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What business leaders can learn from global climate weeks
In this episode of the Sustainability Matters podcast, host Alexis Gazzo with EY leaders Ruth Guevara and Bruno Sarda explore whether businesses are genuinely moving from climate ambition to action and if climate weeks around the world are driving meaningful progress.
In this episode of the Sustainability Matters podcast, host Alexis Gazzo brings together EY leaders Ruth Guevara and Bruno Sarda to explore whether the global climate conversation is genuinely moving from ambition to action. Recorded ahead of Climate Week NYC 2026, the discussion tackles how extreme weather events — from record heat waves to devastating wildfires — are shifting physical climate risk from a future scientific model to an immediate operational reality for global businesses.
The panel addresses the challenge of navigating a fragmented geopolitical landscape as companies prepare for COP31. The guests also examine the evolving reporting landscape, discussing whether frameworks such as the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) are creating real business value or simply making organizations busier.
Key takeaway:
Climate change has moved from abstract scientific modeling to immediate, physical operational impacts, making adaptation and resilience urgent priorities for business strategy.
You can also listen to this podcast on Apple, Spotify and Libsyn.
For your convenience, the full text transcript of this podcast is also available.
Alexis Gazzo
Having attended events in the last months in London or in Paris, where some of which were shut down because of the heat, shows that some countries are not prepared for a climate that's changing quite fast.
Ruth Guevara
One of the biggest risks is assuming every market starts from the same place.
If the agenda is shaped too heavily by Europe or the US, we risk overlooking challenges that matter most for emerging markets.
Bruno Sarda
Demand of your organization to run robust climate scenarios ahead of the next wave of heat waves, wildfires, droughts, etc. Any CEO who doesn't really have a good understanding of how their business strategy resists to a variety of climate scenarios is poorly informed.
Gazzo
Hello and welcome to the EY Sustainability Matters podcast, our regular look at ESG and sustainability topics and how they impact businesses around the globe. I'm Alexis Gazzo, EY Global Climate Change and Sustainability Services Leader, and your host for this episode. Thank you for tuning in to our podcast.
Today, we're bringing together perspectives from across the Global EY [SR1.1]Organization to reflect on the climate conversation between London Climate Action Week and New York Climate Week, and to ask whether the world is truly moving from ambition to action.
Here to talk it through with me are my colleagues Ruth Guevara, our Global Strategy and Markets Lead, as well as Bruno Sarda, who leads our Climate Change and Sustainability Services in the Americas. Glad to have you both here.
So, this summer has made climate risk feel very real, from record heat in Europe to fires and floods around the world. I remember being struck that Paris felt actually hotter than parts of the Middle East I was traveling to. Are you hearing a different tone from business leaders now that climate risk is becoming something people are physically experiencing and not just modeling?
Sarda
I think we're definitely seeing a newfound realization that we're talking a lot less about models and much more about things that are actually being measured in the physical world today. And again, not just in the scientific realm, but we're talking about clients measuring the impact to their operations, the stress to their infrastructure, the risk to their people because of all these weather extremes. And we've seen that from the rampant wildfires that have been impacting many aspects of physical infrastructure to the dwindling water supply in the American Southwest to extreme heat affecting workers in many, many sectors. And of course, the ripple effect to businesses. So, I think we're seeing a new realization that adaptation is probably something we wish we would have started doing in earnest faster and that now it's the time for acceleration.
You know, we used to have New York Climate Week and then now there's a big, you know, prominent London Climate Action Week. But even in the US in the past year, we have seen Climate Weeks in almost every large city, but even, like I would say, mid-tier city. I mean, you had, you know, Midwest cities having their Climate Week and really talking about what does it mean to their basin, their kind of watershed, their ecosystem, their economic system.
And so, I think this fragmentation, for sure, we see that in, I think, the geopolitical landscape, these more increasingly nationalistic kind of tendencies in terms of policies, in terms of posturing even, I think a certain fracturing of, unfortunately, I think the multilateral systems that were put in the post-World War II order and, you know, New York Climate Week, it's not lost on me, coincides with the annual General Assembly of the United Nations at a time when the United Nations feels weaker than it has ever been to arbitrate and unite the world around large, big topics. You know, it used to be non-proliferation, it used to be peace, it used to be human rights, it used to be, you know we still have the Sustainable Development Goals that, you know, now look farther than ever in terms of being achievable by 2030.
