EDF at Climate Week NYC 2026

Ports are central to the maritime energy transition, and their role is essential to meeting the shipping industry’s goal to reach net zero emissions by mid-century. As governments, ship owners, cargo owners and other stakeholders pursue their decarbonization goals, ports are becoming critical hubs for cleaner operations, including through electrification. This roundtable brings together port authorities, ship owners, investors, utilities and policymakers to discuss how major ports are planning and implementing electrification strategies, the infrastructure and policy requirements needed to support growth, and lessons that can be shared across regions to accelerate maritime decarbonization.

The Western U.S. is entering a once-in-a-generation moment that will shape how electricity is shared across the region for decades to come. As electricity prices skyrocket and demand climbs, Western regional markets are developing to connect a patchwork of separate power systems into one that works better together. Done correctly, this can deliver benefits for electricity costs, grid reliability and clean energy development throughout the West. Join EDF and a panel of representatives from developers, financial institutions, large energy buyers and utilities to discuss how regional electricity markets can drive energy innovation and accelerate the deployment of clean electricity resources.

This workshop examines the full range of financial and nonfinancial benefits generated through Jurisdictional REDD+ benefit-sharing processes, with particular attention to Indigenous peoples and local communities. Moving beyond the question of equitable resource distribution, the discussion explores whether these processes are strengthening institutional capacity, governance, gender inclusion and government-community relationships — and how they contribute to outcomes from biodiversity and wildfire resilience to sustainable forest management and climate adaptation. Drawing on safeguards like free, prior and informed consent and comparing experiences across jurisdictions, the session surfaces conditions that enable — or constrain — these broader co-benefits, informing a joint EDF–Emergent knowledge product.

The Climate Justice Hub brings together frontline leaders, advocates, policymakers, researchers, funders, students and other changemakers to build the partnerships needed to advance durable, equitable climate solutions worldwide. Join the Frontline Resource Institute at Environmental Defense Fund for practical conversations, shared learning and cross-sector collaboration as we explore how integrating frontline leadership into climate decision-making leads to better outcomes for people and the planet.

This event is hosted by the Frontline Resource Institute at EDF in partnership with Anthropocene Alliance, Beyond Petrochemicals, Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, Climate Critical, City of Detroit, Counterstream Media, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Fordham University Graduate Program in International Political Economy and Development, Latino Network Institute for Sustainable Communities, Sankofa Community Development Corporation, Young, Gifted & Green, Mycelium Youth Network, Natural Resources Defense Council and WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

• Margot Brown, Senior Vice President, Justice and Equity, Environmental Defense Fund
• Rachel Marston, Research Manager, Environmental Defense Fund
• Natasha Vidangos, Associate Vice President, Innovation and Technology Policy, Environmental Defense Fund
• Sarah Vogel, Senior Vice President, Community Health, Environmental Defense Fund
• Nina Lutz, Consultant, University of Washington Center for an Informed Public, KTLN Consulting
• Beverly Wright, Founder and Executive Director, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
• Lil Milagro Henriquez, Founder and Executive Director, Mycelium Youth Network
• LaTricea Adams, Founder, CEO and President, Young, Gifted & Green
• Katlyn Turner, Assistant Professor, Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder
• Brandi Jenkins, Deputy Executive Director, Beyond Petrochemicals
• Valentina Rojas, Environmental Health Manager, WE ACT for Environmental Justice
• Ali Abazeed, Chief Public Health Officer, Director of Health, City of Detroit
• Robert Bullard, Founding Director, Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice
• Rashida Ferdinand, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sankofa Community Development Corporation
• Manuel Salgado, Federal Research Manager, WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Energy has led the participatory development of the country’s REDD+ Benefit Distribution Plan (BDP) — a mechanism to ensure that benefits of reducing deforestation and forest degradation reach the territories, communities and stakeholders driving conservation on the ground. Built through dialogue and collaborative design with Indigenous peoples, local communities, Afro-Ecuadorian communities, the Montubio people, civil society and local governments, the process centered on safeguards, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), governance and fair benefit-sharing. This session presents the BDP and shares lessons from its participatory design — and what it takes to move from planning to implementation.

