Learning from participation in Climate Week NYC 2024 (Part 1)

1.What is Climate Week NYC, the world's largest US climate change event?

Climate Week NYC 2024 is an event organized by the Climate Group, a non-profit organization that works with business and government leaders around the world to address climate change.

The Climate Group is an organization that has had a major influence on climate change, including its leadership of the RE100 international initiative, in which companies aim to use 100% renewable energy to power their operations.

I participated in "Climate Week NYC 2024" hosted by the Climate Group as a member of the Japan Climate Leaders Partnership (JCLP) delegation.

In addition to the "Opening Ceremony," where heads of state, heads of international organizations, and CEOs of companies gathered, attendees participated in "The Hub Live," which featured sessions on themes such as "The New Industrial Revolution" and "Leadership and Green Growth. This year's offline events also attracted a record number of more than 900 side events, indicating the high level of attention and interest in the event. While this event may seem a bit similar to the COP in that it brings together influential climate change leaders from business, government, finance, investors, and international organizations, the purpose of the event is very different.

The difference is that, firstly, Climate Week is only an American event. Although it is one of the largest climate change events in the world, the participants involved in the US are still the main participants. Of course, there are of course things that are discussed from a global perspective, but the biggest difference may be that the discussions are led by people from the USA.

Another difference is that in the case of the COP, governments and leaders from various countries meet and discuss, and as a result, agreements such as treaties are decided. In this sense, it can be said that what takes place at Climate Week is characterised by ‘discussion’, ‘fostering common understanding’ and ‘meeting with and sharing knowledge of the parties concerned’.

2. Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group, says

One of the many things that impressed me this year was the opening remarks by Climate Group CEO/Helen Clarkson.

This year's theme was "it's time," . In line with that theme, Helen said, "Global change is facing an urgent situation due to climate change. The time is now. We must act before it is too late," she said.

She also mentioned that "history will judge us. She predicted that 100 years from now, the next generation will denounce the day when they will ask, "Why didn't we, living in the modern age, do something before it was too late?How strong were the warnings from scientists when we knew where we were headed?" And was the best we, as people of the past, could do just to slow down a little?

Why didn't anyone step on the handbrake for a U-turn?" What should we do to prevent people 100 years from now from saying, "Why didn't anyone step on the handbrake to make a U-turn? Various questions were raised about our current efforts.

I was reminded that this point has great resonance with our ASUENE mission "A Better World for the Next Generation. I felt again that this point has a great resonance with the mission of ASUENE, "A Better World for the Next Generation.

3. "Five Recommendations" that must be addressed now.

In response to this current crisis over climate change and in anticipation of the denunciation of the current generation by the next generation, Ms. Helen presented five recommendations, saying "It's Time" to address climate change.

Here are the recommendations.

(i) Keeping in mind the needs and priorities of the community and the reality of what is happening now, there are many things that everyone should do, such as investing in renewable energy, reducing the use of fossil fuels, and promoting EVs, in recognition of the current critical situation.However, these are not only for the wealthy, but also for all "people" affected by climate change, including those in developing countries, who should be considered first and foremost.

(ii) is based on the fact that people living in "developing countries" are the most affected by climate change, as the phrase "Global South, Global North" implies. The idea is that developed countries have a responsibility to spend more money to implement measures and initiatives to help the developing countries that are suffering the enormous damage of the climate change crisis. She explained that developed countries need to use the power of finance to take action.

(iii) is that the United Nations Development Organization (UNDP) Development Programme has found that about 80 percent of the world's people surveyed say that governments should take stronger action on climate change. That is why we recommend that governments should listen to these citizens and take action on climate change.

(iv)While many people are enthusiastic about technology and other new things, it is also true that there is no "silver bullet" that will solve everything. The reality is that what appears to be a "silver bullet" may be overhyped or just a tactic to provide some support to keep the fossil fuels burning. Therefore, we can no longer afford to trust our future to "silver bullet" solutions, and we need to take more serious and steady action to eliminate barriers to climate change action, such as the introduction of renewable energy.

(5) Many people make the difficult argument for reducing the use of fossil fuels, and many recognize the reality that fossil fuel levels must be significantly reduced in order to achieve an energy mix by 2050.On the other hand, there are some passages that seem to indicate that oil-producing countries and companies dealing with fossil fuels still intend to make a profit from them. Now is the time for a change in business models. These five principles should be followed by us today.

In closing, Helen said, "This is the fight of our lives. It is a challenge to transform what has benefited the fuel industry for too long.It is a great challenge to overturn the activities of the past and the systems that have been in place.It will require us to fundamentally restructure the economies of the past and continue to move forward toward a better future.In the future, how future generations will evaluate us today will depend on the actions we take now," he added.

4. Demand for electricity is exploding due to generated AI

"ClimateWeek" is being held in the US, and given the current strong influence of technology and GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft), the IT x climate changeThere was a lively discussion on IT x climate change.Two points were very impressive among them.The first point is the rapid increase in power demand due to AI computing, including generative AI.I attended a lecture session on Sustainable Cloud Computing & AI at Columbia University in the US. The presentation discussed the results of a study that showed that the use of AI and ChatGPT has been increasing rapidly, and that the power consumption has been increasing by about 100 times compared to Google searches (this figure is also changing due to rapid technological innovation).The use of generative AI requires the use of more data centers, and there is a growing need for power supplies to cover the power consumption of these data centers. That means that CO2 emissions from power use will increase by that much, and there is no doubt that securing vast amounts of power and power supplies will become a major obstacle for data center-owning IT companies in the future.

