What The Big Apple’s Climate Week Looked Like on Social Media

Posts 26 Sep 2016

Just weeks ahead of the US election, Climate Week NYC brought government and business leaders to the Big Apple to talk about how to accelerate the low carbon transition.

During a range of events, receptions and discussions from 19 until 25 September, participants from around the world focused on how investment in innovation, technology and clean energy can drive profitability, and lead the world toward net-zero emissions.

This year’s New York climate week, which has become a staple amongst the international green innovation scene, took place during the UN’s first general assembly meeting since the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015.

We’ve selected a few social posts to give you a taste of what it was like!

The Empire State building was lit up in green to give a whole “new meaning to ‘green buildings’,” diplomat Juan-Pablo Valdes tweeted.

Lots of innovations were on display in New York, including this electric race car, captured in a tweet by the city’s development agency NYCEDC.

The EU signalled it may fast-track its Paris Agreement ratification process. EU climate chief Miguel Arias Cañete told the UN general assembly in New York: “It is very simple, the European Union must join the Paris Agreement this year.”

Al Gore’s Climate Reality project highlighted how leaders from thirteen states, regions and provinces from across the world – including Europe, the US and Canada – made their way to New York to discuss regional climate action.

Cities were well represented, and the Danish Cleantech Hub – which connects New York with Danish cleantech solutions and expertise – tweeted how Copenhagen’s mayor shared his city’s experience with climate change adaptation.

Years of Living Dangerously, the climate change documentary series featuring celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, premiered its second season at a special event in New York City.

Apple was one of the companies to announce during Climate Week that it had joined the RE100 initiative, pledging to use 100 per cent renewable energy. This tweet from the Climate Group shows Apple’s environmental director Lisa Jackson making the announcement.

“When Apple, Bank of America and General Motors all announce plans to source 100 per cent renewable energy, it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future,” Unilever’s Thomas Lingard tweeted.

“We have to ripple the pond,” is how Apple CEO Tim Cook put it according to a tweet by Clean Trillion, the US campaign to mobilise and additional $1 trillion per year for renewable energy.

Canada’s Ontario province tweeted a bit of neighbourly advice for New Yorkers, with some top tips on how to help fight climate change at home.

Not only did the Empire State building light up green, Time Square featured a promotional video about Climate Week NYC on an enormous screen.

New York City has taken the equivalent of 668 cars off the road by installing just 9 megawatts of solar power on public buildings in the city, the city’s energy management company tweeted. New York says it will expand its solar capacity to 1000 megawatts by 2030.

https://twitter.com/energy_NYC/status/779417784593879040

Mark MacInnis posted a photo of a solar panel installation in New York City on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKsmv6XBl-G/

New York is the largest hydroelectric power producer east of the Rocky Mountains. Climate-KIC veteran Angela Howarth tweeted this photo during a visit to the state’s Niagara Power Plant – good for more than 2500 megawatts.

Catherine McKenna, Canada’s climate change minister, tweeted a video message from Dutch chemicals multinational DSM’s Paulette van Ommen, who says her company has introduced an internal carbon price of €50 per tonne of CO2.

https://twitter.com/ec_minister/status/778729782724833280

Canada hosted a special event to discuss carbon pricing and how it can help boost innovation, this tweet from the Canadian mission to the UN reveals.

Environmental data specialist CDP released a new report on carbon pricing during Climate Week NYC. The momentum for the strategy seems “unstoppable,” CEO Paul Simpson tweeted.

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