Dartmouth's third year at Climate Week NYC will be its most robust presence yet, with events that showcase the university's strengths in leveraging collaboration and innovation, both locally and internationally, to address the climate crisis.
This year's events, which begin Sept. 22, are coordinated by the Dartmouth Climate Collaborative in partnership with the Sustainability Office, the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, and the Institute of Arctic Studies.
The Dartmouth lineup includes:
- a hands-on workshop for those at the frontlines of local climate resilience;
- five expert panels focused on global and community-level transitions to sustainable energy; and
- an international dialogue on confronting the environmental and geopolitical threats facing the Arctic in ways that build on the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and safeguard their ways of life.
Dartmouth undergraduates also will take part in Climate Week NYC for the first time via an exposition of student and faculty research conducted through the Energy Justice Clinic and the Dartmouth as Living Lab initiative.
Meredith Kelly, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences and faculty director for the Climate Collaborative, says the events exemplify Dartmouth's specialty in bringing people from numerous sectors together to facilitate community-based responses to climate change and the global transition to sustainable energy.
"Climate change is an 'everyone' problem, meaning we need all hands on deck to change the trajectory and design and implement systems that are the basis for a resilient, sustainable, and equitable future," says Kelly, who organized the events with Rosi Kerr '97, director of the Climate Collaborative and the Sustainability Office.
"Dartmouth is exceptionally well-positioned to lead in this space because of its expertise in climate and policy—particularly in cold and rural regions—as well as in energy systems," Kelly says. "We stand out as a leader in innovating and convening the multiple stakeholders in these areas."
Resilient Communities Via Local Action
The events begin at noon on Sept. 22 with Resilience Action Lab: Building an Integrated Just Transition for Our Communities, an in-person "train-the-trainers" workshop (register here to attend) for around 60 people from government agencies and nonprofit groups across New York state and the New York City area.
The workshop is followed at 3 p.m. by Affordable and Resilient: Community-Based Sustainable Energy Transitions, an expert panel on how to work with local residents to realize new energy projects that benefit everyone. (Register to attend online).
The Resilience Action Lab, led by Christa Daniels, the Climate Collaborative's assistant director for community partnerships, will leverage Dartmouth research and scholarship to help attendees develop practical, equitable climate-resilience strategies that are unique to the environmental, energy, and economic realities of their communities.
"Our hope is that the workshop equips local leaders to address the multiple challenges affecting local resilience like flooding, poverty, a need for increased renewable energy, and a lack of affordable and accessible housing," says Sarah Kelly, cofounder and head of Dartmouth's Energy Justice Clinic and a lecturer in geography, who will co-facilitate Daniels' workshop with Meredith Kelly.
Insights from the workshop also can be integrated into Dartmouth's work helping communities in Vermont and New Hampshire develop their own climate solutions, Sarah Kelly says. She and Daniels hosted a pilot version of the workshop in Hanover Aug. 17 as part of a longer process of building climate-resilience coalitions in New England and New York.
"Given an uncertain federal policy landscape, we need innovative regional and local approaches more than ever," Sarah Kelly says. "Ideally, universities can provide space and tools to explore what these solutions look like. We believe in convening coalitions of people and groups that can work together to remedy multiple problems at the same time."
Barbara Will, vice provost for academic and international affairs, says that the workshop builds on the biennial Local Solutions conference Dartmouth hosted ahead of Climate Week last year for stakeholders across the Northeast—and will inform the next Local Solutions conference in 2027, which Dartmouth will host.
Christa Daniels from the Dartmouth Climate Collaborative, pictured with Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Erich Osterberg, will lead a workshop on local climate resilience. (Photo By Beam Lertbunnaphongs '25)
"Dartmouth has recognized the role we can and should play in bringing our academic strengths in climate change science and critical analysis to local communities. We are at once deeply invested in developing resilience in our local community where we live and work—the Upper Valley—and in helping other local communities across the country learn from our efforts," Will says.
"Climate Week is the perfect place to showcase on a global stage the insights we've learned from working with local community partners," she says.
Sarah Kelly will moderate the panel, which explores how municipalities, organizations, and communities are cooperating to design and implement energy systems that improve resilience, affordability, and sustainability on local terms.
"I hope attendees walk away with new tools, insights, and inspiration for how we can accelerate a just transition to a low-carbon future in a way that builds community wealth, well-being, and engagement," Sarah Kelly says.
Insights From the Arctic
At 2 p.m. on Sept. 23, the Institute of Arctic Studies is partnering with the University of the Arctic and the Consulate General of Finland to host Circular Innovation and Resilient Futures: Insights from the Arctic.
Now in its third year, the invitation-only event will examine how Indigenous knowledge systems, circular economy principles, sustainable resource management, and community leadership are creating practical climate solutions that can strengthen communities worldwide. This year also will include a keynote address by Tarja Halonen, who served as president of Finland from 2000 to 2012.
