Political Giving as a Climate Solution

Landmark eco-friendly policies don’t happen by chance; they require electing leaders who prioritize environmental action and climate solutions at every level of government. Hear from a panel of leaders across the environmental movement as they discuss the role of climate and clean energy in this election, how electoral engagement drives meaningful policy change, and why building durable coalitions is essential to advancing climate action well beyond Election Day.

Featuring:

  • Pete Maysmith, President of LCV
  • Loren Blackford, Executive Director of Sierra Club
  • Jed Ober, NRDC Action Fund Managing Director for Political Affairs
  • Erica Slates, GiveGreen Vice President

RSVP

NoHo, New York, NY

Environmental Defense Fund
League of Conservation Voters
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club
New York
09/22/2026 at 03:15PM

The Public Pathway as Energy Internationalism: Reclaiming Energy for the Common Good, Workers, Communities, and Just Development

This Climate Week NYC 2026 event will bring together trade unionists, researchers, and movement allies to examine the growing international momentum behind the “Public Pathway”, a union-led approach to energy transition based on public ownership, democratic planning, public finance, and energy as a public good. The discussion will situate current energy debates within the wider global crisis of neoliberal “green growth,” where transition policy has too often relied on private investors, de-risking schemes, and market incentives that fail to deliver universal access, decent work, or rapid system transformation.

​The panel will highlight emerging struggles and proposals from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and North America, asking what it means for unions to reclaim energy systems from a market-led approach and rebuild them around social need, sovereignty, and democratic control. Speakers will discuss examples such as Mexico’s post-neoliberal electricity agenda, public energy debates in Latin America, South-South cooperation, and the role of unions in defending public utilities while pushing them toward a stronger public-goods mandate.

​The event will also ask how international solidarity can move beyond statements and become practical cooperation: shared research, political education, worker-to-worker exchanges, and coordinated responses to privatization, trade/investment pressures, and climate finance models that weaken public systems. The goal is to make the Public Pathway visible during Climate Week as a serious global alternative: not simply “more public ownership” in the abstract, but a concrete strategy for energy democracy, just transition, and development led by workers and communities.

Speakers:

  • Sean Sweeney, Director, International Program for Labor, Climate & Environment, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
  • Ethan Young, Public Services International (PSI) North America Subregional Coordinator
  • Brian Kamanzi, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, Researcher
  • Andres Chiriboga, I3t - Industry, Infrastructures, and Innovation for Strategic Transformation, Director of Finance for Industrial Transformation
  • Mathew Lawrence, Common Wealth, Founder and Director
  • Johanna Bozuwa, Climate and Community Institute, Executive Director
  • Lala Peñaranda (moderator), Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, Latin America Coordinator

CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
25 W 43rd St 19th floor
New York, NY 10036, USA

RSVP

Climate and Community Institute
Trade Unions for Energy Democracy
New York
09/22/2026 at 02:00PM

The view from city hall - AI, energy and urban growth

A Main Stage session.

It’s boom time for the AI buildout, and cities across the country are scrambling to keep up. Data centers arrive with a voracious appetite for energy and billions in capital investment, bringing relatively minimal permanent jobs and varied effects on water use and community well-being. All of it lands on the grid, land, and water systems for which mayors are accountable. We hear from three mayors navigating the challenges and opportunities of this new era of industrialization.

Speakers:

  • Daniel Rickenmann, Mayor, Columbia, South Carolina
  • Kate Gallego, Mayor, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Justin Bibb, Mayor, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Kate Wright, Executive Director, Climate Mayors
The Nest Campus
New York
09/22/2026 at 01:55PM

No Immunity for Big Oil: How Communities are Standing Up to the Fossil Fuel Industry’s Attacks on Science, Accountability, and the Law

As communities advance legal and legislative efforts to make Big Oil companies pay for climate damages, the fossil fuel industry is pulling every lever to escape accountability: lobbying Congress and state legislatures for broad legal immunity, attacking climate science and judicial education projects, and urging the U.S. Supreme Court to stop state and local climate deception lawsuits against oil majors before they can reach trial.

On the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court arguments, join a panel of climate accountability leaders to learn about these brazen efforts and how communities are fighting to protect their right to hold Big Oil accountable.

​This event will be moderated by Emily Atkin, Editor-in-chief at HEATED. Speakers include Former Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, Tennessee Representative Justin Jones, and Dr. Pallavi Phartiyal of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

​This event is co-hosted by the Center for Climate Integrity and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Co-sponsors include: Climate Defenders, Fossil Free for Health, Fossil Free Media, GreenFaith, Law Students for Climate Accountability, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Third Act, and Third Act New Jersey.

Center for Climate Integrity
Union of Concerned Scientists
New York
09/22/2026 at 01:00PM

Rural America & The Clean Energy Transition

A summit at Climate Week NYC showcasing clean energy leaders doing the work in rural America.

Anchored by Canary Media’s flagship reporting series on rural America, this event puts a spotlight on the communities that too rarely make the headlines.

The day features main stage conversations with Canary journalists, expert panelists, and partners, alongside breakout sessions and workshops diving deeper into the topics shaping clean energy’s next chapter.

Space is limited. Please join the waitlist and we’ll notify you when a spot opens up.