• Mark Moroge, Vice President, Forests, Environmental Defense Fund
• Jessica Gallegos, Undersecretary of Climate Change, Ministry of Environment and Energy of Ecuador
• Nema Grefa, President, CONFENIAE
• Eron Bloomgarden, CEO, Emergent
• Sebastián Valdivieso, Country Director, Wildlife Conservation, Ecuador

This session marks FONAFIFO’s 30th anniversary, tracing the evolution and impact of Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services Program — one of the world’s earliest and most influential models of participatory conservation and forest finance. Bringing together government representatives, Indigenous leaders, international organizations, civil society and forest and climate finance experts, the conversation will explore the lessons Costa Rica’s three-decade experience offers for building a new generation of high-integrity, inclusive forest finance mechanisms — ones that deliver real benefits for both communities and forests.

• Mark Moroge, Vice President, Forests, Environmental Defense Fund
• Jorge Mario Rodríguez, Executive Director, FONAFIFO
• Levi Sucre, Indigenous Leader, Indigenous Network Bribri and Cabecar (RIBCA)
• Tatiana Martínez, Indigenous Leader, Asociación Comisión de Mujeres Indígenas de Talamanca (ACOMUITA)
• Erwin De Nys, Environment Manager for Latin America, World Bank
• Christina Magerkurth, Executive Director, Architecture for REDD+ Transactions (ART)
• Eron Bloomgarden, CEO, Emergent
• Josep Garí, Head, Climate, Forest and Land, United Nations Development Programme

As interest in marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) grows, stakeholders are grappling with a range of difficult questions: research, commercialization, deployment, environmental protection, scientific integrity, equity, public accountability, and governance under uncertainty. This workshop will bring together a wide range of mCDR stakeholders to better understand these tensions and explore where constructive paths forward might exist.

The dairy industry has built momentum on emissions reduction. The opportunity now is to make that work durable: embedding it into core business processes so it scales beyond any single project or budget cycle. This session brings sustainability, procurement and finance leaders from across the sector together. It will feature interactive, small-group discussions on the factors that influence prioritization, funding and partnerships on emissions reduction initiatives that can help connect climate considerations to business value and enable greater scale and lasting progress. Capacity is limited.

This event will explore how marine fisheries, ocean carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and emerging ocean-climate solutions intersect and require coordinated management. The session will highlight the role of ocean science in decision-making to achieve multiple environmental, climate and socioeconomic goals and to build support for integrated approaches that maximize climate, conservation and food security benefits.

Explore how implementation of the EU Methane Regulation is influencing global energy markets. As calls grow for faster methane action — recently underscored by the U.N. secretary-general — government and methane policy leaders from Europe and energy-producing countries, and representatives from industry, finance and civil society, will examine how measurement, reporting and verification requirements are shaping business and policy decisions. The discussion will highlight early implementation lessons, the regulation’s impacts beyond Europe, and how credible data, finance and international cooperation can help suppliers prepare for compliance, reduce emissions, strengthen energy security and accelerate progress toward near-zero methane emissions. Lunch is provided.

First-of-a-kind clean technologies are essential for economy-wide decarbonization. However, because they are new, these vital technologies may be perceived as high-risk, and they may struggle to attract capital from lenders and later-stage investors. Insurance can help overcome these challenges — but to be most effective, it must be linked with other forms of capital that can help these first-of-a-kind technologies scale. In this highly participatory session, we’ll convene tech companies, insurers, lenders and investors to develop shared understanding and a common vocabulary for the role risk transfer plays in unlocking capital for early-stage climate tech.

• Kate Stein, Director, Insurance, EDF+Business, Environmental Defense Fund (facilitator)

Slow-onset climate impacts — such as sea-level rise, extreme heat and desertification — are already reshaping where and how people live around the world. This event will highlight the growing evidence base on the links between slow-onset climate impacts and human mobility, drawing on EDF and CARE’s emerging research agenda alongside CARE’s experience in Somalia and other climate-vulnerable contexts. It will showcase how climate change is transforming livelihoods, local economies, food systems and mobility decisions, and how adaptation and resilience investments can strengthen people’s ability to remain where they choose, move safely when necessary, and recover with dignity.

