Durability at Climate Week NYC 2025: Turning Ambition Into Action
A field report from Climate Week NYC 2025 reflecting on one recurring idea, durability. The piece traces a week of policymaker–innovator–investor alignment, practical MRV tooling, and state-level leadership, arguing that credible carbon removal now depends on coordination, trust, and consistent follow-through.
Key Highlights
Central theme: durability in both carbon storage and long-term commitment.
Practical progress: Grain Ecosystem showcased a digital MRV and Jobs-to-Be-Done platform at the North American Biochar Conference.
Market signal: near-term carbon removal will rely heavily on nature-based solutions like biochar, with credibility defined by data quality and mindset.
Policy alignment: state-level action via permitting, procurement, and policy innovation is accelerating real deployment.
Collaboration over competition: prosperity and decarbonization can advance together when stakeholders share impact and rewards.
Outlook: growing appetite, talent, and coordination suggest bigger momentum by next year.
Durability in Focus
New York City during Climate Week 2025 had the rare kind of energy that feels both urgent and hopeful — the hum of possibility mixed with the weight of responsibility. From the first panel to the last late-night conversation, one theme kept resurfacing: durability. Not just in carbon storage, but in commitment — the endurance it takes to translate ambition into measurable, lasting impact.
A Week Defined by Collaboration
The week began alongside the VoLo Foundation team and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a fellow Rhode Islander whose clarity on climate accountability continues to set a national example. It was the perfect opening to a week defined by collaboration between policymakers, innovators, and investors — all converging on the idea that climate progress requires alignment across every level of society.
That momentum had already been set in motion a week earlier during my Nasdaq TradeTalk conversation with Jill Malandrino and David Stuckenberg, where we explored how technology and resilience intersect in a world demanding both growth and responsibility.
For us at Grain Ecosystem, this dialogue wasn’t abstract. Just days earlier in Minneapolis, we showcased our digital MRV and Jobs-to-Be-Done platform at the North American Biochar Conference — a tool designed to help operators and investors move from opportunity to execution with precision and transparency. Watching people engage with the platform, seeing data bring clarity to real-world projects, felt like a glimpse into what scalable carbon removal can truly look like.
Credibility and the Carbon Market
The conversations deepened at the Santander Carbon & Climate Infrastructure Conference, where the dialogue centered on what defines credibility in the carbon removal space. The message was clear: near-term carbon removal will be built on nature-based solutions like biochar, and durability, both in data and in mindset, is quickly becoming the new currency.
Those same values echoed through meetings with Climeworks, discussions with Sweden’s Climate Ambassador Mattias Frumerie, and strategy sessions with investors and philanthropic leaders across New York. It became evident that the technologies we need already exist; what’s required now is coordination, trust, and consistent follow-through.
The Power of State-Level Leadership
Leadership at the state level has never been more critical. The role of states in accelerating decarbonization, through permitting, procurement, and policy innovation, is proving to be one of the most powerful levers for real-world change.
From California to Rhode Island, state action is setting the tone for how public and private sectors can move together with speed and accountability.
That belief drives everything we do at Green Growth, with an emphasis on the Circular Economy, helping producers and developers turn residues into biochar, clean electricity, tax credits, and verified carbon removals, all while ensuring transparency and accessibility remain at the heart of carbon markets.
Collaboration Over Competition
As Climate Week came to a close, I kept thinking about something Governor Gavin Newsom said during the Clinton Global Initiative:
“No one is taller than when they bend down on one knee to lift someone else up.”
In the climate world, that means collaboration over competition, building systems that allow farmers, foresters, and innovators to share in both the impact and the reward. Because the real enemy isn’t industry; it’s emissions.
And the future belongs to those who recognize that prosperity and decarbonization aren’t opposing forces, but two sides of the same coin.
Looking Ahead
Walking away from this year’s Climate Week, I can’t help but feel that the momentum is only just beginning. The appetite, the talent, and the coordination are finally aligning.
By next year, Climate Week will be even bigger, a true reflection of how far we’ve come, and how much closer we are to making durable climate solutions not just possible, but inevitable.
