Five Trends that Corporates Need to Know Going into Climate Week NYC

If you work for a company that is still waffling about attending Climate Week NYC, there’s never been a more important time to engage.

If you work for a company that is still waffling about attending Climate Week NYC, let me be clear: there’s never been a more important time to engage. Despite headwinds in the United States, state and local progress is undeniable, and — as RMI has always championed — markets and economics remain powerful engines for the energy transition both domestically and abroad.

Here are the trends that corporates need to know going into Climate Week.

1. The energy transition is forging ahead in 80 percent of the world

Since 2020, total investment in the energy transition has grown year after year — and momentum is only building. In 2024, China led with $818 billion, with the EU and United States following at $380 billion and $338 billion respectively. Together, these figures point to the accelerating scale of global investment carrying into 2025 and beyond.

The Global South is poised to drive the next wave of growth over the next 25 years. With population and economic expansion, clean energy portfolios are quickly becoming the least-cost option available in many markets. In India, some 93 percent of investment for power generation is going to clean sources, and solar-plus-storage is already cheaper than coal on a life-cycle basis. Renewables are expected to supply most of India’s new generation, and non-fossil sources already account for more than 50 percent of existing capacity.

The Global South is forging ahead in electrified transportation as well. In 2024, annual sales of EVs more than doubled in Brazil and Africa. More than half of all car sales in China will be electric in 2025, and India is the world’s largest electric three-wheeler market with approximately 700,000 electric three-wheelers sold in 2024. Our analysis shows that due to falling battery costs, EVs will make up between 62 and 86 percent of global car sales by 2030.

But obstacles remain high. Geopolitical tensions, armed conflict, and growing nationalism create barriers for global supply chains and initiatives across OECD countries. Fortunately, the energy transition will continue to move forward in much of the Global South for a simple reason: it just makes economic sense. For corporates, the choice is whether to keep pace with this momentum or risk being left behind.

Follow RMI’s thought leadership on global competitiveness at Climate Week NYC here.

2. Modernizing the grid is the key to unlocking energy transition leadership

Across all my work, I keep hearing about the perfect storm of spiking electricity demand, driven by AI data centers, new manufacturing, vehicle and appliance electrification, and extreme heat. Regardless of where in the world you sit, there is a need for increased electrons. Our need for electricity is actually growing at twice the rate of our increasing energy demand.

Here in the United States, we need to connect terawatts of clean energy to the grid at a time with slow interconnection processes and gas turbine delivery delays. The convergence of these pressures, coupled with the digitalization of grid infrastructure, provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fundamentally reform how power systems operate.

The United States has invested trillions in the grid since the 1950s, creating one the most remarkable machines on the planet. But today, that grid runs at only 40 percent utilization. No capital-intensive asset should be deployed at that level when alternatives exist. Initial investments have already been made in batteries, rooftop solar, and demand response from factories, but more remains to do. Other innovative models like virtual power plants, grid-enhancing technologies, reconductoring, and digitalization, plus energy efficiency, can make the American grid the center point of economic competitiveness in this increasingly electrified world. A focus only on adding supply, however, risks perpetuating inefficiency and decreases international competitiveness. The United States should first target getting more from the assets that it has already paid for, not adding costly infrastructure onto an aging system.The US should first target getting more from the assets that it has already paid for – where timelines frequently are faster for upgrade – even as it considers additional options for new generation for replacement and addition.

If the United States approaches the opportunity in the right way, it can increase competitiveness and affordability. Tackling this will require new approaches to regulation and policy. But the country has achieved this outcome before: in the 1980’s and 90’s, rates went down for customers even as service improved and the grid expanded.

Stay tuned for more RMI thinking on this topic during Climate Week.

3. Insurance is reaching its tipping point, but joint action can open new pathways

Extreme weather events can destroy assets in a moment and disrupt supply chains overnight. Chronic weather shifts — drought, sea level rise, and wildfires — are threatening companies and eroding whole industries, like Florida’s citrus industry. Although climate-related weather disasters can hit anywhere at any time, the risks are concentrated in states with a high contributions to US GDP, like Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, and Illinois.

Insurance is the economy’s shock absorber, but it has limits. Globally, roughly 60 percent of disaster losses go uninsured. And once an asset becomes uninsurable, its value can collapse overnight — wiping out equity, eroding municipal tax bases, and destabilizing credit portfolios. At scale, this can be a major problem for a country with some of the most expensive assets in the world. Think 2008’s housing crash, but driven by wind, water, and fire instead of bad loans.

The frustrating part? Resilience is one of the best investments available. Allstate and the US Chamber of Commerce peg the return at $13 for every $1 spent. Yet the capital flows aren’t there due to collective action problems, low standardization, and short-term thinking. In corporate terms: it’s like knowing the factory roof leaks but refusing to fix it because it doesn’t always rain.

We’ve solved for these same challenges in the banking sector, through RMI’s Center for Climate-Aligned Finance. If insurers and banks can work more closely on resilience, the market can do the rest.Center for Climate-Aligned Finance. If insurers and banks can work more closely on resilience, the market can do the rest. Expect more engagement on this issue at Climate Week and beyond.

4. Industrial transformation is still possible

Heavy industry is called “hard-to-abate” for a reason: outside of China, economics are not yet on the side of decarbonization. Sectors like steel, chemicals, and cement remain in early adoption economics with limited cost-competitiveness and shallow learning curves on requisite decarbonization technologies. Many global companies can invest only limited funds in these new solutions, and continue with business as usual for the majority of their assets, hoping that long-term solutions like carbon capture ultimately become available. Scaling up new technologies requires a clearer path from first-of-a-kind projects to widespread deployment, and policy interventions will be required to move competitive commodity industries across geographies.

The International Maritime Organization is showing what is possible: by assigning a global carbon price that will come into effect in 2027, it is beginning to shift behaviors across global shipping. Aviation is not far behind. But other industries will need clearer signals. Voluntary buyer groups can play a critical role in the near term, but long-term transformation will require government procurement leverage and policy incentives — including carbon pricing — to send unambiguous market signals.

RMI is working to grow demand for lower-emissions products to drive investment into innovative heavy industry and transport technologies while giving companies credible tools to meet their sustainability goals. By aggregating demand for steel, cement, chemicals, and aluminum, we are building market systems that support deep decarbonization. Keep an eye out for news about the latest concrete demand initiative, launching at Climate Week.

5. Carbon markets need credibility

The Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) has long held promise, but today it suffers from inconsistent standards, data opacity, and market fragmentation. Without trust, corporates are losing faith and stepping back. At the same time, regulatory approaches are gaining ground. The European Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is one example that is challenging global businesses to count emissions. Some companies are going a step further and pushing for carbon accounting systems based on standards akin to GAAP, which could differentiate performance without voluntary markets, and might ultimately drive global policy alignment. Virtually every major company is counting its carbon, so why not harmonize methods and create a much more thorough ledger of activity?

RMI’s Carbon Markets Initiative is working to provide that foundation through an open, standardized data framework. During Climate Week, we’ll feature our new Carbon Data Open Protocol which standardizes carbon market data to improve integrity, interoperability, and scale.

The direction is clear: the markets that succeed will be those built on transparency and integrity.

See you at Climate Week

With ongoing clean energy globalization, grid modernization challenges, physical risk looming large, heavy industry at a crossroads, and globally linked carbon markets assembling, can you afford to miss this year’s CWNYC? If not, we’ll see you there. If you are unable to make it, plug into our New Energy Business Brief for quarterly takeaways for your business.