Feature

The view from New York: reflections from LeadIT at Climate Week NYC

Feature

The view from New York: reflections from LeadIT at Climate Week NYC

Every year, Climate Week NYC unites key stakeholders from government, business and civil society, all committed to tackle the climate crisis. The theme for 2024 was “It’s Time,” reinforcing the need for urgent action. Over the course of eight days, there were more than 900 official events exploring the need to break down barriers to progress on global climate goals.

The Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT) co-hosted two events, participated in several others across the city, and introduced a new member, the Swedish steel scale-up Stegra.

Nadia Mondini, Per Andersson, Jane Birch / Published on 3 October 2024

As the dust settles on another frenetic week in New York, there is an opportunity to reflect on the trends and themes that dominated, although it is important to remember that with more than 900 events in total, spread across this city of many millions, you can only really scratch the surface.

As usual, Climate Week coincided with the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. While no climate summit was called this year by the UN Secretary-General, the Assembly was understandably dominated by escalating tensions in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. However, there was no shortage of airtime at a leadership level for industry, clean technology and green transition issues. Each year, Climate Week has themes that shape the event programme. For 2024, there were ten – all inter-related, with half strongly focusing on the challenges of delivering a just, green industry transition: energy, environmental justice, finance, heavy industry and policy.

A man in a suit speaks into a microphone at a LeadIT event titled “The path to a net-zero industry,” with Climate Week NYC and LeadIT logos visible in the background. — Robert Watt, SEI Engagement Director, addressing the audience at the LeadIT event “The path to a net-zero industry: How global leadership and collaboration can accelerate the industry transition,” held during Climate Week NYC on 24 September 2024.

Photo: Marcus Haraldsson.

Representing LeadIT in New York were Per Andersson, Head of the Secretariat; Robert Watt, Global Engagement Lead; and Nadia Mondini, Policy Coordinator. They travelled for a series of engagements with members and stakeholders, including two LeadIT (co-)hosted events as part of the official Climate Week calendar:

The path to a net-zero industry: how global leadership and collaboration can accelerate the industry transition brought together key representatives from governments, heavy industry sectors, their value chains and multilateral institutions to discuss:

Successful leadership approaches for enabling industry decarbonization projects and how to scale them.
What is needed to create an enabling environment for investments in heavy industry decarbonization.
Where the persistent bottlenecks around heavy industry decarbonization are.
Perspectives from emerging economies and the unique circumstances and challenges they face around heavy industry decarbonization.

a speaking panel at an event with four women seated in front of a large window with the New York skyline behind them

A man in a white suit is standing at a podium speaking with an audience in front of him. Behind his there is a large window and you can see the New York skyline.

Three people shaking hands and look to the camera.

A man in a suit is speaking with a microphone in front of a screen saying Climate Week NYC

a panel of four speakers, two men and two women are sitting in front of the window. A man in a suit is asking a question. In the foreground you can see the audience listening.

2. Breaking down barriers: how to accelerate the transition to net zero cement and concrete (co-hosted with the Global Cement and Concrete Association) featured speakers from industry (both incumbents and new technology providers), government, academia and financiers. Topics included:

How can innovation and the adoption of new technologies be accelerated through corporate and public-private partnerships as well as targeted financial assistance?
What are the persistent policy and regulatory barriers hindering development and scaling of different decarbonization technologies?
How can the transition in lower-income and emerging economies be supported through knowledge sharing, technology transfer and co-development?

Per Andersson, Head of LeadIT Secretariat, and Thomas Guillot, Chief Executive of GCCA, speak at a podium during a Climate Week NYC LeadIT event. The backdrop shows a screen with the event title and a view of the New York City skyline through large windows. — Per Andersson, Head of LeadIT Secretariat, and Thomas Guillot, Chief Executive of the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), addressing the audience at the LeadIT event “Breaking down barriers: How to accelerate the transition to net zero cement and concrete” during Climate Week NYC on 25 September 2024.

Photo: Marcuss Haraldsson

Both events focused on action, reflecting the need to make changes now or risk losing the momentum of recent years. Concrete progress made by companies and governments – LeadIT members and others – as well as how this progress can be scaled and learned from, was centre stage. This mirrored the theme for the whole of Climate Week, convened under the banner “It’s Time,” calling for urgent, collaborative climate action.

Key reflections

Here is a glimpse of what we saw and heard at our own and other events with a focus on industry decarbonization:

There is substantial and increasing engagement around industry decarbonization, with leading countries driving new projects and initiatives.
There is consensus that solutions for a green industry transition exist and must be scaled in a just way, achievable only through multi-stakeholder and cross-regional collaboration. What was called “hard-to-abate” a few years ago has now become “possible-to-abate.”
One of the most crucial challenges is mobilizing demand for green materials to unlock final investment decisions for industry decarbonization projects. However, real-world success stories that could be replicated are still rare.
Questions around trade and common but differentiated responsibilities must be addressed with more engagement and inclusiveness. While steps towards a green transition have been made, accelerating decarbonization efforts in a way that is just and reflects the urgency of unlocking new technologies before more high-emission capacity gets locked in will be key.
While there is agreement on the importance of more public and multilateral finance for industry decarbonization, there is still less attention on how such assistance will mobilize investments from commercial financiers. Going forward, stakeholders must collaborate to ensure that increasing de-risking from the public sector indeed unlocks private engagement at the scale and speed needed.
It is becoming increasingly clear that renewable capacity additions are lagging behind what heavy industry sectors need to decarbonize, both in higher- and lower-income countries.

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Topics and subtopics: Climate : Fossil fuels, Climate policy / Economy : Innovation, Supply chains
Tags: just transition, 2030 Agenda, industry, green economy, renewable energy, clean energy, policy engagement
Related centres: SEI Headquarters

Key reflections

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