We’re excited to announce Climate Resilience Week during Climate Week NYC, a joint initiative from Tailwind Futures, the Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment Working Group (GARI), The Resiliency Company, Resilience Investments, The Lightsmith Group, Probable Futures, and the Climate Policy Initiative.
Adaptation and resilience is valued as a $2T investment opportunity, with a growth potential of 350% by 2050. However, as a thematic area, there historically has not been a strong focus on this work as part of Climate Week NYC. Our events will fill this gap by providing a sequence of in-depth discussions tailored to professional and institutional investors.
Why attend?
- Because climate instability is already reshaping our economy and our communities
- Because solutions exist — and financing is the lever to scale them
- Because resilience must become a shared agenda across sectors
Monday, September 22: The Adaptation Forum (12-6pm EDT)
Join us for a high-energy day of programming focused on why adaptation and resilience is the most underrated climate topic of our generation. We will start the day with why now is the moment for adaptation & resilience investment by providing tangible, real-world examples of what it means to build adaptive and resilient businesses and communities. We will then explore the innovations needed to help the world adapt to a changing climate while delivering meaningful financial and social returns. (full agenda available below)
Convened by Tailwind Futures, The Resiliency Company, Resilience Investments and Virta Ventures, and sponsored by Foley Hoag, a pioneering law firm in the Energy & Climate sectors with deep expertise in the range of technologies, business models and strategies necessary to develop & deploy climate solutions at scale.
Register for the event. Note: This is an invitation-only event. Registrations will be approved based on space availability.
Tuesday, September 23: Climate Resilience Without Borders: Technology Transfer for Global Adaptation (10-12pm EDT)
Technology transfer can be a key mechanism to scale the most innovative technologies in the geographies that need them most. Technology transfer also intersects with specific challenges: trade policy, supply chains, political will, currency risk, and more. Hear from investors and companies leading their industries to transfer and scale innovative technologies in the Global South.
Convened by GARI, the Climate Policy Initiative and MercyCorps Ventures, and hosted by Nixon Peabody.
Register for in-person or virtual attendance.
Wednesday, September 24: Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (8:15am-6pm EDT)
A day dedicated to the topic of financing for climate resilience in emerging markets & developing economies. The day’s sessions will focus on:
- 8:30am – Private roundtable on Defining the Financial Returns on Resiliency Investments – email us for more information
- 10:30am – Private roundtable on Mobilizing Finance for Grassroots Adaptation: Prioritizing Solutions & Scale – email us for more information
- 1:00pm – Future Proof: Aligning Incentives for Global Climate Resilient Infrastructure: A discussion on how private and public sector investors, project developers and other stakeholders are aligning incentives to create climate resilient infrastructure globally. Focusing on investors with a global portfolio and lessons learned.
- 3:30pm Scaling Adaptation Finance: Introducing the Resilience Challenge. The Resilience Challenge is being developed by a group of leading development finance institutions (DFIs) to accelerate credible adaptation and resilience (A&R) finance and to demonstrate their commitment to building more resilient portfolios and scaling A&R solutions.
Convened by GARI and the Climate Policy Initiative, and hosted by WSP.
Thursday, September 25: Resilience Finance Day (8:30am-7pm EDT)
Join us for a day-long event focused on resilience investing with an institutional lens. The panels and fireside chats will feature investment strategies across multiple asset classes, including public and private equity, infrastructure, muni bonds, insurance, and other emerging tools to help investors measure and monetize resilience. (full agenda available below)
Convened by Tailwind Futures, GARI, The Lightsmith Group and hosted by RBC Capital Markets.
This is an invitation-only event. Email us to request an invitation.
Monday, September 22: The Adaptation Forum – FULL AGENDA
Welcome (12pm)
Abby Ross, CEO & Founder, The Resiliency Company
Mark Barnett, Partner, Co-Chair, Energy & Climate Group, Foley Hoag
Keynote: Setting the context: understanding climate risk; defining adaptation
Alison Smart, Executive Director, Probable Futures
Framework: A framework for climate adaptation and resilience work
Mekala Krishnan, Partner McKinsey Global Institute
Kanmani Chockalingam, Senior Fellow, McKinsey Global Institute
Lightning Talks: What does it mean to build resilient communities?
Daniel Kanieski, Former FEMA, Marsh
Jeff Hébert, CEO HR&A Deputy Mayor, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Resilience Officer, City of New Orleans
Janika McFeely, VP Climate and Decarbonization Practice Co-Lead JLL, North America
Panel: Why the Built Environment is essential for resilient communities
John Macomber, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Lindsay Brugger, Vice President Resilience, Urban Land Institute
Ameet Konkar, Resilience Investments
Framework: Insights into climate adaptation in 2025
Nabig Chaudhry, Director of Climate Adaptation Strategy, Probable Futures
Lightning Talk Case Studies: What does climate adaptation and resiliency action look like?
Dustin Bramell, Co-Founder, Case Study Adapt
Daniel Zarrilli, Chief Climate and Sustainability Officer, University of Columbia, Former NYC Office of the Mayor
Olivia Albrecht, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Artemeter
Presentation: The role of climate adaptation and resilience in markets
[Break]
Recap & Set Part 2 Context (3:15pm)
Abby Ross, CEO & Founder, The Resiliency Company
Panel: Investing in climate adaptation and resilience
Jay Koh, Co-founder and Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group
Emilie Mazzacurati, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Tailwind Futures
Hunter Maats, CEO, Resilience Investments
Russell Sprole, Founder and Managing Partner, Virta Ventures
Moderator: Claudia Leon, Assistant Director – Impact, Prime Coalition
Lightning Talk Case Studies: Innovations in climate adaptation and resilience
Emma Fuller, Co-founder, Fractal
Bryan Hassin, CEO, DexMat
Alex Gelber, Co-founder, Futureproof Technologies
Fred Swaniker, Founder & CEO, Sand Technologies
Panel: Why we’re investing in climate adaptation and resilience
Beth Foster-Chao, Investment lead, Climate Adaptation & Resilience, Autodesk Foundation
Jane Woodward, Founder and Managing Partner, WovenEarth Ventures
Moderator: Russell Sprole, Founder and Managing Partner, Virta Ventures
Wrap up: First principles of climate adaptation & resilience work
Sergio Velasquez-Rose, Head of Strategy, Insights & Analytics Potential Energy
Reception (5:00pm)
Thursday, September 25: Resilience Finance Day – FULL AGENDA