In addition, according to a McKinsey & Company study, power consumption in data centers is projected to nearly double from 17 gigawatts in 2022 and 17 gigawatts in 2022 to 35 gigawatts in eight years, in 2030.

The U.S. accounts for 40% of the world's data center power consumption, and the fact that power demand will increase so much in the U.S. will cause a considerable power shortage on a global scale.Until now, about 2% of the world's power demand has come from data centers, but power demand is expected to grow to 20% in the future.That is how much more power shortages are expected in the future. Without power security, no matter how much IT innovation is promoted in the future, power shortages will become a bottleneck, increasing the likelihood that even if new technologies are created, they will not be usable.How do we secure power?It is very difficult to predict how much electricity will be needed in the future in light of further technological advances, including the question of how to secure electricity, and it is very likely that the demand for electricity will increase sharply.On the other hand, there is a great possibility that new technological innovations will create technologies that can reduce the growing demand for electricity.

5. Nuclear Power as a Stable Clean Energy

Considering the aforementioned growing demand for electricity, the number of cases where GAFAM procures power from nuclear power plants is increasing very much.For example, in March 2024, Amazon's AWS announced the acquisition of a data center that procures power from nuclear power plants for approximately 96 billion yen from Talen Energy, a US power company.

While Amazon has a need for more data centers, it has set a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2030, and in order to achieve this goal, it has begun to use nuclear power as a clean energy source that does not emit CO2, not only using renewable energy and solar power, but also considering the risks of nuclear power.In addition to renewable energy and solar power, the company has begun to use nuclear power as a clean energy source that does not emit CO2, in light of the risks associated with nuclear power.Just in time for ClimateWeek, in September 2024, Microsoft signed the largest ever power procurement contract for its data centers after the restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, USA.The contract is for 20 years, from 2028 to 2047, and will procure 835 MW of power.The name will be renamed from Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant to Crane Clean Energy Center.Microsoft also said that "this agreement is a major milestone in supporting our efforts to go carbon negative and promote the decarbonization of the electric grid," Bobby Hollis, the company's vice president of energy, said in a statement.

Gov. Josh Shapiro also noted that "Pennsylvania's nuclear energy industry plays an important role in providing safe, reliable, carbon dioxide-free power that helps reduce emissions and grow Pennsylvania's economy."The company also said the agreement will create approximately 3,400 jobs and bring in more than $3 billion in state and federal taxes. The agreement will also add $16 billion to Pennsylvania's GDP.It should be noted that although Unit 2 of the past Three Mile Island reactors experienced a meltdown in March 1979, the Unit 1 reactor, which will be restarted for Microsoft, was not involved in this accident.Microsoft also said that "this agreement is a major milestone in supporting our efforts to go carbon negative and promote the decarbonization of the electric grid," Bobby Hollis, the company's vice president of energy, said in a statement.And Google has set a goal of Net Zero by 2030.However, CO2 emissions increased by +48% in 23 years compared to 19 years.Both securing electricity and reducing emissions have become essential and a challenge.

Nuclear power is a green, free, and abundant source of power that can be supplied, which is why GAFAM is focusing on the use of nuclear power.

6. Huge supply chain engagement challenges

The second point that impressed me was when I had an individual meeting with one of GAFAM's companies.That company was participating in "ClimateWeek" for the purpose of communicating with the head of the U.S. government about the latest information and their initiatives.They are a company committed to a shift to 100% renewable energy by 2030, and have also announced their commitment to small electronic power and solar.They are also interested in EVs in their fleet of vehicles and plan to increase their current fleet of 25,000 EVs to 100,000.Looking at the company's Scope 1-3 emissions, 75% of the company's emissions are from its Scope 3 supply chain.Engaging these 300,000+ suppliers is a major challenge, and frankly, the company cannot afford to do so.That is why he said that it is important to focus on the challenges and risks of suppliers, who are heavily weighted and have many issues, and to implement solutions, as well as the need to educate suppliers, share challenges, and provide some of the resources.

To this end, he also said that it is important to spread the concept of sustainability within the company to its nearly 1.6 million employees.I was also impressed by his comment that it is very important to involve employees by establishing a sustainability ambassador system.What I also found interesting was their stance on "carbon credits.Not only this company, but GAFAM and many other companies have set a goal of achieving net zero emissions.Although carbon credits have been criticized in part for their unreliability, no matter how advanced technology becomes, CO2 emissions will always occur as long as humans are engaged in activities, and it is practically impossible to reduce emissions to zero.Based on this premise, carbon credits to remove and offset GHGs are still essential to achieve net zero emissions.There were many other learnings from ClimateWeek, but the direction of U.S. climate change policy will change dramatically depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November 2024.

In the second part, we will discuss our predictions for the U.S. presidential election and what the decarbonization policies will look like when it comes to each candidate.and more learnings from Climate Week.

Please look forward to the second part.

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Article by Euisung Lee , Asuene Global Business team. Asuene Global Business team, the global sustainability intelligence team at Asuene, acts as the guidepost through the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability. The Asuene Global Business team identifies emerging trends and regulations in decarbonization, climate policy, and broader ESG matters. This knowledge is translated into actionable insights through white papers, articles, webinars, and regular updates on our website and social media.