Climate action requires consensus-and compromise

September 18, 2023

Determination and hope are on the agenda at Climate Week

Climate Week NYC kicks off in September 2023 with a simple but powerful theme: “We Can. We Will.” The annual summit has grown to become an important part of the climate calendar, attended by leading politicians, businesses, and investors alike.

This year, the summit takes place under difficult circumstances. The moral case for acting on the climate crisis has never been clearer; in the first half of 2023, the world has seen a devastating round of extreme weather events. New records have been broken for sea, land, and air temperatures. The months of June and July were the hottest on record.

Complicating the picture in the United States is a lack of political consensus about how to combat the crisis. The political mood often swings in opposing directions, while issues caused by extreme weather events—including droughts, floods, fires, and food insecurity—have the potential to lead to further instability.

Internal analysis from Signify also suggests that switching to LEDs may have significant economic benefits, too, reducing energy costs in Europe by €65 billion. The same is true in the US, with a shift to LEDs projected to save an estimated US$31.5 billion.

When delegates arrive in New York for a fresh round of debate and decision-making, they should focus on ways to seek stronger consensus in the US on the way forward. The world’s largest economy can’t be directed towards rapid, positive change unless consensus is reached and compromise is accepted. As the impacts of the climate crisis become ever more acute, the themes of Climate Week NYC 2023 become ever more relevant. If business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers, and civil society representatives can work together, they can create efficient buildings for people and the planet, and begin to unlock the value of a low-carbon future.