Beyond the Headlines: Essential Insights from Climate Week NYC 2025

At Climate Week NYC 2025, Sodali & Co engaged with global experts and organizations to explore how the private sector is responding to evolving stakeholder expectations in the face of climate change. Despite mixed media narratives, one message was clear throughout the week: climate action remains a top priority for companies and investors worldwide. Our top takeaways from Climate Week NYC are outlined below.

Sustainability is a driving force to maximize ROI  

Experts emphasize that sustainability is a core driver of economic growth across all sectors. As an intangible asset, it enhances brand reputation, reduces costs, and boosts revenue through new services and customer growth, to name a few.  

Sustainability also builds long-term resilience and can enhance profitability. Although companies often view sustainability through a qualitative lens—focusing on seemingly intangible factors—its value can and should be quantified. Measuring intangibles isn’t new; businesses have long tracked similar variables to manage performance and ensure sound operations. Still, sustainability is too often seen as a values-based pursuit rather than a core business imperative. Reframing it as a strategic enabler of growth and competitiveness is essential. 

Investors view investment in resilience as a key differentiator. Prioritizing resilience directly protects the bottom line. For example, installing LED lighting offers multiple benefits: it reduces maintenance costs, improves safety (few replacements), and increases productivity (due to better lighting).  

To identify sustainability drivers that create value, it's vital to separate compliance risk from resilience risk. For example, a company with high water usage operating in a water stress area may not face compliance costs, but may experience costs and revenue loss due to inaction if water availability drops to a point where production would need to be halted. 

To enhance financial performance through sustainability, monitor your peer group closely. Regularly assess where and how much capital competitors are investing in sustainability topics. Even if your company isn't subject to the same regulations, your peers' compliance actions influence market standards, supply chains, and investor expectations. At Sodali, we can assist in developing tailored benchmark on sustainability topics that could help your company identify how to better monitor and manage your sustainability value drivers. 

Collaborating internally is necessary to achieve corporate sustainability goals 

Securing internal buy-in remains a challenge for sustainability teams. Speakers stressed the importance of cross-functional engagement, aligning ESG strategies with the priorities of internal stakeholders across different departments.

Positioning sustainability as a cross-functional, collaborative effort fosters broader support and more resilient, long-term outcomes. As one example, a company used a roadshow to educate internal departments on their climate scenario analysis and results. This further fostered collaboration and transparency into their company's ESG activities—and a greater sense of buy-in.

At Sodali, we work closely with clients across industries to align their organizations around sustainability. Our strategic approach uses compelling communication and deep stakeholder engagement at all levels to secure enterprise-wide support for their objectives.

AI optimism 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming corporate workflows, driving efficiency and creating unique opportunities to address humanitarian and community challenges. Global shipping and logistics company DHL, for example, leveraged AI to process customs documents, removing a major bottleneck in international aid delivery and potentially generating significant savings for emergency management logistics. Local communities are also participating. For instance, the Fire Department of the City of New York is exploring AI to optimize ambulance deployment and enhance public safety.

However, speakers tempered their enthusiasm with a fair analysis of the sustainability challenges AI creates. The substantial energy and water demands of data centers pose significant environmental risks, as well as potential inequalities that arise when these tools are developed in a silo. 

As companies broaden their AI applications, they must actively monitor and manage the growing energy and water footprints to ensure technological advancement aligns with climate objectives. Sodali & Co regularly helps clients address this by integrating data center energy use into more accurate emissions calculations, helping them better manage their potential environmental impacts.  

Non-profits are pushing forward more state-level climate legislation    

In the pullback of federal climate-related legislation in the U.S., individual states and local governments are stepping up with their own policy initiatives. As highlighted in the ‘Helping States Turn Climate Commitments Into Law’ panel, this push is supported by the Model Climate Laws Initiative – a new joint project by Environmental Advocates NY and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.

These organizations are crucial because they translate stakeholder needs into clear policy and draft legislation, and provide implementation guidance and resources to advance state-level climate action. 

The collaboration between Model Climate Laws and Sabin and states symbolizes a meaningful shift toward decentralized climate governance in the US. A clear example of this is evident in California’s enactment of Senate Bills 261 and 253, which establish sweeping new climate disclosure and reporting requirements for many companies operating in the state. As a result, companies are now preparing for increased climate-related reporting obligations starting in early 2026. In response, Sodali continues to monitor both federal and state-level developments to ensure our clients are fully informed and prepared for the evolving regulatory landscape.

Looking ahead to 2026

While 2025 presented headwinds for sustainability, Climate Week NYC events confirm the ongoing drive and energy dedicated to tackling climate challenges. Achieving meaningful progress requires persistent collaboration, transparent communication, and a willingness to innovate.

As we move into 2026, we anticipate businesses will strategically adapt their efforts by focusing on three key areas: Return on Investment (ROI), AI Integration, and State-Level Regulation.

To support these efforts, Sodali is committed to helping clients succeed in this evolving landscape. We support these efforts by building internal buy-in, engaging cross-functional stakeholders to position sustainability as a collaborative, enterprise-wide priority. As regulatory expectations evolve, we continue to work with clients to help them understand the business implications, prepare for compliance, and navigate the broader climate landscape.  

Ultimately, these measures enable our clients not only to meet their sustainability goals but also to maximize their return on investment by creating enduring value for their people, communities, and the planet.