So, I think that's going to be a lot of the things we need to reconcile when we get to Climate Week with the UNGA or UN General Assembly in the backdrop is at a time when, frankly, national governments or even regional powers are not at their best in terms of collaborative alignment and unity, how do we mobilize other forces, you know, civil society and the private sector and the capital markets to do that heavy lifting at a time when it's badly needed.
Gazzo
I think, Bruno, you're making some very good points. And we are seeing, of course, today a world that is more fragmented, the topic of sovereignty, which is very strong in many discussions, but it's also interesting to see that definitely some topics are very localized and sometimes hyper-localized, you know, like nature and biodiversity, which are hyper-local topics. But you can consider that climate adaptation is probably quite a local discussion as well, in terms of, you know, the starting point and, you know, what were the actions to take.
And perhaps it's something also to consider that when you talk about adaptation, energy transition, it's not one transition. It's actually different transitions that are happening around the world, depending on local markets, depending on natural resources, etc. So again, interesting to see where the discussion will land, but we are seeing basically a convergence of well, at least we're hoping that many initiatives that take place at the local level, but also at the global level, are going in the same direction. Although, again, I think, many transitions are going on.
Guevara
And I think to complement that, Bruno and Alexis, I would bring in the word security to the discussion, as [SR2.1]security is now linked to sustainability and how can we really, you know, be secure in terms of, you know, energy resources, natural resources, supply chains and everything around basically what we discuss about sustainability. So, security, I would say, is the new word. And I'm really hoping to hear more about that discussion during New York Climate Week.
Gazzo
Yeah, some people now talk about climate security the same way we're used to talking about energy security. I think we're living in an interesting time because for all the talk and the buzz we've had around ESG backlash and so on, what I'm hearing from business leaders is actually quite the opposite. It is more, you know, an understanding that the time is now to act and to accelerate, especially in the idea of protecting business value against the very real physical climate impacts that we're all living through. And what we have seen in the summer of ‘26 will definitely [SR3.1]have strong impacts on the GDP of a number of economies, as you have mentioned. So, this question of adaptation, of preparedness for future climate shocks, for resilience of businesses is becoming front and center in many business discussions.
Ruth, you bring a Latin American and Global South perspective. When you look at the conversations moving from London to New York and eventually toward COP31, what risks getting lost if the agenda is shaped too heavily by Europe and by the US?
Guevara
Sure, Alexis. I think that one of the biggest risks is assuming every market starts from the same place. Europe is understandably focused on disclosures, standards and regulation implementation, while the US conversation is often centered on business value, innovation, competitiveness and the economics of the transition, right? These are important priorities, but they're not the only realities.
In Latin America and across the Global South, many organizations are simultaneously dealing with climate adaptation, energy access, infrastructure gaps, natural disasters and competing social priorities. I think the conversation is often less about reporting and more about resilience and protecting communities from the physical impacts of climate change.
So, if the agenda is shaped too heavily by Europe or the US, we risk overlooking challenges and opportunities that matter most for emerging markets, including, as we said already, adaptation, nature, climate finance, the role of sustainability in driving inclusive growth. As we move toward COP31, it is critical that the voices and experiences from the Global South are not just included but actively help shape the agenda.
Sarda
I think what you just mentioned about the Global South and the Latin American perspective is so important because the fact is, you know, most of the natural resources, raw commodities, and frankly, supply chains of most of the world's largest businesses in OECD countries in North America, in Europe, in fact, sit in the Global South. And so, there is no disconnecting the health and resilience of one part of the world from another.
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Gazzo
Yeah, and having attended events in the last months in London or in Paris, some of which were shut down because of the heat, where some people fainted as well because of the heat, shows that on one hand, of course, these are real signs of climate change. It also shows that some cities, some countries are not prepared for a climate that's changing quite fast, and you know, cities like London or Paris are built for a climate that doesn't exist anymore. And so, how do you adapt these urban environments to a new climate is a huge question.
