Biomaterials, Resilience, and Innovation in Action: Recapping New York Climate Week 2025
- Kamya Sud
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
New York City was buzzing again this September - and not just from cabs and caffeine.
NYC Climate Week 2025 brought together global leaders in sustainability, policy, and climate tech. The dominant message: reuse, retrofit, and radical transparency will define the next decade of climate action in the built environment.
♻️ Circularity Goes Mainstream
At Futerra + Mastercard’s Solutions House, “Returning to Reuse: The Tech-Enabled Age of Circularity” reframed waste as an opportunity. Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability Officer at Mastercard, revealed how sustainability KPIs are now built into employee compensation and business strategy - embedding climate action into corporate DNA.
“Waste is a data issue,” said Lucy Shea, CEO of Futerra.
Other innovators leading the reuse revolution:
Kate Sanner – CEO, Beni
Sage Lenier – Founder, Futureline
Andrew Savage – VP Sustainability, Lime
Organizations like Doconomy, Spin Ventures, and Circulayo are scaling reuse infrastructure - from digital product passports to track life cycle and movement through the supply chain, to deposit-return logistics that make consumer goods easier to re-integrate into the loop.
Circularity is finally entering its systems-integration era!
🧱 Climate Tech Meets Construction
Newlab’s Venture ForClimate Tech Showcase featured several bold startups tackling emissions in hard-to-abate sectors, with breakthrough solutions including:
Äerd Lab – 3D-prints low-carbon materials from reclaimed waste.
Helix Carbon – drop-in CO₂ electrolyzers for iron furnaces, with no “green premium.”
Carbix Corp – modular carbon capture that turns emissions into materials.
Innovia Geo – ultra-shallow geothermal solutions to reduce cost barriers.
Earthics – carbon-negative graphite for advanced energy systems.
Venture backers like Greentown Labs, Activate, and Third Derivative (D3) emphasized a clear goal: move climate tech from prototype to pilot to project scale.
🏙️ Buildings Are Still the Battleground
At the USGBC/NYSERDA/Empire State Realty Trust panel “Existing Buildings: The Next Frontier,” experts reaffirmed what many of us already know:
Buildings generate ~66% of NYC’s emissions
Embodied carbon contributes ~11% of global CO₂
Local Law 97 mandates 40% emission cuts by 2030
Laurie Kerr (USGBC) and Michael Reed (NYSERDA) argued that adaptive reuse - not new construction - is the most effective carbon reduction strategy. Data-driven benchmarking, embodied-carbon accounting, and materials transparency are now business imperatives.
🧩 Policy, People & Pilots
Policy and capital are catching up. Absolute Climate and LEED’s founding team (Robert Watson!) debated how to simplify standards without diluting rigor. Meanwhile, Schneider Electric, Pratt Institute, and EDF hosted activations on AI-driven energy management, lifecycle analytics, and equitable climate design.
Over on Governors Island, the forthcoming NYC Climate Exchange campus previewed how academia and public-private partnerships can prototype the future of urban community and climate resilience!
🔍 Key Takeaways for the Built Environment
Reuse is the new construction. Every retrofit is a carbon win.
Data equals trust. Transparency drives both compliance and brand value.
Circularity needs infrastructure. Supply chain, logistics, and resale channels are untapped growth sectors.
Simplify standards. Streamlining frameworks will unlock adoption.
Equity matters. Design climate solutions that scale access, not exclusion.
🌇 Closing Reflections
Flying cross-country for Climate Week is a privilege - one I tried to balance by walking, taking public transit, and offsetting my emissions. But it also underscored a deeper truth: climate action still requires access - to rooms, resources, and representation.
The built environment isn’t just where we live; it’s where the climate transition will be won or lost. As data becomes the connective tissue of sustainability, our collective challenge is to turn measurement into momentum.
Let’s keep building the future - cleaner, smarter, and more circular than the past.
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