Strategy Reflections from New York Climate Week
From SAGE Executive Director, Daria Caliguire
This year I left New York Climate Week (NYCW) feeling surprisingly positive, and more importantly, grounded by the conversations I had that were focused on strategic ways to move forward and make progress on our shared goals.
A year ago, the mood among civil society and funders was different, more hesitant. We were still absorbing the deluge as waves of changes to the fields we operate in crashed into us. This year, it felt like we were locked in and ready to respond. We spent the week identifying openings, no matter how small, we can seize to move forward.
At the same time, new, larger frameworks that capture the moment we are in, and the contour of this new landscape we must navigate, are coming together. Seeing that in person, seeing so many people exploring ways to take action, left me hopeful.
As I take this week to recover from the good exhaustion that comes from such a busy and productive week of connection with people and with ideas, I am eager and energized to return to our work.
To that end, here are a 3 things we’re most excited to dig into…
1. Continuing to Build the Roadmap for Vision 2030
SAGE was honored to co-organize and support SIRGE’s Vision 2030: Indigenous Peoples and Transition Minerals Strategy Gathering. The event took place over the course of a full day, anchoring the middle of NYCW. It was well-attended, bringing together Indigenous leaders, allied organizations, technical experts, funders, and policymakers who engaged throughout the day, actively leaning in to solutions together.
It was a day of powerful analysis and strategizing. As Galina Angarova, Executive Director of SIRGE, reflected in her opening remarks, we recognize the triple convergence of artificial intelligence, energy, and defense - and the threat they pose to Indigenous Peoples rights, territories, and stewardship. We need our response to be equally powerful, to secure Indigenous Peoples rights in the context of transition minerals extraction.
But we are ready. Building off a rich tapestry of groundwork, and strategies that already exist and are making strides, we are finding a clear, shared path for moving forward to meet the moment.
Coming together with SIRGE and Indigenous leaders, our allies, and partners from across movements is how we create change. And when we gather in person it is even more impactful. There is something beautiful and invaluable about the opportunity for personal connection, trust building, and collective strategizing that happens when we meet face-to-face.
We are grateful for the opportunity to co-organize and look forward to partnering to realize the roadmap. Special thanks to SIRGE and our partners and co organisers Earthrights International, Tall Grass Institute, Earthworks, 11th Hour Project.
2. Leveraging Transition Minerals Supply Chains
Coming out of multiple sessions last week on the surge in transition minerals mining, I am also thinking about the growing momentum for more meaningful and durable changes in responsible sourcing of transition minerals.
How do we leverage supply chains – and the various buyers and pressure points along the chain – to ensure more responsible sourcing of transition minerals?
How do we use that leverage to address concrete environmental, labor and human rights harms on the ground?
This strategic focus is central to SAGE’s work and the various initiatives it supports and helps build with grantees and partners across fields.
As SAGE’s work has evolved, we think about global supply chains as a powerful framework for analyzing, strategizing, and organizing:
Analyzing the full range of harmful impacts generated across the supply chain,
Identifying the buyers, sellers, financiers and producers along the supply chain as pressure points to leverage in crafting a powerful strategy in response, and
Organizing affected communities, workers and their allies, from the bottom up and along, to build power, standards and tools to change incentives, practice and outcomes.
New openings to make that possible are emerging. And as we prepare for the 2nd Detroit Roundtable, our team is eager to explore these issues and opportunities further.
3. Reclaiming Civic Space for Climate Action
I am also excited to dig into the new report by our brilliant partners at the Funders Initiative for Civil Society on Shifting the Momentum: Reclaiming Civic Space for Climate Mitigation.
This report provides a primer for donors on understanding the key drivers of closing civic space that are undermining climate action and highlights how the climate field “increasingly recognizes that unchecked corporate power, especially that of finance, extractive, and agricultural firms – alongside the Big Tech companies – is a central obstacle, enabling companies that are driving climate change to block action.”
SAGE has a long track record of developing and testing corporate accountability and engagement strategies that can be leveraged to make change across different sectors. We’ve partnered with a diverse array of organizations and built expertise in this area that holds untapped potential to reclaim the shrinking civic space that is undermining climate action.
We look forward to working through the findings and exploring, with our partners and other funders, the entry points and opportunities for solutions. How can we support those who seek to reverse this trend? How can we spread and scale those solutions?
Like many of the other attendees at Climate Week, there is much to think about, many conversations to follow-up on, and new connections to strengthen. The challenges we face are complex. But the solutions and the strategies to meet them are becoming more clear. As the SAGE team returns to work, we are eager to continue to put them into action.