I would tend to say that what we might see is that the media attention in December will maybe, you know, shift away from extreme heat and wildfires, which have captured a lot of media attention these last weeks in Europe or North America. But when it comes to business leaders, I do have a feeling that we're moving beyond the idea that physical risk, in a number of geographies, physical climate risk is something that is punctual and limited in time, to something which is more chronic and more the new normal. I think that's progressing more and more. [SR4.1]And you can see that a number of corporates now are integrating the fact that water stress is something that they might have to live with in the next decades. So, what do you do about that? How do you change your processes or your crops to deal with that? These are conversations that we're hearing now.
Sarda
Those of us who live and breathe these kinds of sustainability decision frameworks and convenings and ecosystems, we know that the events were canceled because the venues were too hot. I think most people who ultimately need to make decisions about how capital gets deployed to deal with things like resilience, adaptation, security. I don't think that's what's gonna shift their behavior. I think what they're seeing and hearing from their operational leaders, from their supply chain leaders, from their customers about their needs as they evolve, and in some cases, from their insurers or bankers.
So, I think certainly there's irony that's not lost on me about events for a conference about climate risk having to be disrupted because of climate impacts. But I think the real change will come when it really factors into how organizational leaders need to make robust business decisions that are not even looked at as climate decisions, but truly business and financial decisions that make sense for the health of the organization and the markets they serve.
Gazzo
So, Ruth, the reporting landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. Are we seeing a real evolution in how companies understand and act on climate risk? Or are we just seeing more reporting infrastructure layered on top of old problems? In other words, are we getting better or just busier?
Guevara
Alexis, I think that we're getting better, not just because we're producing more reports and we have more regulation, perhaps the adoption of ISSB in many geographies around the world. But I think because sustainability is also becoming a business competitiveness agenda. So, the real test isn't whether companies disclose more; it's whether they make better business decisions, right? Are they really allocating capital differently?
Are they building more resilient supply chains, embedding climate risk into strategy, creating new sources of value? So, I think that we should ask all these questions and then look at the organizations that will lead are those that produce, not the ones that produce the best reports. [SR5.1]They are the ones that are using sustainability insights to make better business decisions, move faster and create long-term competitive advantage.
I think that's the key when we discuss reporting and sustainability. If we take reporting as the excuse to look into the organization and as a catalyst to understand the processes and really capture the value of sustainability, I think that's when companies are really making the shift, and that's where we’re going to capture the most value. But I would also say, Alexis, that we're also getting busier. So, we're getting busier, and we're also getting better as well.
Sarda
I was reminded of our colleague Hanne Jesca Bax[SR6.1], who leads client and industry markets for EY globally, last year, wrote a great piece about the fact that we live in what's called the NAVI world — non-linear, accelerated, volatile and interconnected world. And her piece had nothing to do with sustainability. It had nothing to do with climate. This is just the reality that businesses now have to live within.
And I think this is so true, of course, of the space in which we are discussing today. And I fully agree with you, Ruth. I think it does feel like, yes, reporting has made us busier, for sure, but not just for the sake of producing reports. I think we see it over and over, the interest from policymakers, legislators, regulators around the world in adopting something like the ISSB, the International Sustainability Standards, under the umbrella of the IFRS, which is a global accounting body.
In the US, we see now about 80% of US trade flows actually go through ISSB jurisdictions around the world. And we just recently put some research out from the Global EY [SR7.1]Organization looking at the last four years of interest and engagement from investors through financial disclosures, through quarterly earnings calls and so on. And what we've seen, even though there's been this perception of this kind of dramatic reduction in the use, for example, of the word ESG, in fact, the interest in the information being produced by organizations for their important stakeholders, especially their investors, lenders, insurers and regulators — the interest has not waned. The data is clear that the interest from these stakeholders remains strong because it is so, in fact, financially material in the way that accountants define it, right? That's like, you know, will it impact future cash flows? Will it raise the cost of capital, or will it impact access to finance?
So, I think even though reporting sometimes feels like we're just peddling just to peddle, there are truly outputs being created that are increasingly precise, increasingly, I think, useful, and as the data would tell us, actually increasingly put to use by those for whom it's intended.
