Timed each year to coincide with September meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, the event shares some international focus alongside local and national concerns.

This year’s sessions and announcements demonstrated how localities, cities and regions are expanding their agency when it comes to climate response, including pooling resources and building alliances. “Over recent years we've seen the state and regional governments ... getting a growing recognition internationally as climate leaders,” said Andrew Forth, Climate Group head of policy and advocacy.

On Sept. 22, the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 24 U.S. governors, announced a partnership with Climate Mayors, a group of more than 350 mayors in 47 states committed to advancing climate action.

State officials noted that despite headwinds from the administration, states and cities are still moving forward with plans and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that they still retain significant authority to do so.

Among goals of the collaboration are sharing resources to accelerate clean energy deployment, reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement and building resilience against climate change impacts.

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“Together, we are a force. By working together, we can continue to make meaningful progress on climate, clean energy, electrification, and more,” said Alliance co-chair and Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D).

On Sept. 23, he and California Gov Gavin Newsom (D) announced that Washington had reached a milestone in updating its regulatory framework, allowing the state to link to the California–Québec carbon market in 2027. Together, the three jurisdictions would rank as the third-largest economy in the world.

The California-Quebec carbon market has generated $13 billion since its inception, said Jean Lemire, Quebec envoy for climate change and northern and arctic affairs, in a separate session. “[It] put a price on pollution. That’s the key,” he said. “With the geopolitical situation, we will not have a lot of money if we don't find a way auto-finance what we do,” he added. One key use for that money is helping business bridge expenses in relation to electrification.

On a panel focused on sustainable materials, particularly less carbon-intensive concrete and steel, Lisa Kaufman, a Climate Group senior manager told attendees: “Essentially, the transition to net-zero is a construction project. The climate resilient cities of tomorrow, the sea walls protecting our coasts, the transmission networks connecting clean power, all depend on steel and concrete. That's why low-emission steel and concrete must sit at the heart of this transition.”

Mariane Jang, senior policy advisor, resilience and sustainability in New York State’s Office of General Services, noted a 2022 executive order from Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) that mandated state agencies to reduce embodied carbon in construction materials. “That’s where the opportunity for us is as a policy driver,” she said.

Since Hochul signed the order, the state has issued several sets of guidelines to agencies on how to reduce embodied carbon levels in materials, Jang said. She added that although New York is “very motivated and very driven,” general awareness about the topic across sectors and all the way down the value chain would help scale use of less carbon-intensive materials.

The Climate Group launched its Blend Better Cement campaign earlier this year, calling on governments to switch to less carbon-intensive blended cement, which relies on supplementary cementitious materials such as calcined clay or limestone. The campaign advocates for supportive policies such as updated building codes, and works with industry to increase supplementary cementitious material supply and access, prioritizing use in public projects. 

“Working people need to be at the center of climate policy and energy transition, or we will be back where we started with solutions that won't work and don't," argued Jason Walsh, executive director of environmental and labor coalition BlueGreen Alliance, in a session on how workers and environmental advocates can work together in pursuit of climate goals. He anticipates return of climate legislation that will merge emissions-reduction goals with investment and worker benefits.

Those goals work in tandem in modernizing and decarbonizing ports, said United Steelworkers International union President and alliance Co-Chair Roxanne Brown. "Labor and environmentalists can work together to make sure that we are sourcing our port infrastructure here in the United States and building out that infrastructure for the future," she noted.

“The political aperture for climate change has never been so wide open,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “We get to say the cheapest thing also aligns with our labor priority. The cheapest thing for you also aligns with solving the planetary crisis.”

While still recovering from a storm that “set us back two years from the progress we were making,” Gary, Ind., Mayor Eddie Melton is preparing the city for a recovery that will harden infrastructure in anticipation of future migration influenced by climate change, he said in an interview. "[The] Midwest is going to be a key area where folks are going to be moving from around the country because of the largest freshest body of water in the Lake Michigan area, so we have to protect that asset,” he said, while also balancing needs of surrounding industry and infrastructure, including construction of a new convention center and plans for a downtown rail station to make the area more walkable.

Gary has started to “bridge the gap” in the relationship between the city and U.S. Steel partner Nippon Steel, "advocating for a green steelmaking process that's more energy efficient and cleaner, because we know the steelmaking process is something we need as a nation.”