Key Takeaways from Climate Week NYC 2024

Attendees from various sectors gathered to share ideas, celebrate progress, and explore the future of environmental stewardship. One highlight stood out among the many inspiring moments: the fantastic panel about ESG communications.

We had around 200 people and the networking event beforehand provided a festive atmosphere that reminded people that there is joy in our work! My thanks to Sonny Masero from Hines, Anica Landreneau from HOK and Graham Higgins from Nuveen Green Capital for an enjoyable conversation and Marta Schantz from ULI for being an awesome moderator! Antenna Group were amazing facilitators and put on arguably the most fun event of the week (our attendees' words, not mine!).

Here are key takeaways for me:

• We need to drive down operational emissions but HOW we do that has significant carbon impacts through embodied carbon. It’s certainly not news that embodied carbon matters but there has been a hazy assumption that retrofits will work like new construction – owners will just do it all in one go and violà, it’s a low carbon building. We need to recognize that whole building retrofits are not as likely to be whole building – many of these are going to phased to match capital availability and replace building systems as they reach the end of their useful life. Two important points for consideration: 

             o    We need to get the capital flowing even to those smaller projects (building system equipment)
             o    The cost of that capital needs to be cheaper for those projects with an explicit carbon reduction goal and proven delivery.

• Materials matter but so do our construction methods. We’ve done a fairly good job at focusing on materials by recognizing their influence on the health of building occupants and the embodied carbon (which is significant from steel and concrete). However, this approach has overlooked that the construction phase not only uses a lot of carbon but creates noise, congestion, pollution and other impacts on human health and well-being.

The transport of materials is being considered, but the actual impacts of the construction processes are rarely mentioned. The launch of the North American Electric Construction Coalition was an exciting development – they are looking at identifying the electrical construction equipment on the market, mandating what is available now and working with manufacturers to use the combined power of their procurement dollars to push manufacturers to make the switch. The improvements to human health and well-being could be immense; it could also be a way for developers and construction companies to smooth the entitlement process. 

They are open to new members, and you can reach out to Sylvie Binder, Greenhouse Gas Emission Policy Advisor at the Office of the Mayor, New York City via nyclimate@cityhall.nyc.gov for more information.

• We need to get creative with financing solutions, but we also need to ensure that the carbon reduction claims linked to that financing are verified and real. Like green bonds, construction loans should come with a penalty if carbon targets are missed in the design and construction process. For retrofits, the verification of the reduction in operational carbon emissions resulting from the project should be required to be reported for the duration of the loan term.
• We are at real risk of starving already underinvested communities of capital they desperately need to not only become more resilience but deliver economic opportunity for their residents. Buildings don’t exist in a vacuum – their value is directly linked to the resilience and economic health of the communities in which they exist. Buildings in historically underserved, undercapitalized cities and neighborhoods are the least likely to have the access to affordable capital to make these changes. We need MORE investment in those communities not less – there is a huge economic opportunity here for impact funds to focus on those communities. And can I put in a plug here for commercial buildings? Lots of discussion in this space is about affordable housing – we need these communities to also have access to thriving commercial districts that serve their needs (end the food desert!) and link them with economic opportunity.

Cue the launch of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures (TISFD). Building on the success of earlier Taskforces looking at climate risk and nature (TCFD and TNFD), the TISFD is a global initiative to develop recommendations and guidance for businesses and financial institutions to understand and report on impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities related to people. As with the TCFD and TNFD, how this manifests for the real estate industry will be a few years in development but the fact that we’re even thinking about this is a really critical part of what sustainability really is – environment, people and economics.

Climate Week offered many more highlights. Check out Tim Mohin’s blog for additional takeaways (I also highly recommend subscribing – his regular insights are excellent).

The power of bringing everyone together at an event like Climate Week cannot be underestimated. There is always a risk with discussions like these to focus endlessly on defining problems rather than progressing toward actionable solutions. This year’s theme was “It’s Time.” Respectfully, it’s BEEN time. I came with modest expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the momentum being created. When we congregate with a shared goal, even when we have differences about “the how,” it’s these connections that make things happen. Together we can do ANYTHING.

If you’re planning to come next year:

• Bring your walking shoes and take the subway – even if you wanted to travel by car (eww David we’re sustainability people!), it’s impossible due to the coincidence of the event with the UN General Assembly. 
• Be strategic – there are a lot of associated events (900+ this year!) so figure out what matters for your time. Marta Schantz at ULI produced ULI’s Guide  , which helped distill the huge list down to the things that mattered for real estate and that were free to attend. Watch for that list next year!  

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