Gazzo
I think what we're seeing in Europe typically, where CSRD has been around for a couple of years, is that now I think the level of requirements has been adjusted, and that's rather good news. The other point is that we're seeing that our business leaders are focusing on practical, reliable, comparable, decision-useful data that they get out of this. And the term decision-useful has come back a lot in discussions. Because with the collection of data through these different frameworks, and again, especially CSRD in Europe, it's interesting to see that a number of corporates have realized that some of the aspects that are covered by CSRD are actually items that are very useful to monitor energy performance, carbon management, of course, water resource management, etc. And so, now, based on this data, these companies are actually implementing energy-efficiency projects or projects to save water, etc.
So, it's really interesting how you see a number of corporates realizing the value of the data to turn into, again, investment-useful, decision-useful information. And of course, investors are really happy to have these sets of very comparable, audited, reliable data sets. That's what they've been waiting for years. So yeah, I think we're seeing that the reporting discussion has moved from discussing the regulatory constraints to more how can you turn this into, again, decision-useful data? So, COP[VG8.1]31 is being built as the era of implementation. In a fragmented world, what's realistic to expect and what should clients be doing now rather than waiting for November?
Guevara
So, if COP31 is the era of implementation, success won't be measured by commitments anymore. It will be measured by execution. Companies shouldn't wait for November. I think that they should already start stress-testing their businesses, strengthening resilience, making sustainability data decisions-useful, as you were saying, Alexis, and linking climate action to value creation. So, within the planning for COP31, I think that we are due to see a lot more of outcomes and execution from companies. And that will be, I would say, how we really measure success and if we actually have moved the needle on the implementation of sustainability.
Sarda
And I think, from my end, it's interesting that COP31 in November will take place at the same time as the US midterm elections that are widely expected to throw more disarray into how decisions are made or where policy is likely to head. So, for me, I think that the key takeaway for our clients and the conversations we're having with them is that central, unified political or regulatory decisions are likely to still be some ways away, at least in this particular market at the national level. We continue to see state-level, and in some cases, city-level actions.
And even within the broader context of COP31, for many of our clients, they show up and they engage. At the same time, the proceedings primarily are made at the nation-state level, and things like the NDCs, the nationally determined contributions, and these bigger concepts like Article 6 can feel a bit abstract for business. So, the conversations we're having with our clients really focus on what you can do and what matters to you most. Right.
So, we're having much more actionable, specific conversations about what their drivers of decarbonization are. How should they approach things like energy diversification in a world where energy prices have been increasingly volatile, access to energy-related commodities has been, frankly, uneven? How to really engage and look at carbon markets and other commodity markets or nature-based solutions? Where does that make sense within the concept of their value chain? How to really approach climate and nature resiliency within their physical and operations and value chain? How to stress-test their supply chains and use scenarios to really understand, you know, where those boundaries could go beyond acceptable stress and test the elasticity of some of that?
And then, we're seeing plenty of action in the backdrop of all these political discussions. Something that struck me just the other day. There was a report on the first six months’ worth of energy, Alexis, you were talking about electrification, the new additions to electricity to the US power grid in the first six months of 2026, so just the last six months that just ended, 90% of new additions are considered, you know, let's say renewable.
It's about 40% solar PV. It's about 30% dispatchable grid-scale batteries. It's another 20% or so of onshore wind, a tiny little bit of offshore wind, and then less than 10% of natural gas. And by the way, that total is almost 30,000 megawatts. That's six months’ worth of new power additions to the US power grid, almost 30,000 megawatts in the first six months of this year, 90% of which is, call it renewable or low carbon. Almost all the result of private at-risk capital deployment. So again, I think the markets are voting with their feet.
The fact is the levelized cost of energy for clean energy is the best way to spend any dollar, certainly in power generation, and we see the demand with AI, with power markets. We've seen, because of the price of gasoline, a dramatic rise in the sale of electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and just overall energy efficiency. So again, the market is responding in the way we want the market to respond. And that gives me hope that as we go into conversations at COP31 that this isn't politicians trying to manipulate markets, rather it's hopefully politicians responding to markets and responding to science to align policy and regulation with, in fact, the way society and the economies are trying to move as fast as they can on their own.
Gazzo
Okay, maybe just to close, maybe a needle test, and I would ask each of you to give me one sentence on the following question. By this time next year, what single signal would tell you we've genuinely moved the needle?
