Join our series of events during UNGA & Climate Week NYC 2024, convened by Pyxera Global and other members of the Systemic Climate Action Collaborative.
Global leaders, innovators, and changemakers will come together to address the most pressing challenges of our time. Through dynamic discussions, we’ll explore transformative solutions in climate action, sustainability, and community resilience.
Join us as we showcase systemic approaches to climate adaptation, urban transformation, regenerative economies, and more, all with the goal of driving impactful, equitable change. Together, we can build a future that works for both people and the planet.
Agenda Overview
Tuesday, September 24 | One World Trade Center (285 Fulton Street, NYC)
Wednesday, September 25 | Civic Hall (124 East 14th Street, NYC)
- 9 AM – 11 AM: The Growth of The Global Adaptation Economy
- 11 AM – 1 PM: Faster, Further and more Fairly: Systemic Approaches to Urban Transformation
- 1 PM – 3 PM: Scaling Climate Solutions Through Landscape and Bioregional Regeneration
- 3 PM – 5 PM: The Missing Trillions
Friday, September 27 | Tzu Chi Center (229 East 60th Street, NYC )
- 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM: Partnership for Digital Justice: Decolonizing Digital Information
- 12:15 PM -1:30 PM: Accelerating Reuse Practices in Critical Mineral Supply Chains
- 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM: Community Stewardship: Prioritizing Place-Based Approaches & Solutions
Full Agenda
Tuesday, September 24 | 4 PM – 8 PM EDT
Location: One World Trade Center – 285 Fulton Street, New York, NY 10007
Action Greater than the Sum of the Parts: Systems Change Collaboration
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Despite intensifying warnings from the IPCC and visible signs of climate change, efforts to halt global warming and adapt to its effects remain dangerously insufficient. While political focus on climate action, ESG, and impact investing has grown, these efforts are still inadequate to achieve the systemic transformation needed over the next two decades.
The Systemic Climate Action Collaborative was created to address fragmentation, competition, and insufficient funding for systemic transformation: the key barriers that limit us from achieving the paradigm shift needed to address climate change. The Collaborative brings together leading foundations, philanthropists, corporations, public institutions, and other donors, to commit significant funding for climate action through systemic transformation. By bringing together leading foundations, corporations, and donors, the Collaborative aims to overcome key barriers like fragmentation, competition, and limited funding, fostering meaningful dialogue and partnerships to drive systemic climate solutions. In partnership with the Tsao Pao Chee Group, will provide an evening of thoughtful discussions and insights on how a new form of collaboration can emerge to solve the most pressing challenges of our time.
Speakers:
- Kirsten Dunlop – CEO, Climate-KIC
- Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri, Open Origin & Shakti Regeneration Institute
- Chavalit Frederick Tsao, Chairman – TPC (Tsao Pao Chee)
- Dr. Vincent Pieribone – Co-CEO and Chief Science Officer, OceanX
Wednesday, September 25 | 9 AM – 11 AM EDT
Location: Civic Hall – 124 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003
The Growth of The Global Adaptation Economy
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Around the world, there is a growing demand for solutions to tackle the physical impacts of climate change. In response, innovative start-ups and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially in the Global South, are developing products and services tailored to local contexts. These include low-cost climate risk mapping tools, new crop types and irrigation equipment that perform better under adverse conditions, and nature-based cooling solutions for urban areas. These businesses are part of the emerging “adaptation economy,” offering exciting opportunities for investors.
However, the adaptation economy remains much smaller than the more established mitigation economy. Entrepreneurs face challenges in building effective adaptation-focused business models, while most investors lack the knowledge to assess opportunities in this new area of the green economy. This event will facilitate discussions among climate-focused startups, green investors, and international organizations on the growth, opportunities, and challenges of the Adaptation Economy. Programs like the Climate Adaptation Innovation Learning (CAIL) project, managed by Climate-KIC and the GEF, will be profiled, with partner organizations sharing their insights on driving investment in climate adaptation and resilience.
