business leaders everywhere, the question is: What are you doing to mitigate this risk?   

I’m not the only one who wants to know.  

There is a Climate Supermajority 

During Climate Week 2024, the Climate Museum, the first museum focused solely on climate in the U.S., hosted an exhibit that highlighted the “Climate Supermajority.” The exhibit was based on a 2022 study by the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.  

The main conclusion of the study is powerful: Most Americans strongly underestimate how much our fellow Americans support climate policy. As stated, “While 66% to 80% of Americans support climate actions, the average American believes that number is 37% to 43%.”  

So, 66% to 80% of us want to see action to address climate change, but we think a much smaller number of others agree. Regarding people’s worry about the climate, this tracks with ERM Shelton's Global Eco Pulse® 2024 survey that found 75% of Americans are moderately to extremely concerned about the climate change issue.  

Another study by Yale University points to why Americans might think others don’t care: We are not talking about it. Almost two-thirds of us say we “rarely” (30%) or “never” (33%) talk about climate issues with family or friends. If we don’t discuss these things, how do we build our future together? 

It may be tempting for businesses to dismiss this; after all, we’re talking about friends and family. But ERM Shelton research shows that companies need to get in the conversation: 61% of Americans hold companies strongly or very strongly responsible for making changes that would impact the environment.

The words people want: Here is our plan 

There’s always a phrase of the year at Climate Week NYC. This year it was “climate transition plan.” In the simplest of terms, a climate transition plan shows how your company will continue to create value as it adapts to climate risk and change.  

If your company were the Whitney Museum, your climate transition plan would be to move the entire collection out of danger from potential flooding. Building from this example, how is your company planning to adapt its own facilities? What changes to your product line are needed? How will you keep employees safe and thriving?  

People want to know how your company will address these issues (investors perhaps most of all!).  

Further, the Climate Supermajority is not the only reason people want to know. The other key reason points to another phrase said frequently during Climate Week 2024: We have what we need to solve this now.  

Consider this speed round of solutions:  

• According to the International Energy Agency, global spending on renewable power, grids and storage is now higher than total spending on oil, gas and coal. 

• After the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the U.S. is on track to achieve an 80% clean energy grid by 2030. It could be 100% by 2035.  

• An EV battery recently debuted that can extend the EV driving range by 80%.  

• The largest residential geothermal building in New York, 1 Java Street, is in development and set to open in 2026. 

• In Africa, an entrepreneur is providing water to people out of thin air through her company, Majik Water.  

I share these solutions because they speak of possibility. Yes, the majority of us are worried about climate change. But the spirit of ingenuity and innovation is strong.  

How does your company innovate for the future? As the Climate Supermajority shows, this is not as political an issue as some would lead us to believe.  

After dozens of events and conversations at Climate Week 2024, I believe people want to know, “Is your company on the side of the problem or on the side of the solution?”. In response, communicate to your audiences — your employees, investors, customers, partners, communities and others — about how you are working on the solution.  

The question finally asked: What if we get it right?  

My favorite event of the week was a book talk and signing for What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. A marine biologist by trade, Johnson interviewed dozens of people working on climate issues for her book. Through these conversations, she collaborates to envision a future beyond the bleak, dystopian scene we all imagine as the result of the climate crisis.   

Her vision is not too far out of reach. As she said during her talk, “We have the climate solutions now. We don’t need to wait for anything.”  

As I heard time and time again at Climate Week, people are worried about climate issues — and we are in action. People want to know how your company is in action, and working towards solutions, as well.  

To share another question Johnson asks in her book, “What if we act as if we love the future?”