Crypto News: Climate Week NYC is here

Good morning from the Big (Green) Apple, where our reporters are all over town reporting on Climate Week NYC. Our newsletters this week will be full of details of what to watch and news from events around the city. Read on to find out what's on our radar. For unlimited access to climate and energy news, please subscribe.

By Bloomberg Green

This week New York City gets to lay claim to many of the leaders of the world and what could end up being the year's biggest climate gathering.

Climate Week NYC, which starts at the same time as the United Nations General Assembly, will include hundreds of events across Manhattan hotel ballrooms, Brooklyn rooftops and even a beach in Queens. Participants will include financiers, entrepreneurs, scientists, diplomats, corporate executives and heads of state. There will be an almost uncountable number of sustainability announcements.

Azerbaijan is due to host a two-week UN climate summit in November that would typically be the biggest moment on the calendar. But COP29 is expected to draw far fewer business executives and bankers than last year's COP28 event in the financial hub Dubai. It's hard for the Azerbaijan capital of Baku to compete with the sheer scale of what the wealthy United Arab Emirates put together. Plus this year's UN climate summit promises lower-stakes diplomatic action.

That could mean that segments of the corporate climate crowd, who've been an increasing presence at COP, turn up in New York this week instead.

Climate Week will be held on the margins of UN deliberations, where it's likely that ongoing wars shape the agenda. In years past, however, the General Assembly meeting has produced showstopping climate moments. Chinese President Xi Jingping made a surprise pledge in 2020 to reach net zero emissions. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley emerged as charismatic proponent for the climate-finance priorities of developing nations in a 2022 UN speech.

Mia Mottley, Barbados' prime minister, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, 2022. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

Mottley will be among the world leaders and diplomats who will be popping up at various Climate Week events. Other power players such as former US climate envoy John Kerry and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be in the mix.

The staff of Bloomberg Green has curated a list of some of the more interesting events to check out if you're in New York. Some of these may be streamed online, and most require registration in advance. If you're not into the conference or cocktail scene, there are plenty of other, offbeat Climate Week events to explore, from science fairs to late-night karaoke. It's going to be a busy several days.

Read our list of events to watch here.

80%

This is how much New York City aims to cut its carbon emissions by 2050, compared with 2005 levels. Most of the city's emissions come from its buildings, followed by transportation, then waste.

"For New Yorkers, transit is like air and water, we need it to survive. And it will not survive unless we plan to protect the system from climate change."

Janno Lieber

MTA's chief executive officer

NYC's transit system plans to spend $6 billion during the next few years to make its subway stations and commuter rail lines more resilient to extreme weather events.

With events all across the city, it's hard to keep track of everything happening. Here are just three examples of what's coming up today:

Find out what 24 governors have in common. A group of like-minded governors formed the US Climate Alliance in 2017 to fill a void in climate action after the US withdrew from the Paris Agreement. (The US has since rejoined.) The coalition of governors has now grown to 24 states, representing about 60% of the US economy, and it's promising a big announcement at 10:30 am New York, which you can live stream here.

If you're excited for COP29, consider this a pre-game party. Some of the power players you usually see at UN climate conferences are speaking at This is Climate: The Global Stakes. Climate envoys from Germany and the Marshall Islands, Jennifer Morgan and Tina Stege, respectively, will be there. Don't know who they are? Read our story on the women who are leading the fight to stop climate change to catch up.

Late Night With John Kerry. He may have left government work, but could chat show host be the next move for the former US climate envoy? Let us know what you think after Climate Night Live, a talk-show-style event by the folks at Canary Media. Kerry is the headline guest.

Three Mile Island nuclear plant is restarting as Microsoft Corp. wants its carbon-free electricity to power artificial intelligence. The owner of the shuttered plant in Pennsylvania will invest $1.6 billion to revive it, agreeing to sell all the output to tech titan.

Microsoft has agreed to purchase the energy for two decades and declined to disclose financial terms. This is the first time Microsoft has secured a dedicated, 100% nuclear facility for its use.

Three Mile Island power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania in 2019. Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Colombia's capital Bogotá is tightening water restrictions. The city has gone back to rationing every nine days after the lowest rainfall in more than half a century stopped reservoir levels from recovering.

Climate change hits the slopes. The world's largest ski resort operator is looking to snap up more Alpine stations in Europe, in an expansion partly driven by the need to hedge against global warming.

Emojis are becoming really sad. Texters will soon be able to express their dismay over the growing impacts of climate change on the planet with a "dead tree" emoji.

In a little more than six weeks, Americans will cast their votes in a presidential election that has enormous stakes for the future of the planet. On the latest episode of Zero, Akshat Rathi sits down with energy and environment reporter Jen Dlouhy to talk about how Kamala Harris' still-opaque plans could continue President's Joe Biden's climate legacy — and how Donald Trump has already signaled he plans to chip away at it. "Starting on day one, he's already said he intends to direct federal agencies to begin repealing and replacing climate regulations," Dlouhy tells Zero. Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday.

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