Wednesday, September 25 | 11 AM – 1 PM EDT
Location: Civic Hall – 124 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003
Faster, Further and more Fairly: Systemic Approaches to Urban Transformation
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Transforming cities and regions is at the forefront of climate action, as they are responsible for 70% of global emissions and will house 80% of the human population. The future of human civilization depends on how effectively cities can adapt to climate change and population growth. This event showcases large-scale urban transformation initiatives from the Systemic Climate Action Collaborative across North America, Latin America, and Europe. These initiatives aim to comprehensively reduce emissions and drive structural change by integrating multiple solutions and fostering collaboration among city governments, industry partners, and local communities, while challenging traditional urban development models.
Key strategies include coordinated efforts in spatial planning, holistic systems change, and decoupling urban growth from raw material consumption. Circular economic models, new financing methods, and sustained momentum are critical to success. Initiatives highlighted include the Circular City Coalition, EU Cities Mission (NetZeroCities), the Circular Supply Chain Coalition, and City Catalyst. The Circular City Coalition received honors from Fast Company and the Clinton Global Initiative, while the EU Cities Mission supports the decarbonization of over 100 cities to achieve net-zero by 2030. This event invites interactive discussion on the opportunities, barriers, and capabilities needed for impactful urban transformation through a decarbonized and equitable circular economy.
Speakers: To be confirmed.
Wednesday, September 25 | 1 PM -3 PM EDT
Location: Civic Hall – 124 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003
Scaling Climate Solutions Through Landscape and Bioregional Regeneration
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As the world faces interconnected crises like climate change, food and water insecurity, biodiversity loss, and land degradation, the need for innovative and unified solutions is more urgent than ever. Traditional, fragmented approaches have often fallen short, especially when disconnected from local contexts. However, new hope is emerging through long-term, locally led landscape partnerships, where stakeholders such as farmers, agribusinesses, local governments, environmental NGOs, and community organizations collaborate to create a regenerative future for their economies, people, and nature.
This session will highlight global and local initiatives focused on landscape and bioregional regeneration, spearheaded by the Systemic Climate Action Collaborative, 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People, and other partners. These initiatives aim to scale the use of integrated landscape management (ILM), regenerative agriculture, and bioregioning through partnerships. Discussions will explore financial innovations, landscape-scale transformation prototypes, and strategies for mobilizing the funding necessary to meet climate neutrality goals. Funders and implementers will have the opportunity to engage in a critical dialogue on supporting systemic approaches to landscapes, land use, regenerative agriculture, and forestry.
For more information, please visit https://www.thecollaborative.world/
For more information, please visit: https://landscapes.global/
Speakers: To be confirmed.
Wednesday, September 25 | 3 PM – 5 PM EDT
Location: Civic Hall – 124 East 14th Street, New York, NY 10003
The Missing Trillions
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A decarbonized global economy requires an unprecedented scale of investment, with financial institutions committing substantial capital towards sustainability by 2030—Goldman Sachs with $750 billion, Citigroup and Barclay’s each with $1 trillion. Beyond investment banks, private equity, insurance, venture capital, philanthropy, and the public sector invested $1.8 trillion in 2023. However, this falls short of the $4.5 trillion needed annually to stay within the 1.5°C pathway outlined in the Paris Agreement (IEA 2023).
Join us at The Missing Trillions event during the 2024 New York Climate Week for a deep exploration of systemic risks, barriers, and opportunities in climate finance. This final event in a year-long series will share insights on overlooked, high-leverage approaches to closing the climate finance gap. Expert practitioners will present four promising solutions, while participants can share initiatives and explore collaboration opportunities. The event will also highlight the findings of The Missing Trillions initiative, which has used systems thinking to identify high-impact investment strategies that engage public, private, and philanthropic capital. These insights will be open for public feedback and partnership development.
Speakers: To be confirmed.
