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Lindsey Hall: Hi. I'm Lindsey Hall, Head of Thought Leadership at S&P Global Sustainable1.

Esther Whieldon: And I'm Esther Whieldon, a Senior Writer on the Sustainable1 Thought Leadership team.

Lindsey Hall: Welcome to ESG Insider, an S&P Global podcast, where Esther and I take you inside the environmental, social and governance issues that are shaping the rapidly evolving sustainability landscape.

We are just a few weeks away from Climate Week in New York City, September 22 to 29. This annual event has taken place for more than a decade and a half, and it's a big week for the sustainability world. Thousands of stakeholders come together for hundreds of events across the city.

Esther and I will be in New York covering many of these events, starting with the opening ceremony hosted by Climate Group. This is a nonprofit that organizes Climate Week in partnership with the UN General Assembly and the City of New York, and I'll be sitting down with Climate Group's CEO to hear about what's in store. The theme of Climate Week this year is It's Time, and this speaks to the sense of urgency to address climate change at a time when more people globally are feeling the effects of a warming world.

Esther Whieldon: Also during Climate Week, Lindsey and I will be on the ground at The Nest Climate Campus. This is a 3-day event taking place September 24th through the 26th at New York City's Javits Center. The campus brings together companies, nonprofits, government, academia and the community at large. And we're thrilled that this year, ESG Insider is an official podcast of The Nest Climate Campus. That means that throughout the event, we'll be set up on the sidelines conducting interviews.

Lindsey Hall: Yes, I can't wait. S&P Global is also hosting an event at The Nest Climate Campus September 25 that I'll be emceeing, and we'll include a link in our show notes if you would like to learn more or register.

Now for today's episode, we're talking with Britton Jones, the Founder and CEO of Next Events Media Group. That's a purpose-driven events organization that produces The Nest Climate Campus. Britton talked to me about what to expect from Climate Week. He talks about topics of focus and also what will make the week a success, how do you ensure it's not just one big echo chamber where you have sustainability professionals essentially preaching to the choir.

You'll hear him mention Project Drawdown. This is a database of climate solutions with the goal of helping the world reach drawdown or the point where greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Okay, here's Britton, who starts off by explaining the work of The Nest Climate Campus.

Britton Jones: The Nest Climate Campus is the event partner of Climate Week NYC, and we are the largest and most inclusive climate solutions event in the U.S. We are 100% focused on actionable climate initiatives and advancing and scaling climate solutions that are available today.

Lindsey Hall:  What can you tell our listeners about what should they expect from the agenda this year?

Britton Jones: Well, they should expect a lot from the agenda this year. It's tremendously exciting that so much attention is being put on Climate Week in New York this year. We are hearing from a number of organizations and leading stakeholders in the climate movement that they're putting more and more emphasis on bringing their teams together during Climate Week in New York.

I think Climate Week in New York is gaining a well-deserved reputation. It is the time, and New York is the place where people can really come together and further collaborations, make new connections and really advance climate solutions. So there's a tremendous amount of action that we're looking to promote this week, to prompt this week and really deliver results and move the needle on finding solutions to the climate crisis.

Lindsey Hall: And you use that word, time, which is quite apt because the theme of the overall Climate Week NYC this year is "It's Time." What can you tell our listeners about that theme?

Britton Jones: Well, there's no question that there is a time value of carbon, and it's really important that we take the most important and impactful climate action that we can now, so that we have time for some of the climate solutions that will be more in the future. So for example, in the area of climate finance, we will have sessions that really establish the priorities for financing climate action and really focus on what Project Drawdown and others are terming emergency brake solutions.

And one of the emergency brake solutions we'll have quite a bit of focus on is methane reduction, reducing the emissions of methane. And that's critically important because as you and many of your listeners know, methane is a much more harmful gas even than CO2 in the short run in terms of global warming. So we're going to have a methane reduction intensive on the campus as well as a methane reduction accelerator taking place on the campus to really focus in and put a lot of energy and action into reducing methane emissions.

Lindsey Hall: Okay. So there's focus on methane reduction. And then what else should we expect in terms of key themes that will emerge?

Britton Jones: Yes. Well, there are a number of important themes that are going to be an important focus during The Nest Climate Campus and throughout the week and really need to be throughout the year. 

And one is going to be on food. And really, we need to focus on what we're growing, how we grow it and how we produce it and how we minimize waste. That's one of the areas where many actionable solutions are available in the very short run.

We're going to see a lot of content around the circular economy and manufacturing processes and how to decarbonize supply chains. We're going to see quite a bit of content on green energy and accelerating the development and supply of green energy and modernizing the power grid, which is really key to decarbonizing the economy and providing clean and cost-efficient energy to fuel growth, economic growth around the globe.