Join Moms Clean Air Force, an EDF program dedicated to protecting children’s health, for a gathering of climate storytellers. This special event will include two panel discussions that feature journalist and author Melissa Jun Rowley, moms on the front lines of community site fights, and award-winning National Geographic photographer Nichole Sobecki.

• Vanessa Lynch, Pennsylvania Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
• Amanda Rowoldt, Ohio Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force
• Alexandra Zissu, Editorial Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
• Melissa Jun Rowley, Journalist and Author of Beyond the Mic Drop: How Our Stories Shift Culture, Power and Policy

• Isabel González Whitaker, Associate Vice President, Moms Clean Air Force
• Nichole Sobecki, Photographer and Filmmaker, National Geographic
• Lauren DeFilippo, Director and Producer, Insignia Films

This technical roundtable will bring together wildfire experts, government representatives and Indigenous leaders to explore how Indigenous and local knowledge can be better integrated into wildfire policy and management. The discussion will identify practical opportunities for collaboration across traditional knowledge, science, technology and public policy to strengthen wildfire resilience.

• Edgar Godoy, Associate Vice President, Jurisdictional Alliances, Forests, Environmental Defense Fund
• Karl Peet, Senior Advisor, Global Wildfire Collective
• Erasmo Otarola, Executive Director, National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR), Peru

Climate change is reshaping insurance, which underpins our financial markets and community resilience. Across EDF, teams are engaging in work that identifies solutions to address climate-driven insurability challenges, and to identify approaches that leverage insurance for more resilient outcomes. Over the last year, EDF has established itself as a thought leader on insurance through multiple publications related to flood resilience, wildfire resilience, agriculture, nature and industry. This event will provide an overview of our latest work and lay the groundwork for partnerships to address insurance challenges.

• Talley Burley, Senior Manager, Climate Risk and Insurance, Environmental Defense Fund
• Vincent Gauthier, Senior Manager, Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund
• Erin Leonard, Project Manager, Agriculture, Environmental Defense Fund
• Kate Stein, Director, Insurance, EDF+Business, Environmental Defense Fund
• Additional speakers to be announced

As we look to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors, sustainable fuels are expected to play an increasing role. Ambition is rapidly advancing, with initiatives like the COP30 Belém 4X Pledge signaling the global drive to increase sustainable fuels. However, building a sustainable fuels market will require coordination on a new scale — forging connections across sectors and supply chains, shaping policy signals and financial tools to accelerate investment, and building consensus around sustainability objectives. This interactive, information-sharing session discusses how to prioritize resources, which initiatives offer learnings and scalability, and how to secure the climate and environmental benefits that underpin our ambition.

• Morgan Rote, Associate Vice President, U.S. Fuels and Transportation, Environmental Defense Fund
• Additional speakers to be announced

As the International Maritime Organization moves toward implementing a global measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, Member States are also discussing key sustainability standards that will determine alternative fuels eligibility. Current discussions include how to assess the risks for indirect land-use change when crop-based feedstocks are diverted for biofuel production. Building from discussions held during the sidelines of London Climate Action Week 2026, this event will convene key stakeholders to discuss a possible way forward for an International Maritime Organization global indirect land-use change risk-based assessment framework.

Hosted by the International Fertilizer Association, this roundtable will explore what preparedness means in practice in a more volatile world. It will ask if and how lessons from recent shocks can be translated into better foresight, stronger risk intelligence, adaptive procurement, more resilient production and sourcing systems, and financial frameworks that reward long-term adaptive capacity rather than short-term optimization alone. The intended outcome is a short resilience-by-design agenda: a business-facing synthesis of what organizations can do individually, what requires value chain collaboration, and where finance, insurance, civil society or policy signals are needed to make preparedness investable, credible and scalable.