Friday, September 27 | 10:30 – 11:45 AM EDT
Location: Tzu Chi Center 慈濟大愛人文中心- 229 East 60th Street New York, NY 10022
Partnership for Digital Justice: Decolonizing Digital Information
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Across the globe, particularly in the Global South and under-resourced communities, analog archival assets are rapidly deteriorating, and there are few large-scale efforts to digitalize these invaluable records. This poses an urgent threat, as artifacts and historical records face irreversible decay, limiting future generations’ access to a complete understanding of world history. The disbalance in digitalized archives skews heavily towards wealthier nations in the Global North, where significant archival efforts have been undertaken, often led by historical or current colonial powers. Without intervention, much of the world’s history may be lost, and our collective knowledge base will remain incomplete.
Additionally, the rise of Artificial Intelligence exacerbates these issues, as AI systems predominantly learn from what is digitally available, perpetuating biased or incomplete perspectives. This session aims to highlight the urgency of this problem, focusing on ways to raise awareness and generate action to address it. Participants will discuss solutions to the disbalance in the digitalization of historical assets, exploring both established methods and innovative approaches that can help ensure a more inclusive, equitable, and comprehensive preservation of global history.
Speakers:
- Mario Baeza, Founder & CEO at Tropix Media & Entertainment
- Joseph McNeil, General Manager, SAGE Development Authority
- Atossa Soltani, Amazon Sacred Headwaters
Moderator: Deirdre White, CEO, Pyxera Global
Friday, September 27 | 12:15 PM – 11:30 PM EDT
Location: Tzu Chi Center 慈濟大愛人文中心- 229 East 60th Street New York, NY 10022
Accelerating Reuse Practices in Critical Mineral Supply Chains
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We face a crucial moment amid global challenges such as China’s monopoly on critical minerals and the escalating climate crisis disrupting global supply chains. We must pioneer an environment that rapidly accelerates reuse practices leveraging tools of government, business, and social sectors, such as legislation, incentives, and partnerships, on the national and sub-national levels.
In this discussion, participants will gain insight into the current state of critical mineral reverse logistics and explore the barriers and opportunities in establishing a reuse network across the U.S. Learn from examples in Europe and the U.S. on how policy and procurement can accelerate this transition, while also gaining practical understanding of bottom-up and top-down best practices that can unlock reuse pathways, particularly in frontline communities.
Speakers:
- Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO, Metabolic
- Anita Schwartz, Founder, Circularity Consulting
- Deborah Dull, Founder Circular Supply Chain Network
Moderator: John Holm, Senior VP Partnership Development, Pyxera Global
Friday, September 27 | 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM EDT
Location: Tzu Chi Center 慈濟大愛人文中心- 229 East 60th Street New York, NY 10022
Community Stewardship: Prioritizing Place-Based Approaches & Solutions
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The effects of climate change are systemic, compromising our food and water systems, as well as our collective and individual health. The severe loss of topsoil, inundation of forever chemicals (PFAs), microplastics, and other pollutants are creating widespread environmental harm. People are increasingly displaced due to extreme droughts, unprecedented storms, rising seawaters, and historic flooding. Meanwhile, extractive capitalism has exacerbated inequality, enriching a few while stripping agency from the majority. Oxfam reports that 8 men own more wealth than half the global population, 57 companies are responsible for 82% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and 81 countries are in conflict—the largest number since World War II.
Despite the enormity of the problem, solutions may be right in front of us. While extractive capitalism is life-blind, alternative governance models exist that support local value chains, human rights, and collective action. For instance, the cooperative movement—over 200 years old—encompasses 2.6 million societies with over 1 billion members and generates a combined turnover of US$3 trillion among the largest 300 cooperatives globally. Other community ownership and stewardship models, both modern and traditional, offer paths to balance and harmony within planetary boundaries. This session will highlight net-positive governance models that foster regeneration and community agency, showcasing solutions already within our reach if we choose to recognize and nurture them.
Speakers:
- Sabrina Yegela, Moving Windmills
- Deirdre White, CEO Pyxera Global
- Reetu Mody, Senior Manager for Narrative and Investor Engagement Justice Capital
Moderator: Yash Ranga, Director Strategy & Innovation Pyxera Global
