Representatives from the School of the Environment and other Yale organizations spent last week in New York City connecting with other climate activists.
5:40 am, Oct 01, 2025
Staff Reporter
G. Scott Segler via Wikimedia Commons
Yale faculty, students and representatives recently returned from Climate Week NYC, the world’s largest climate gathering outside the United Nations’ Conference of Parties.
From Sept. 21-28, attendees participated in thousands of Climate Week NYC activities, including Yale @ Climate Week — two days of programming hosted by Yale Planetary Solutions at the Yale Club of NYC.
This year’s theme — Power On — emphasized climate progress across sectors including energy, finance, technology, green jobs and climate justice.
“At Climate Week NYC, our faculty, alumni, and students shared expertise and insights on everything from the role of AI in delivering climate progress to how working forests can serve as natural climate solutions,” School of the Environment Dean Indy Burke said. “Their participation was a powerful reminder of how much determination there is to address the climate crisis, and the important role that our school plays in generating new ideas and exploring pathways to progress.”
At Climate Week, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Partnership Director Joshua Low spoke on a panel titled “Moving from Data to Dialogue to Doing.”
For Low, Climate Week was a chance to come together with people from all different sectors to discuss, strategize and connect on how the world is powering through climate action.
“Climate Week can be overwhelming, with over 1,000 public-facing events and many more behind-the-scenes events such as gatherings and coffee chats,” Low said. “You can’t do it all, you have to pick and choose.”
Low aimed to connect with those partners to “build political will in climate action.” He was able to meet with partners in the Northeast who work with businesses to cut climate waste, as well as climate communicators across the globe, he said.
Another panel hosted by Yale @ Climate Week featured the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture Co-Director Peter Raymond. Raymond’s goal was both to share climate solutions and share the center’s messaging, he said.
“Our goal is to let people know what we’re doing, but also try to make progress on scaling natural climate solutions,” Raymond said.
According to Raymond, the most important climate solutions involve managing natural ecosystems such as forests, agricultural lands and blue carbon systems to management to remove greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere.
“Some countries and companies are really leaning in, so that’s hopeful for sure. The U.S. isn’t necessarily leading policy right now, but other countries are trying to pick up the slack,” Raymond said.
School of Environment alum Natasha Feshbach ENV ’23, a funds manager for the Activate Fellowship, which supports scientific researchers become founders, spoke on a panel about purpose-driven careers in climate.
“We discussed what we did, the highs and lows of our career, how to balance and prioritize working with great people and building skills for your career toolkit,” Feshbach said. “I thought it was a great opportunity to bring people together both Yale and non-Yale audience members to discuss to drive this kind of career forward.”
Feshbach and other panelists noted the challenges and uncertainties of being in the climate space right now.
Before arriving at Climate Week, Low was also worried this year’s attendance would be diminished due to federal-level changes to climate change attitude and policy. However, he said he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout.
“What’s most helpful is that there are so many people from so many walks of life in New York working to address climate change,” Low said. “It makes me incredibly hopeful. For the 100,000 people in town, there are a hundred more back home who care.”
The first Climate Week NYC took place in 2009.
MICHELLE SO
Michelle So is a beat reporter for the SciTech desk, covering climate change and the School of the Environment. Originally from Los Angeles, California, she is a sophomore in Timothy Dwight College majoring in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.