Lindsey Hall: Anything that we didn't touch on in that list or that you wanted to dive deeper into for our listeners?

Britton Jones: Yes. The biodiversity and the important role of nature-based solutions. I think in this day, everybody is so wrapped up in AI and climate technology, and it's really important and will definitely be discussed. It's definitely a part of the climate solutions that are going to be demonstrated on the campus, but we also don't want to lose focus on the really important role that nature-based solutions and biodiversity has.

We're going to be looking at the role of insurance in the age of climate change and how -- again, a focus on measuring and managing risk, resilience and supply chain diversification and other proactive approaches that people can take in the climate risk and insurance area. And then the one other thing I'll say is that climate justice and equity is something that's going to be addressed throughout a number of different meetings and main stage sessions and in the Climate Collective on the campus because that really has to be part and parcel of all climate solutions.

Lindsey Hall: So a real range of topics there. Another thing that I've come to see in my participation in the past in The Nest Climate Campus is just the range of stakeholders who are present. Like you said earlier, this is a very inclusive event that you're hosting. It's complementary unlike a lot of events at Climate Week. What can you tell me just about those different stakeholders who are going to be represented at your event?

Britton Jones: Yes. Well, Lindsey, thank you for noting that. And it is our business model. We feel it's very important to keep attendance complementary. And one of the things that does, as you say, is it makes it much more inclusive. We're finding that people bring their sustainability teams, a lot of people, key players in their sustainability movements. So we have a lot of representation from -- at the C-level, the CEO, Chairman, Founder as well as Chief Sustainability Officers, and people who are more directly involved in the execution such as heads of sustainability or managers of sustainability.

The whole team comes together and is exposed to these lessons learned and successful programs that organizations are using to advance sustainability. The result is much more direct action within their organization. It makes it much more effective and really accelerates their action.

One of the other things I'll say about the stakeholders involved on the campus this year, more so than ever before, is that you're seeing a lot of collaboration. And we all hear and we know that collaboration is key to solving the climate crisis. It's beyond the scope of any one country or company or organization or person. Everybody needs to work together more cohesively than we've ever worked together before.

And we're seeing that on the sessions that we're announcing on the Climate Campus. 60% of the sessions that we've announced so far include corporations or organizations, along with their NGO or academia or government partners, and 40% of the speakers to date include speakers from academia and NGOs and government policymakers. And I think this is really critical because it's bringing together the bandwidth of the thought leadership and the research and the policymakers and in a lot of cases, the corporations that are actually implementing this climate work and climate solutions. And so it's really bringing the group together and working holistically to have impact.

Lindsey Hall: This is a through line in a lot of the discussions I have, whether it's about Climate Week or about COP or Davos, wherever we are, when we're having these sustainability conversations, this idea that you have to bring together all stakeholders and really work across silos to solve some of these big challenges. And it sounds like that's the approach that you're expecting at Climate Week this year as well.

Britton Jones: Absolutely. Collaborations, getting people working together, which is one of the really exciting things about the campus. People come to the campus to learn, to be exposed to new ideas and solutions that are actually proving to be effective and to get inspired on how to actually implement these changes and then getting people to actually implement them when they go back -- when they leave the campus and go back into their real worlds.

Lindsey Hall: Like we've talked about, Climate Week is very action-oriented, and there's this real sense of urgency in the messaging. What are you hoping for in terms of actionable outcomes from this year's event?

Britton Jones: Every year, it's impact. It's not people talking about things. It's about people actually coming together and working together to find solutions to advance their sustainability programs and initiatives. And that's really what the campus is all about, which is why we focus on the here and now. It's not about what people are going to do in 2050 or beyond. It's about what people, organizations, corporations are doing today to solve the problems, the climate crisis issues that are so prevalent today.

I think that's one of the things that's really driving interest is the fact that more and more, I think that the daily experiences that people are having are making it very clear that our backs are more against the wall. More and more people are experiencing -- here in Connecticut this weekend, we had devastating, really significant floods. And this is after last weekend, we had a hurricane warning coming through here. It's hard to avoid -- no matter where you live today, it's hard to avoid the impact of extreme weather.

And it's not that -- it's the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather. People are seeing it throughout their daily lives. And certainly, if they're trying to buy insurance, which is a topic that will be covered on the campus as well, it's increasingly difficult to get coverage in a lot of areas of the country. And if you can get it, the cost of insurance has really dramatically increased as we're living in the age of climate change.

