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Writer's pictureDevika Kumar

Climate Week 2024 Recap



This year's NYC Climate Week was electric. Sensible sneakers and refillable water bottles decorated Park Avenue as the entire climate tech world descended on the city for a week of nonstop networking. The sheer volume of goings-on was overwhelming, but we all know one cannot simply do everything. 'Tis a marathon, as they say.


Our firm focused on doing 1-2 quality things a day that allowed us to genuinely connect with people and/or learn something new.


Here's a quick rundown of what we hosted:


1) A breakfast on Tuesday: "Countdown to 2030: Climate Technologies Ready for Takeoff"

150+ early risers joined us to fuel up on coffee and commercialization, hearing from an all-star speaker lineup: Josh Brumberger (Utilidata), Alp Kucukelbir (Fero Labs), Tim Boeltken (INERATEC), and Giulia Siccardo (DOE).


2) A padel event on Thursday: "Early Morning Padel for Late-Stage Investors" 

60+ players showed up at 8:00am on the courts in Williamsburg, swapping suits for rackets and well drinks for Gatorade, game-ready for some back-and-forth conversation & competition.


This was hands down my favorite event of climate week (though I did organize it...!)


3) A roundtable lunch on Thursday: "Financing the Built Environment Decarbonization"


We brought 30 investors, property owners, founders, and policymakers together for a lunch-and-learn in our office boardroom - sandwiches with a side of Central Park views!


4) A basketball tournament on Friday

84 Ballers and 100 or so Bagelers (spectating bagel-eaters) came out for the 2nd Annual Climate Cup – a 12-team tournament competing for Climate Week glory.

Pro-tip: there are way more Division 1 athletes who work in climate than you'd expect!


As shown in the photos, we also had a couple speaking gigs: John spoke about infrastructure and the energy transition at the Climate Capital Summit, and Alex and I joined a panel at NYU's Real Estate Decarbonization event


A few reflections:


We definitely went all out this climate week- hosting, speaking, and attending events every day.


It's all too easy to speed-date through panels and happy hours and play calendar Tetris to squeeze in just one more dinner. But in my opinion, the real wins come from slowing down - catch-ups that turn into brainstorming sessions, coffee breaks with no nametags, and moments of insight that surface when I least expect them.


My two (or three) cents:

  • You don’t need to be at everything... just the right things.

  • Creating opportunities for authentic connection is key. Sometimes, a game of padel or a casual lunch is all you need.

  • Showing up is enough. Leaving space for the unplanned opens the door to a kind of statistical serendipity: the magic that happens when you simply show up and allow the probabilities of connection to work in your favor.



I'm looking forward to planning and attending more high-value events in the future - reach out if you'd like to collaborate!


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