NY Climate Tech: May 13 - May 20 (Take 3)

Adaptation drinks, green careers, oceans, data centers, CDR, and more upcoming events.

Alec Turnbull

Sonam Velani

, and

Streetlife Ventures

May 13, 2025

Good morning!

Apologies if you’ve gotten multiple emails from today—seems like lots of people aren’t getting this delivered (including myself!). Stripping out some links and hoping it reaches you in time. Have a great week!

— Alec & The Climate Tech Cities Team

Editor’s note: apologies if you’ve gotten this several times. Deliverability on the first few messages was horrible. Sending through the normal email so you have this week’s events!

THE WEEK AHEAD

Unbound is in town. Back for their second year, Adapt Unbound (May 14-15) and Carbon Unbound (May 20-21) are two of the Spring’s best conferences. Adaptation and resilience is just starting its ascent up the hype cycle, and while CDR may be approaching the trough of disillusionment, there’s still plenty to discuss. If you’re interested in either, keep an eye out for side events like Climate Adaptation Tech Drinks (Tue, May 13) even if you aren’t planning on the main conference.

Brussels sprouts up in NYC this week with From Vision to Action: Building a Sustainable Future and Innovative Solutions in Green Economy & Trends in Impact Investing (both Wed, May 14) and Redesigning the Post-Pandemic Neighborhood (Thu, May 15) hosted hub.Brussels.

An expedition to clean up plastic from the remote corners of the Earth while building a sustainable local recycling economy? Must be Plastic Odyssey. Catch them in from France and SF at the NYC Ocean Meetup (May 15) at South Street Seaport Museum.

PICKS FOR THE WEEK

🌱 Green Careers: Green Education: Tue, May 13
♻️ From Waste to Wonder: Tue, May 13
🌳 From Vision to Action: Building a Sustainable Future: Wed, May 14
🌻 Innovative Solutions & Trends in Impact Investing: Wed, May 14
🍹 Climate Adaptation Tech Drinks NYC: Wed, May 14
⚡ DERTF NYC Meetup: Wed, May 14
🌍 Out in Climate x Columbia Climate School Panel: Thu, May 15
🌊 NYC Ocean Meetup: Thu, May 15
💻 Net Zero Exchange: Sustainable Innovation &Data Centers: Thu, May 15
🪨 The State of CDR Tech: What’s Next in Digital MRV?: Mon, May 19
🏛️ Transformers: Architecture and the Energy Transition: Mon, May 19

ONLY IN NYC

🛶 Unheard-of + The Gowanus Dredgers (Sat, May 24)

Drift in a canoe or find a seat on our floating docks and benches, listening to work by electropop, avant-classical singer Leila Adu on the Gowanus Canal

SUPERLATIVES

Best for Investors: Climate Tech Investors Cocktail Hour (Tue, May 13)
Best for Startups: DERTF NYC Meetup (Wed, May 14)
Best for Job Seekers: Green Careers: Green Education (Tue, May 13)
Best to Meet a Friend: RBC Brooklyn Half Plogging Event (Fri, May 16)

LOCAL NEWS

$1B for Climate in NY State

Source: NY Focus

Good news out of Albany could be better

NY State finally passed its budget bill last week, with a first-of-its-kind $1 billion climate action fund. The money is earmarked for green buildings, transportation, and thermal energy networks. While this is unabashedly good news, it could be better: the one-time injection is in lieu of an ongoing cap-and-invest program that would charge polluters and provide sustained funding for climate initiatives. But still, in 2025, let’s celebrate the wins! More at NY Focus.

CONFERENCE RADAR

🏝️ Rhode Island Stocktake (Thu, May 22. Providence): A who’s-who of state power players, with a focus on climate tech, CDR, and more.

💻 NY Tech Week (Jun 2 - 8. NYC): Founder socializing, AI everything, and some gems like EU Market Pathways for AI, Climate & Emerging Tech

🌆 Urban Future Forum: Building Blueprints for Advanced Energy Implementation (Thu, Jun 5. NYC): Full-day forum from NYC’s longest-running climate accelerator

📈 The Economist’s Sustainability Week US & Energy Transition Summit (Thu, Jun 12. NYC): A deceptively-named one-day forum with major corporates & NY energy leaders

🤖 Latitude Media’s Transition-AI (Thu, Jun 12. Boston): Energy infrastructure with your favorite podcast hosts turned LPO officers turned podcast hosts.

EVENTS THIS WEEK

Tuesday, May 13

Wednesday, May 14

Thursday, May 15

Friday, May 16

Sunday, May 18

Monday, May 19

🪨 The State of CDR Tech: What’s Next in Digital MRV?: Mon, May 19
🏛️ Transformers: Architecture and the Energy Transition: Mon, May 19

UPCOMING EVENTS

Next Week

🏃‍♂️ CDR Run Club @ Carbon Unbound East Coast: Tue, May 20
♻️ NYC 520 - West 59th Street Marine Transfer Station Tour: Tue, May 20
♻️ NYC 520 - Brooklyn Materials Recovery Facility: Tue, May 20
🌱 Greenhouse Gang: Tue, May 20
🌱 Women in Sustainable Business (WISB) May Gathering: Tue, May 20
🌍 Manhattan Climate Changemakers Hour of Action: Tue, May 20
🎨🌍 Climate Impact Of Artistic Practices: Tue, May 20
🥂 NEW - SJC SpeakEASY Salon Series: Tue, May 20
🧵 A Conversation with Kate Sekules: Mend & Mobilize: Tue, May 20
🍹 NYC Happy Hour with Clean Creatives: Wed, May 21
🧶 PANEL - Sewing Circles & System Change: Make, Mend, & Mobilize: Wed, May 21
🌳 AIA Brooklyn General Meeting + Presentation by PID Floors: Wed, May 21
🍽️ The Future Table: Wed, May 21
⚡ The State of the Grid: Thu, May 22
🏅 Nonprofit Trailblazers: Thu, May 22
🎥 Pandora's Promise Screening & Q&A with Director: Fri, May 23
🌇 MAYORAL FORUM: COMMUNITY GARDENS & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: Sat, May 24
🌱 GreenBox @Le Petit Versailles: A Vision for the Future in Present Tense: Sat, May 24
🌊 Unheard-of + The Gowanus Dredgers Present: Summoning You Feat. Leila Adu: Sat, May 24
⚡ Hackathon: Electrical Grid: Tue, May 27
🍹 Ecosystem Builders & Leaders in Impact: Happy Hour: Thu, May 29
🎨 Light, Sand, and Sea: Hamptons Artists and Their Studios: Thu, May 29
🔧 A Repair Cafe at the Old Stone House: Sun, Jun 1

Coming Up

🍽️ Lunch with the League: Bridging the Climate Conversation: Tue, Jun 3
🌍 Inside deeptech investing for angels & VC: Wed, Jun 4
🇪🇺 EU Market Pathways for AI, Climate & Emerging Tech: Thu, Jun 5
🌃 Urban Future Forum: Building Blueprints for Advanced Energy Implementation: Thu, Jun 5
🌱 2025 National GrowTogether Conference: Planting Seeds of Resilience: Thu, Jun 5
♦️ Climate Game Night at Eat Offbeat (Chelsea Market): Thu, Jun 5
🌊 NYC OceanTech Summit 2025: Fri, Jun 6
🍄 'Fungi' - Art Exhibition & Reception - 40 fungi multimedia Artists: Sat, Jun 7