Guevara
So, I think that I've already mentioned this, but I would say less commitment and more about outcomes from different companies. Also, I would say really changing their operations, investments and business models. So, we have discussed a lot about water scarcity, about floods, about fires, and how really all of this really needs to change the operations and the business models of companies. So, how many companies are really changing the business models? How many companies are investing differently, allocating capital, right? And how many outcomes are we getting from those actions, precisely from companies? And I know that was more than one sentence, Alexis, but I tried to resume[SR9.1].
Sarda
I mean, I think the needle test for me comes down to finance and capital flows, right? Where is money being deployed? Where is capital being allocated? Again, if we look even in the past year, I think, already we're seeing, in the absence of strong political unity, we're seeing smart money going into the future of energy, not the past of energy, the future of transportation, not the past of transportation, the future of supply chains, not the past. So, I think for me, that's what I keep looking at, when in the absence of strong political guardrails, how are the markets, efficient markets, deciding? And I think what we're seeing there is encouraging.
And I want to see kind of an increase in capital flows through the equity markets, through the fixed-income markets, and of course, through banking as well. We just saw another one of the top three largest US banks reinforce its commitment to a trillion dollars of sustainable finance by 2030. Again, I think all of those are really positive signals that if the finance and the capital are being deployed, then the solutions will start scaling.
Gazzo
And to your point, Bruno, that's actually what we're seeing, right? I mean, we're seeing more and more money. I mean, we're talking billions, even, I think, trillions of dollars going to energy transition, something like US$2 trillion last year. And it's not going to stop, right? Now, we're seeing solar plus storage really becoming a mainstream technology in many markets, not only the Global North, but many southern countries like Pakistan, etc. So, it's really an incredible shift that we're living through. And I saw that the International Energy Agency has published the fact that now, if you combine all the renewable energy sources, the output in terms of electricity is now bigger than coal-fired power plants. So, that's where these tectonic shifts that I think we're living through.[SR10.1] That's super interesting.
But going back to the question and also bouncing back on what Ruth has said, I think it's going to be really interesting, in a year's time, to see if the discussion that we're having around adaptation, around climate risk, which has been quite a lot fueled by extreme weather events that we've witnessed in the last months, is this going to be understood as, again, something that doesn't come at a certain time but is really now chronic. Will this be priced in by the markets? Will this be really integrated into business strategies in the long run? I think that's going to be really interesting to see how this moves on in one year's time.
So, Bruno, Ruth, last question. If a CEO has five minutes and one decision to make before New York Climate Week, what is it?
Guevara
Yeah, I would say that if I were the CEO and just trying to make one question to the team and then how can we move forward, that would be, how can we turn impact into business value? You know, take one decision, one investment, one capital allocation, one resilient move, whatever really affects the company but can really turn this impact into the business. So, I would do that and I would concentrate on that, even if it's one of that and then move forward with it and then try to make and then show the outcome for next year, Alexis.
Sarda
In my case, I think in five minutes, I could make two important decisions. One is demand of your organization to run robust climate scenarios ahead of the next wave of heat waves, wildfires, droughts, etc. Any CEO who doesn't really have a good understanding of how their business strategy resists [SR11.1]to a variety of climate scenarios is poorly informed and absolutely needs to understand that.
I think the second decision they can make in that five minutes is to send probably their COO or head of operations and their supply chain leader to Climate Week along with their head of sustainability. I think we need these sustainability leaders to feel like they are bolstered by those who run really the backbone of these organizations and that these leaders take this topic seriously enough to show up to learn, to meet with peers, and to start thinking about new approaches to solving these complex problems.
Gazzo
So, thank you both for joining and thank you to the audience for listening to Sustainability Matters. If you enjoyed this episode, please check out previous episodes on ey.com or wherever you get your episodes and podcasts. We would love to hear from you, and we would love for you to subscribe, provide ratings, and reviews and comments are always very welcome, of course.
Visit ey.com, where you will find a wide range of related and interesting articles to help put these bigger topics in the context of your business priorities. And we look forward to welcoming you to the next episode of Sustainability Matters. My name is Alexis Gazzo. You can find me on LinkedIn and feel free to connect with me there or via email. Thanks so much for listening and have a great day.
