Climate Week NYC
 Gavin Newsom at Climate Week NYC in 2019. | |
| Founded | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Type | Environmental Charity |
| Focus | Climate change, conferences |
| Location | |
Area served | International |
| Website | www.climateweeknyc.org |
Climate Week NYC is an event that has taken place every year in New York City since 2009. The summit takes place alongside the UN General Assembly and brings together international leaders from business, government and civil society to showcase global climate action. Climate Week NYC is run by The Climate Group.
Climate Week NYC is the largest of a number of Climate Week events that take place around the world throughout the year, including Africa, Latin America & Caribbean, Asia Pacific and Middle East Climate Week Events.
History
The first Climate Week took place in 2009 and in 2018 celebrated its tenth year in the city.[1] Climate Week NYC takes place while the United Nations General Assembly is in session, allowing heads of state and other senior governmental figures to attend and participate. In 2018, several heads of state took part in the Opening Ceremony, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as well as the Presidents of Haiti, Peru and the Marshall Islands.[2]
In 2020, Climate Week NYC turned into a virtual event due to the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and was the largest climate summit to take place in 2020. In a keynote address opening the event Prince Charles said, "Without swift and immediate action, at an unprecedented pace and scale, we will miss the window of opportunity to 'reset' for... a more sustainable and inclusive future."[3]
In 2014, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted the UN Climate Summit and joined the Opening Ceremony with John Kerry, US Secretary of State, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple and Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC.[4]
Format
Climate Week NYC events
Each year, Climate Week NYC hosts a number of events throughout the week. In 2018, over 150 events registered as part of the week, with many other taking place in an unofficial capacity.[5]
In 2019, all Climate Week NYC events were categorized alongside nine UN "tracks" to recognize the week's alignment with the United Nations Secretary Generals' Climate Action Summit. This included a Youth and Social Activism Program, run in partnership with the social action charity Global Citizen. Over 350 events took place as part of Climate Week NYC 2019.[citation needed]
In 2019 and 2018, Global Goals Week took place concurrently with Climate Week NYC - an event for action, awareness, and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals.[6] It first took place in 2016. It is often held concurrently with Climate Week NYC.[7]
In 2020, Climate Week NYC allowed people to register online events to be considered as part of the program, will events from around the world being allowed for the first time. Over 500 events registered to be a part of the week, making it the largest event to date.[8]
In 2024, Climate Week NYC and their official events partner will be hosting The Nest Climate Campus in September in NYC.
Opening Ceremony
Each year is typically launched with an Opening Ceremony where announcements are made by world leaders from government and business. In 2018, this included a $300 million announcement of support for Pacific Islands affected by climate change from the Prime Minister of New Zealand.[9] Other major participants have included Tim Cook,[10] Richard Branson[11] and John Kerry.[12]
The Hub
In 2018, Climate Week NYC hosted The Hub, a series of events held throughout the second day of the week with talks and debates with people from the climate world. This was expanded in 2019 to cover two days.
10 Things campaign
In 2018 to mark the ten day countdown to Climate Week NYC a ten things campaign (1. travel, 2. fashion, 3. food, 4. water, 5. plastic, 6. lighting, 7. health, 8. electric vehicles, 9. recycling, 10. getting involved[13]) was launched to raise awareness of how the public can engage in tackling climate action.[14] The campaign included a city wide marketing drive across the city, with over 3,000 sites across five boroughs of New York City taking part.
References
- ^ Kaufman, David (21 September 2018). "At Climate Week NYC, the Focus is on Maintaining Momentum". The New York Times.
- ^ "New York City Skyline Goes Green for 10th Climate Week NYC". Climate Week.
- ^ "Climate Week: Prince Charles calls for 'swift' action on climate change". BBC News. 21 September 2020.
- ^ "Join us in celebrating 10 years of Climate Week NYC". Climate Week.
- ^ "Events listing - Climate Week". Climate Week NYC.
- ^ "Global Goals Week - About". United Nations Foundation. Archived from the original on 2020-08-04. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "Global Goals Week 2019". IISD SDG Knowledge Hub. Archived from the original on 2020-09-13. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "The Climate Group launches the new Climate Week NYC mobile phone app | Climate Week". climateweeknyc.org. Archived from the original on 2020-09-11.
- ^ Trevett, Claire (24 September 2018). "PM Jacinda Ardern's challenges other world leaders on climate change". nzherald.co.nz.
- ^ Gunther, Marc (23 September 2014). "Apple CEO Tim Cook at Climate Week: 'the time for inaction has passed'". the Guardian.
- ^ "Our Panel at Climate Week NYC - The B Team". 22 September 2014.
- ^ Holden, Emily; Milman, Oliver (14 September 2018). "California to launch its 'own damn satellite' to track greenhouse gases". the Guardian.
- ^ "10 things for climate week NYC. How can each of us, as individuals, get involved with accelerating climate action?". www.climateweeknyc.org. 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
- ^ "New Yorkers plan talks, screenings and tours for Climate Week".