• Britt Groosman, Senior Vice President, Agriculture, Water and Food, Environmental Defense Fund

Mark1, EDF and RTI International are convening a curated workshop on data-driven derisking for first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technologies and projects. Bringing together leaders from finance, insurance, engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) firms and technology companies, the discussion will explore how data can accelerate commercialization and improve project insurability and bankability. Participants will examine the types of data needed to build confidence in emerging technologies, how pilots and demonstrations can maximize data value, and what insurance solutions could support deployment. The workshop will also address data quality and availability challenges and consider whether pooled datasets could help scale investment and insurance across sectors.

The session will convene retail sustainability leaders for a candid discussion on how companies can navigate complex climate and business decisions to accelerate decarbonization. Through peer exchange on challenges, lessons learned and emerging best practices, participants will explore practical strategies for reducing emissions across operations and supply chains.

Although groundwater is fundamental to climate resilience, water security, food production, and ecosystem and economic health, it remains underrepresented in global climate, water, food and development discussions. EDF and partners are advancing the Global Groundwater Resilience Joint Statement to strengthen cooperation and knowledge sharing among institutions and financing actors working on groundwater resilience. This event will explore how building momentum around groundwater resilience can be translated into coordinated action in the lead-up to the 2026 U.N. Water Conference and beyond.

• Ann Hayden, Vice President, Water Program, Environmental Defense Fund
• Sofie Sandstrom Jaffe, Permanent Observer of IUCN to the United Nations, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
• Rachael McDonnell, Deputy Director General – Research for Development, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)

Methane can no longer hide. A new generation of satellites is pinpointing emissions at scale and delivering actionable data faster than ever. The critical question is how to turn unprecedented transparency into rapid, lasting climate action. Makenzie Lystrup, chief technology officer at Environmental Defense Fund and former director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, alongside global leaders in policy, science and energy, will explore how satellite intelligence, international cooperation and real-world implementation can accelerate methane mitigation and why cutting methane is one of the fastest ways to slow near-term warming. Reception to follow.

• Makenzie Lystrup, Chief Technology Officer, Environmental Defense Fund; former Director, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
• Additional speakers to be announced

As countries move from carbon market design to implementation, Article 6, regional initiatives and the Open Coalition’s new workplan are creating opportunities to align markets, strengthen policy-driven demand and mobilize investment ahead of COP31. This panel will convene policymakers, investors and market actors to clarify what cooperation requires in practice and elevate EDF’s role as a trusted convener shaping high-integrity carbon market cooperation.

• Angela Churie Kallhauge, Executive Vice President, Impact, Environmental Defense Fund
• Additional speakers to be announced

This session will explore how to accelerate adoption of proven practices and technologies that reduce methane emissions and provide other benefits to farms and communities. Environmental Defense Fund and partners will introduce the Dairy Impact Finance initiative, a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort to help farmers finance sustainable practices and technologies at scale. Farmers, dairy companies and agricultural finance providers will discuss the realities of investing in farm-level sustainability, the limitations of existing financing approaches, and how the Dairy Impact Finance initiative could unlock private capital while reducing risk for farmers.

Action on agricultural methane around the world demonstrates an increasing opportunity to strengthen food systems and economies while advancing climate goals. This panel discussion will highlight the global momentum behind agricultural methane action, exploring what is being delivered on the ground today and discussing what is needed to accelerate adoption at scale. This event will feature global panelists from finance, industry, science, civil society and farming communities. Light refreshments will follow.

Texas is where the future of energy is being tested in real time. Despite a challenging political environment, the state leads the nation in renewable energy and storage deployment, thanks to its competitive energy market. At the same time, Texas is facing rapid data center growth, leading to accelerated build-out of gas plants and proposals that threaten the state’s clean energy trajectory. Join EDF and industry leaders to explore how growing demand can unlock opportunities for clean energy technologies and how to ensure policies and markets continue to support innovation, affordability and climate goals.

• Colin Leyden, Texas State Director, Environmental Defense Fund
• Ian Lloyd, Director of Power Sector Policy and Strategy, Environmental Defense Fund
• Judd Messer, Vice President, Advanced Power Alliance