"The Arctic is too often portrayed as a region in crisis or a new frontier for geopolitical and economic competition. But the people who live and work there have long adapted to change," says IAS director Melody Brown Burkins, Guarini '95, '98, who will moderate the discussion. "They are leaders and innovators who—if we listen—can help show us how to build a more resilient, sustainable future for the Arctic and our planet."
Charlie Donovan, a clinical professor at the Tuck School of Business who will teach the upcoming course Governance and Sustainable Investment in the Arctic with Burkins, will serve as a panelist.
The past year has thrust the Arctic into the news as the world's superpowers jockey over Greenland and the rapidly changing Arctic's resources and strategic position. That's likely to continue as climate change makes the Arctic both more accessible and more vulnerable.
"It is a flashpoint in a lot of current political discussions and a new point of interest for business and government. It has a ton of resources that some people want to exploit. It is also experiencing global warming exponentially faster than the rest of the planet," says Will, who will give opening remarks.
"For all these reasons it is a region worth thinking about, knowing about, and listening to," she says.
The discussion, Will says, builds on Dartmouth's legacy of research and scholarship in the Arctic through IAS, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, the Thayer School of Engineering, and the Stefansson Collection on Polar Exploration.
"Dartmouth is unique because of our long history of engagement with the Arctic—and because of our recognition that this engagement must always be both scientific and respectful and attentive to the perspectives and knowledge of people who live in those spaces," Will says.
"Our reputation in the Arctic region is very strong and—if the last two years are any indication—people will show up to hear what we have to say," she says.
Pressure Points of the Energy Transition
The Irving Institute will host two in-person double events starting at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 23 and 24 that bring together people making the decisions driving the development of emerging energy systems to discuss the sector's opportunities and challenges.
"Rather than treating the energy transition as a single storyline, we've broken it into its actual pressure points: intelligent grid operations, supply-chain resilience, capital formation, and transmission financing," says Geoffrey Parker, Irving's faculty director and a panelist in both events.
"These are also the exact pressure points that industry and policymakers are wrestling with today, as artificial intelligence, electrification, and reshoring accelerate demand—colliding with a grid and supply chain built for a different era," Parker says. "We hope to provide a clearer picture of where the energy transition is succeeding, where it's stalled, and what it will take to move it forward."
The first event will consist of panels on intelligent, resilient power systems and on critical minerals and the energy supply chain. The event's second panel includes Irving's Distinguished Industry Fellows Giulia Siccardo '12 and, as moderator, Miranda Ballentine.
"The two panels together tell a coherent story," Parker says. "Digital innovation and physical supply chains are two sides of the same coin, and neither decarbonization nor energy abundance happens without both."
The second event includes a discussion on the role of capital investment in the energy transition moderated by Donovan and one about the current financing bottlenecks facing the U.S. power grid, moderated by Abigail Ross Hopper '93, a Distinguished Industry Fellow in the Irving Institute.
"The throughline is capital discipline. Investment without transmission is stranded; transmission without disciplined capital allocation is unaffordable," Parker says.
"Collectively, these four panels position Dartmouth not just as a commentator on the energy transition, but as an active participant—bringing the right people into the room, spurring new research ideas, and contributing to durable solutions," he says.
Showcasing Research and Making Connections
At 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 22, the Climate Collaborative and Sustainability Office will host a reception for students and faculty to present and discuss their research conducted on campus and abroad. Afterward, the Dartmouth Climate Alliance will host a meet-up for alumni and students to connect and share ideas with campus climate leaders in town for the week.
Leonela Espinoza Campomanes '27 will talk at Climate Week NYC about her work with renewable energy in remote locations, such as in her native Peru. (Photos courtesy of Leonela Espinoza Campomanes '27)
Leonela Espinoza Campomanes '27 is one of several students who will be attending Climate Week NYC through Dartmouth. She will talk about her work on the Energy Justice Clinic project assessing the feasibility of solar energy in an Indigenous community in Chile, particularly in the cold winter months.
Espinoza Campomanes, who is from Peru's capital, Lima, grew up aware of how environmental and energy challenges depend on where you live. She'd travel 1-2 hours a day to find reliable power, internet, and other basic infrastructure. Her family in her parents' native Andes Mountains lived with even less access, if they had any at all, Espinoza Campomanes says.
"This is the main reason why I became interested in renewable energy. Not only the technology itself, but also the process of working with communities and making sure that projects respond to what people actually need and value," says Espinoza Campomanes, who also interned on a wind-energy project in Peru through Dartmouth.
"For that reason, I am also really excited about the project in Chile because if it works great, it would be something I would love to implement in my parents' Indigenous villages, too," she says. "I consider this work a way to uplift the voice of people who are usually unheard."
Espinoza Campomanes sees Climate Week NYC as an opportunity to get feedback from climate and energy experts that will advance the Chile project and her own work in off-grid energy systems, as well as expand her interest in climate science and cities.
"This is an incredible opportunity to connect with other passionate people, as well as share my experiences and think about how all the work I have done and my education at Dartmouth can be part of my contribution to climate solutions," she says.