🌎 See you at Climate Week 2023
Some preliminary musings on the conference and a few recs for must-attend events.
Climate Week NYC is the largest annual climate event hosted every year. It’s held in partnership with the United Nations General Assembly and in coordination with the UN and the City of New York. This year will be the biggest yet. There will be many (and we do mean many) important conversations happening around key issues related to accelerating global climate solutions.
The impacts of the climate crisis have never been more apparent, with ongoing extreme weather events happening all around the globe. But there is reason to be hopeful that society can achieve a more sustainable future through action that is happening now. Climate Week brings together the leading thinkers, doers, innovators and policymakers who share the urgency of solving this problem.
Our team will be there. Will you? Let’s connect! Drop a note to climate@launchsquad.com if you’d like to meet up.
Climate Week 2023: Amplifying Critical Conversations
By Kate Dmytrenko, Director at LaunchSquad
We’re just 10 days away from the 15th annual Climate Week NYC, and our team is fired up.
Climate Week gathers companies, NGOs, academia, community groups, startups and public officials to discuss the most urgent climate issues of our time—and provide insights about climate-relevant solutions that can make the difference needed. There’s an array of topics across over 400 independently organized events where experts and industry leaders will go deep on critical issues related to financing and scaling the energy transition through public policy and private innovation—and much more.
These are valuable, change-making, “room where it happened” moments.
The intent of Climate Week is to educate, inspire and activate the doers of climate solutions. The folks who show up already believe in our collective abilities to innovate our way to a more sustainable future. While there might be some diverging opinions on the specific priorities and approaches, we’re all generally on the same page.
So we’ll be paying close attention to the efforts to amplify the solutions we’re gathering to discuss: investment in storytelling that spotlights and explains relevant, scalable and actionable climate solutions and their positive impact on economies and communities.
It’s when we consider—and strategize around—the folks who don’t show up at events like Climate Week that we can accelerate well-laid plans to even greater success.
Here’s what I mean: One of the core themes at this year’s Climate Week is focused on shifting industry and construction to net zero carbon emissions. As some of the heaviest emitters of CO2, decarbonizing these sectors would have an outsized effect on climate efforts. The tech has been piloted. The potential paths to scalability have been demonstrated. Initial funding rounds have been raised, and efforts to bring in much-needed government investments are actively underway. What often comes last, if at all, is the strategy that will be vital in getting this in front of the essential audiences who can bring it the last mile: which is commercial, impactful scale.
It’s when we consider—and strategize around—the folks who don’t show up at events like Climate Week that we can accelerate well-laid plans to even greater success.
Those audiences typically include some mix of policymakers, corporate buyers, local communities and prospective talent—all of whom can play an integral role in supporting scale-up. But to do it right, it also requires multiple, ongoing touch points and a highly strategic, sustained approach with plans to share key milestones along a longer ramp-up period. Which is one of the reasons dollars are initially funneled primarily into sales and other tactics that provide direct, near-term ROI as opposed to the longer-term investment in spotlighting the positive impact and economic benefits that are expected.
While I’ll fully admit my bias here, looking at it through the more objective lens of what our world needs today (an understanding of, buy-in for and access to scalable climate solutions) it’s also something climate tech companies can’t afford to put off for too long.
So, it’s through this filter my colleagues and I will be watching as the dialogue unfolds and the solutions are laid out. What are the key takeaways we’d want to refine and reiterate in conversations with policymakers? What are the proof points we can spotlight that will resonate with corporate buyers building out their portfolios of climate solutions? And through what avenues will the various threads of the story allow us to tell the story in the most powerfully effective way?
You can bet we’ll be taking all the notes.
Climate Week events to add to your agenda.
We’re excited to attend the events of several of our clients, which will gather the brilliant minds of folks working on carbon dioxide removal, renewable energy, and broader climate tech investment.
Here are the events we look forward to checking out:
Climate Tech Cocktails NYC Climate Wk '23 Kickoff Party
Monday 9/18, 8pm-12am @ Irving Plaza
How Storytelling Advances Solutions
Monday 9/18, 3-4pm @ Solutions House, 30 East 23rd Street, 8th Floor
Tues-Thurs 9/19-9/21 @ Javits Center, 445 11th Avenue
Activate New York Demo Hall: Hard Tech Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Wednesday 9/20, 4:30-7pm @ Demo Hall: Hard Tech Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Techonomy Climate NYC: Solutions That Scale
Wednesday 9/20, 8am-6:30pm @ City Winery (Pier 57)
(Water) Cooler Talk: Some climate conversation starters
🔋 Charging Our Batteries
Energy storage is getting an upgrade—one that won’t rely on lithium ion batteries. Long-duration energy storage company Eos Energy Storage is hoping a recent loan from the DOE's Loan Program office will allow it to scale its manufacturing efforts for its zinc-based batteries. Other companies are experimenting with sand-based batteries. No matter the material, substituting the not-so-long lasting (a few hours) lithium ion with long-duration energy storage is essential to moving towards a net zero future.📣 Amplifying a Message Works Both Ways
The extreme weather of the summer months has incited storms online, as well. Climate denial tactics have evolved from coordinated efforts by the oil and gas industry to a more decentralized approach. While outright climate deniers are a minority, the denial narratives still influence public opinion and policy, underscoring the importance of utilizing influential platforms (both online and offline) for effective communication. One example? Protestors at tennis’ U.S. Open had fans and players alike talking about climate change long after the match ended.