Thousands of people convened in New York last month for Climate Week NYC, the largest annual climate event of its kind, bringing together some of the world’s foremost environmentalists and climate leaders to break news and unpack big ideas such as the new industrial revolution. This year’s gathering coincided with two significant milestones for The Climate Pledge: We celebrated our fifth anniversary, and over 525 signatory companies have committed to be net-zero carbon by 2040. We also launched The Climate Pledge Hub and hosted our third Climate Pledge Summit, which drew insights from speakers such as conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, Co-Founder of Water.org and WaterEquity Matt Damon, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder Water.org and WaterEquity Gary White, and Black Girl Environmentalist Founder Wawa Gatheru. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy shared his reflections on five years of The Climate Pledge and driving climate solutions at scale. One big theme resonated with hundreds of Pledge signatories who are already working hard to decarbonize their operations: It’s time—to lead and to act, and fast. 

If you couldn’t join us in person, here are some of our programming highlights:

The Climate Pledge Hub 

The Climate Pledge Hub, presented by McKinsey Sustainability, was a new private hospitality experience where the Pledge community took meetings, networked, and attended exclusive Pledge and signatory-hosted workshops. Over three days, September 23-25, signatories and invited guests brainstormed and dug into the issues that are driving climate change talks today. Workshops included:

Prioritize Climate Communications in a Polarized World

John Marshall, founder and CEO of Potential Energy Coalition, looked past the current election cycle to consider how reframing prevailing climate narratives can inspire and engage the populace. One way to dramatically grow support for climate action? Powerful storytelling about sustainability. A key insight from research: Consumers and investors want you to act and to talk about climate.

Power Positive: The Future of Sustainable Data Centers

Leaders from Johnson Controls, Prologis, C3 AI, and Bloom Energy shared how companies are collaborating and leveraging cutting-edge technology to build smart energy strategies and future-proof sustainable data center management.

The Future of The Climate Pledge

Climate Pledge Global Leader Sally Fouts and Tom Rivett-Carnac, co-founder of Global Optimism, led a discussion with Pledge signatories on how to keep The Climate Pledge’s momentum going, from funding large-scale projects to rewarding companies taking steps to become more sustainable.

Unlocking Supply Chain Decarbonization

Roberta Barbieri of PepsiCo, Lisa Martin of GSK, Sarah McDonald of Haleon, and John Powers of Schneider Electric explored how to decarbonize supply chains while still driving immediate business value in a dynamic workshop empowering companies to take action.

Scaling Climate Technologies

Rob Bland and Mark Patel, senior partners at McKinsey, considered case studies and emerging trends in key technologies to expedite corporate decarbonization. 

The Climate Pledge Summit

The Climate Pledge’s annual Climate Pledge Summit took place September 26 and was a chance for signatories to collaborate on climate action, celebrate successes, and hear from some environmental trailblazers. Highlights from this year’s event: 

The Power of Steadfast Optimism in a Warming World

Dr. Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations messenger of peace, and Ellen MacArthur, founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, convened for a fireside chat about how optimism, tenacity, and bold ideas have the power to drive the systems changes we need. MacArthur outlined her three-part vision for a circular world—eliminate what we don’t need, circulate what we do need, and regenerate nature by design—while Goodall reflected on how the changes she’s witnessed during her career have given her hope for a better future. “Together we can, together we will, together we must change the world,” she said. 

The Climate Pledge Joint Action: JOULE

Greenko Chief Sustainability Officer Rambabu Paravastu, Mahindra Logistics Managing Director and CEO Rampraveen Swaminathan, and Deloitte Sustainability Line Leader Shailesh Tyagi took the stage to discuss The Climate Pledge’s latest joint action project: Joint Operation Unifying Last-mile Electrification (JOULE). JOULE aims to decarbonize transportation and logistics emissions from companies in India while inspiring wider EV adoption. This group discussed why we can’t wait for a demand for clean energy—we must create it.

The Future of Water

Water.org & WaterEquity Co-Founders Matt Damon and Gary White, Amazon Water Stewardship Lead Will Hewes, and London Mayor and C40 Cities Co-Chair Sadiq Khan joined moderator Tania Strauss, the World Economic Forum’s head of food and water, to discuss how to make water systems more resilient and expand water access amid climate change. One key takeaway: Private companies, governments, and philanthropies are using innovative technology and financing vehicles to reach more at-risk communities.

AI for the Planet

IBM Chief Sustainability Officer Christina Shim, Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton, and RMI Technical Product Director John McGrath discussed how companies can embrace opportunities presented by artificial intelligence while also mitigating the technology’s energy-intensive production. All three emphasized the importance of setting clear intentions for how AI should be used to create guardrails and to right-size energy needs without slowing momentum. “Technology is industry-agnostic,” Shim said. “It’s not the solution, it’s the enabler.”

A Conversation with Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon

Amazon Chief Sustainability Officer Kara Hurst and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reflected on how Amazon is progressing toward its goal of being net zero by 2040. “Balancing customer obsession and sustainability has to be 'and’ not an ‘or,’” explained Jassy. To wit: Amazon has become the world’s largest corporate renewables purchaser. But there’s still room for growth, and innovation. 

Igniting a Multigenerational Groundswell for Climate Action

Achieving ambitious climate goals takes collaboration of all kinds: across businesses, industries, countries, and generations. We Are Family Foundation Executive Director Jess Teutonico and Wawa Gatheru, a Rhodes Scholar and founder of Black Girl Environmentalist, discussed how climate initiatives and philanthropy dollars currently underserve young people, despite broad consensus that intergenerational collaboration is critical for creating change. Plus: strategies for better involving Gen Z in corporate climate action.

The Path Forward 

Christina Figueres, founding partner of Global Optimism and former executive secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change, delivered an optimistic but action-oriented message for the next wave of change in a dynamic environment. From a boom in electric vehicle demand to the fact that by the end of 2024, most of the 700 biggest companies in the world will have published their transition plans, Figueres said there’s a lot to be hopeful about thanks to many of the signatories who were in the room. “This transformation is now possible for the entirety of the global economy thanks to all of your defiant optimism,” Figueres said.