Lindsey Hall: Yes. It's a little counterintuitive almost. So much of the climate conversation is about the future and taking a long-term sustainable approach. But the message of Climate Week and this idea that you've just described is that we really need to act now and quickly and urgently immediately to address these long-term challenges. So I can see where it would be hard for people to get their heads around that potentially.

Britton Jones: Yes, and to understand that what they do makes a difference. I think the whole subject of climate change and the existential threat of climate change is so overwhelming to people that they throw up their hands and say, what can I do? And that's why it's so important that on the Climate Campus, whether it be on our main stage or in co-hosted meetings or in the Climate Collective, a new area of the campus, it's really important that people can see the really effective solutions and the impact of the really effective solutions that are available today.

And if we can get widespread adoption of a lot of these solutions, the cumulative impact is huge and does make a difference, even though it might seem that one individual's efforts to reduce their single-use plastics or look at ways to make their house more climate resilient. Collectively, those solutions are very impactful.

Lindsey Hall: And then in terms of barriers to action, I mean, is there anything you would highlight, anything you hope to see unfold differently in 2024 compared to last year that would make this year's Climate Week more impactful?

Britton Jones: I think one of the things that we have been very mindful of in putting the programming together for The Nest Climate Campus for 2024 is that we want to make sure that we can meet people no matter where they are in their climate journey. So we've tried to ensure that we have content that will be meaningful for the largest and most sophisticated organizations when it comes to their climate and sustainability programs and initiatives as well as content for SMEs and people who are really just beginning their climate journey.

And this is most definitely an all-hands-on-deck type of situation here. And we want to make sure that we have meaningful, actionable content for as many people as possible and get as many different organizations of all types and sizes meaningfully engaged in addressing the climate crisis.

Lindsey Hall: You raised a great point, which is something I hear as a criticism in the sustainability events that I attend is this idea that it's preaching to a choir or an echo chamber of people who already are convinced. And it's this question of how do you reach those who are at a different point on their sustainability journey, like you said, the SMEs, small- to medium-sized enterprises, and those who are not convinced that climate is a challenge they need to tackle.

Britton Jones: Again, I think it underscores the importance of our business model. We want it to be a welcoming and inclusive and diverse environment. It's intimidating, I think, for people who are not well initiated to the sustainability movement to walk into a highly siloed organization where organizations have resources and lots of people assigned to these initiatives, if you're an SME, if you're relatively new to your commitment to make your company or your organization more environmentally responsible.

And we, again, are trying very hard to make sure that we have content that will be engaging and meaningful for a wide swath of America, be they NGOs, be they corporations. We want to include and engage academia, the research and the thought leadership that's developed there is so important, as well as government policy. This year, one of our keynote speakers is Governor Jay Inslee, and we have a subnational, sub-nation government program that we're quite excited about on the campus this year. So that's community leaders, mayors, representatives all -- and their connection up to the national government and how they're working together policies and programs to address the climate crisis.

We're doing quite a bit of programming around developing the next generation of climate leaders. So we're going to have a green jobs pavilion that's a collaboration of a number of climate jobs boards, and it's going to have influencers there as well as mentors and coaches for people who are looking to get into the climate movement. And this is both for established executives as well as a program where corporations are working with a number of the major climate schools. So that's something we're really excited about as well.

Lindsey Hall: Thank you again for joining us and looking forward to seeing you in New York.

Britton Jones: Likewise. Again, we're so excited to have you on the campus and just so appreciate the work that you all do.

Lindsey Hall: So today, we heard about the theme driving Climate Week NYC in 2024, It's Time. And as Britton explained, this speaks to the urgency of finding actionable climate solutions. And we're going to be hearing discussions about everything from methane reduction to food and the circular economy to decarbonizing supply chains and nature-based solutions. And a through line in all these discussions is how do you finance these solutions? What role does AI and technology play? And how do you ensure that the transition is just an equitable?

Esther Whieldon: And we also heard Britton talk about the role that all stakeholders have to play in finding the solutions. It includes the big corporate leaders and sustainability professionals as well as the small- to medium-sized enterprises that are just getting started in their sustainability journey. It's nonprofits and governments as well as the young people and emerging leaders who will help to drive creative new solutions.

Lindsey Hall: Climate Week NYC kicks off this busy fall season of important sustainability events. Britton talked about the role of nature. Well, just a few weeks after Climate Week, the UN will host its biodiversity-focused COP16 in Colombia in October. And in November, the UN's COP29 Climate Change Conference takes place in Azerbaijan. We'll bring you coverage of all these events and the big trends driving the sustainability space, so please stay tuned.

Lindsey Hall: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of ESG Insider. If you like what you heard today, please subscribe, share and leave us a review wherever you get your podcast.

Esther Whieldon: And a special thanks to our agency partner, The 199. See you next time.

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