Durability at Climate Week NYC 2025: Turning Ambition Into Action
A field report from Climate Week NYC 2025 reflecting on one recurring idea, durability. The piece traces a week of policymaker–innovator–investor alignment, practical MRV tooling, and state-level leadership, arguing that credible carbon removal now depends on coordination, trust, and consistent follow-through.
Key Highlights
Central theme: durability in both carbon storage and long-term commitment.
Practical progress: Grain Ecosystem showcased a digital MRV and Jobs-to-Be-Done platform at the North American Biochar Conference.
Market signal: near-term carbon removal will rely heavily on nature-based solutions like biochar, with credibility defined by data quality and mindset.
Policy alignment: state-level action via permitting, procurement, and policy innovation is accelerating real deployment.
Collaboration over competition: prosperity and decarbonization can advance together when stakeholders share impact and rewards.
Outlook: growing appetite, talent, and coordination suggest bigger momentum by next year.
Durability in Focus
New York City during Climate Week 2025 had the rare kind of energy that feels both urgent and hopeful — the hum of possibility mixed with the weight of responsibility. From the first panel to the last late-night conversation, one theme kept resurfacing: durability. Not just in carbon storage, but in commitment — the endurance it takes to translate ambition into measurable, lasting impact.
A Week Defined by Collaboration
The week began alongside the VoLo Foundation team and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a fellow Rhode Islander whose clarity on climate accountability continues to set a national example. It was the perfect opening to a week defined by collaboration between policymakers, innovators, and investors — all converging on the idea that climate progress requires alignment across every level of society.
That momentum had already been set in motion a week earlier during my Nasdaq TradeTalk conversation with Jill Malandrino and David Stuckenberg, where we explored how technology and resilience intersect in a world demanding both growth and responsibility.
For us at Grain Ecosystem, this dialogue wasn’t abstract. Just days earlier in Minneapolis, we showcased our digital MRV and Jobs-to-Be-Done platform at the North American Biochar Conference — a tool designed to help operators and investors move from opportunity to execution with precision and transparency. Watching people engage with the platform, seeing data bring clarity to real-world projects, felt like a glimpse into what scalable carbon removal can truly look like.
Credibility and the Carbon Market
The conversations deepened at the Santander Carbon & Climate Infrastructure Conference, where the dialogue centered on what defines credibility in the carbon removal space. The message was clear: near-term carbon removal will be built on nature-based solutions like biochar, and durability, both in data and in mindset, is quickly becoming the new currency.
Those same values echoed through meetings with Climeworks, discussions with Sweden’s Climate Ambassador Mattias Frumerie, and strategy sessions with investors and philanthropic leaders across New York. It became evident that the technologies we need already exist; what’s required now is coordination, trust, and consistent follow-through.
The Power of State-Level Leadership
Leadership at the state level has never been more critical. The role of states in accelerating decarbonization, through permitting, procurement, and policy innovation, is proving to be one of the most powerful levers for real-world change.
From California to Rhode Island, state action is setting the tone for how public and private sectors can move together with speed and accountability.
That belief drives everything we do at Green Growth, with an emphasis on the Circular Economy, helping producers and developers turn residues into biochar, clean electricity, tax credits, and verified carbon removals, all while ensuring transparency and accessibility remain at the heart of carbon markets.
Collaboration Over Competition
As Climate Week came to a close, I kept thinking about something Governor Gavin Newsom said during the Clinton Global Initiative:
“No one is taller than when they bend down on one knee to lift someone else up.”
In the climate world, that means collaboration over competition, building systems that allow farmers, foresters, and innovators to share in both the impact and the reward. Because the real enemy isn’t industry; it’s emissions.
And the future belongs to those who recognize that prosperity and decarbonization aren’t opposing forces, but two sides of the same coin.
Looking Ahead
Walking away from this year’s Climate Week, I can’t help but feel that the momentum is only just beginning. The appetite, the talent, and the coordination are finally aligning.
By next year, Climate Week will be even bigger, a true reflection of how far we’ve come, and how much closer we are to making durable climate solutions not just possible, but inevitable.
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