#ClimateTech: Look UP and *Leverage* Climate Week NYC

Climate tech is having its moment, sort of. As someone who’s been watching both the sustainability and global climate action spaces for years, I’m noticing something. Climate tech people know climate tech people, like, who has raised funding, and so on. But, I’m not getting the sense that they know the ins/outs, the influencers, the key NGOs or the media who are covering whatever sector their tech is in. This is shortsighted.

Take food, for example. I will never claim to be the utmost expert, but I do know which NGOs are being most bold, who the key influencers and civil society leaders are, and which journalists to get in front of. 

Through the Climate Week NYC lens (just over a month away, folks), I’m seeing missed opportunities in the offing. 

Food tech folks can certainly host food tech events and talk among themselves. But, not integrating, partnering, collaborating as much as they should with the folks who deeply know the “food for climate” space is the gold. What good is your fancy software if no one who has been in that world for a lot longer knows who you are or has seen you contributing and engaging with the broader conversation?

The same holds for transportation/mobility. You can be in EVs, ebikes, or fleet electrification and logistics, and that can be a very sexy topic for climate tech people and climate tech writers (!), but… where’s the community you’ve been contributing to and engaging with to warm relationships and collaboration?

A fancy announcement about Series A funding is a bubble that bursts. Doing the front end work to map the sector and build key relationships, including watching/understanding and celebrating great sector media coverage, means that many more people and intersecting communities will be cheering you on (and thus, will be more interested in following/helping you).

This is the Climate Influence of which I write, speak, yell, hope, amplify, etc. 

I could go on, but mainly I wanted to strongly nudge climate tech folks to get more strategic about how they activate amazing connections at an event like Climate Week (and the many more happening this fall).

For those in climate tech who actually do want to produce a real solution and be part of longer term leadership for the entire food or transportation sectors, for example, you may want to consider taking time to understand the broader landscape. What IS the story of how your solution bridges to today’s biggest issues and where does what you are up to fit in the mix of how media are covering the sector?  

On that, I am calling for folks to think intentionally and strategically about how to best become a contributing member of their sector’s existing leadership community. Knowing how to network and build some overall industry wisdom will be your biggest advantage on a load of fronts. And, this is exactly what I advise on.

Please, do not waste your time at Climate Week NYC. If you are taking the time and spending the budget to attend, use that moment wisely! Startups and founders, and any other climate-focused organization or leaders, what’s keeping you from being more strategic about how to develop/post content leading up to that week, build name-recognition broadly, and warm networking or media relationships?

News to Use

RE: food, via MIT Media Lab -

One might also consider the typical practice of labeling menu items as vegetarian or vegan, without corresponding (meat) labels for items containing meat, as a choice architecture that promotes items with meat as the default… Indeed, our studies find that vegetarian and vegan labels effectively deter consumers from choosing these options. Removing these labels may provide an extremely simple and low-cost means for restaurants and other institutions to reduce their environmental impact, with minimal changes to menus, and without impacting consumers’ freedom of choice.

Labeling something as vegan or vegetarian is asking for it. Just provide great food and no one will ask. My Living Change podcast conversation with KEXP DJ and owner of Seattle’s plant-based (music-focused!) bar, Life On Mars - John Richards - got into this a bit. Give it a listen (first episode of Season 1).

RE: food/agriculture via Sentient Media

The effects of animal agriculture on the environment and climate are vast: It is a leading cause of deforestation and is responsible for between 11.1 and 19.6 percent of global emissions. It’s more important than ever to report on the connection between meat consumption and the climate crisis. Yet the public isn’t getting the message — 40 percent of respondents to a recent Newsweek poll said they believe eating less meat would not reduce climate emissions.

RE: political will (and food) via PCRM

The PLANT Act, introduced on July 28, would establish the Office of Plant-Based Foods and Innovative Production at the USDA; increase USDA incentives for farmers producing ingredients in plant-based foods, such as pulses and mushrooms; create a new plant-based protein research program within the USDA; and create a Plant Protein Innovation Initiative to direct technical assistance and grants to businesses.

Representative Jim McGovern (MA) shows food policy political will, and climate advocates in that state and across the country should be amplifying and supporting this move. States and cities with local lawmakers who are stepping it up in so-obvious climate and health-supporting moves are the way we can MOVE climate action much faster. I talked with local leaders like Culver City, CA’s Alex Fisch and Columbia, Missouri’s Barbara Buffaloe - and a few others who have incredible political will on transportation, specifically - for my Living Change podcast.

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Note: I’m pumped for the release of my interview for the Climify podcast, which posts tomorrow (August 9) - because my conversation with host Eric Benson really got into my climate influence mission and my theory of change. So, if a good backgrounder on my thinking and work is of interest, give it a follow and you’ll see it pop up in your feed tomorrow.

Also - since I talk about it so much, I better just note that, yes, I am planning to be at Climate Week NYC in late September. Please ping me if you have events I should know about (or invite me to them!).

Thanks so much for reading/sharing/subscribing. Please comment or message me with questions on building climate influence. I may cover your suggested topics in a future issue. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram and T2 in the meantime (I also linger on “X”, for now.)