A reception rounds out the day, giving attendees space to connect with the clean energy leaders who are doing the work.

Lineup:

  • Tim Pawlenty, President & CEO, SEIA, former Republican Governor, Minnesota
  • Jay Inslee, Former Democratic Governor, Washington
  • Heather O’Neill, President & CEO, Advanced Energy United
  • W. Mondale Robinson, Mayor of Enfield, North Carolina
  • Suzanne Singer, Founder and Executive Director, Native Renewables
  • Ben Gerber, President & CEO, CleanCounts
  • Matt Traldi, CEO & Co-founder, Greenlight America, co-founder, Indivisible
  • David Roberts, Founder, Volts.wtf
  • Leah Qusba, CEO, GoodPower
  • Sarah Hunt, CEO & President, Joseph Rainey Center for Public Policy
  • Scott Jennings, Senior Political Contributor, CNN, former George W. Bush administration official
  • Michelle Moore, CEO, Groundswell
  • Jacob I. Hannah, CEO, Coalfield Development Corp.
  • Abre’ Conner, Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, NAACP
  • Scott Laeser, Senior Working Lands Advisor, Rural Climate Partnership
  • Robert Blake, Executive Director, Native Sun Community Power Development
  • Jordan Macknick, Distinguished Member of Research Staff, National Laboratory of the Rockies
  • Julia Tilton, Reporter, Daily Yonder
  • Julian Spector, Senior Reporter, Canary Media
  • Dr. Daniel Howard, Founder & CEO, Quantum Energy

Sponsors:

  • Presenting: Advanced Energy United, CleanCounts, GoodPower, Invest in Our Future, MacArthur Foundation
  • Signature: Rural Climate Partnership
  • Supporting: McKnight Foundation, Outrider Foundation, SEIA

Civic Hall
124 East 14th Street
New York, NY

Canary Media
New York
09/22/2026 at 12:00PM

Breaking the Ice Before it Melts: Effective Climate Communication

This panel discussion event will focus climate communication pathways to action.

On behalf of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media (PCSSM) at the University of Pennsylvania and SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, we are excited to invite you to our NYC Climate Week event, “Breaking the Ice Before it Melts: Effective Climate Communication.” This panel discussion event will focus climate communication pathways to action. Our panel will feature Bill Nye (The Science Guy), Chuck Nice (cohost of “Star Talk” with Neil DeGrasse Tyson), and Asher Jay (National Geographic Explorer), and moderated by climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann (Presidential Distinguished, Director of PCSSM). The panelists will share their experience and expertise about their work as science communicators.

Speakers:

  • Bill Nye
  • Chuck Nice
  • Asher Jay

Moderator

  • Dr. Michael Mann

The discussion will be followed by a networking hour with drinks and light fare.

Time: 12 – 2 p.m.

Location: Penn Club of New York, 30 W. 44th St., New York, NY 10036

RSVP

Please note that this event is currently invitation-only. To request an invitation for a colleague, please reach out to Heather Kostick at [email protected].

Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media
New York
09/22/2026 at 12:00PM

Unplug AI: Amazon Presser and Rally

Once known for co-founding the Climate Pledge, Amazon is now investing in a massive fracked gas plant that would become the largest single source of climate pollution in the country. Join Bill McKibben, former tech worker Holly Alpine, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice worker Kavita Sthanumurthy, and Frontline Data Center Fighters to hear about the role Amazon is playing in the massive buildout of fossil-fueled AI data centers.

More information

11:30am

Corner of 5th Ave & 39th St near Amazon’s Office JFK27

RSVP with Third Act

Climate Defenders
New York
09/22/2026 at 11:30AM

The Politics of America's Energy Future

America’s energy landscape is changing rapidly as rising electricity demand, new technologies and growing infrastructure needs collide with debates over affordability, reliability and climate. Federal, state and local leaders are navigating how to meet those challenges while supporting economic growth and determining the role government should play in America’s evolving energy mix.

Join Axios House at Climate Week for an event on the policy decisions shaping America’s energy future. We’ll convene political and policy leaders to discuss the evolving politics of energy and climate, the balance between economic and environmental priorities, and what the next era of American energy policy could look like.

One-on-one conversations with:

  • Jarrod Agen, Executive Director, National Energy Dominance Council, Assistant to the President
  • Mike Levin, Representative, California’s 49th Congressional District (D)
  • JB Straud, Founder and CEO, Redwood Materials

11:00am | Doors open

11:30am | Mainstage conversations

12:30pm | Event ends

GH on the Park
54 W. 40th St
New York, NY 10018

RSVP

Axios
New York
09/22/2026 at 11:00AM

Brunch With Jane Fonda: Help Elect Peter Hubbard and Shelia Edwards for GA PSC

Please join Jane Fonda and the Community Clean Energy Coalition for a brunch on the Lower East Side!

Location Provided Upon RSVP.

Commissioner Peter Hubbards and Shelia Edwards are running for the Georgia Public Service Commission to deliver lower costs, affordable energy, and forward-thinking leadership that holds utility companies accountable!

With the urgent need to secure Georgia’s energy independence and protect our wallets, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Now is the time to roll up our sleeves.

Contributions/tickets from $500 to $16800.

Jane Fonda Climate PAC
New York
09/22/2026 at 10:00AM