New York’s Climate Week is wrapping with record participation, about 1,000 events across the city, just as Washington is taking a sharp turn away from climate action. The split-screen is hard to miss.
Last week at the U.N. General Assembly (Sept 23), President Donald Trump called climate change “the greatest con job,” signaling a hard line against multilateral climate efforts.
Days later, the U.S. Department of Energy said it intends to cancel more than $13 billion in clean-energy funds slated for wind, solar, batteries, and EV projects, money previously planned under the last administration. Today’s science-policy digests echo the move, noting DOE plans to “return” over $13 billion in unobligated clean-energy funds. (Legal fights over freezes and cancellations have been ongoing this year.)
Meanwhile, at the U.N. today (Sept 29), leaders from developing nations blasted wealthy countries for broken climate-finance promises, arguing that those who contributed most to warming are still not delivering resources at the scale the crisis demands.
And in a parallel policy track, new reporting today highlights additional U.S. steps prioritizing fossil fuels, including a federal push to prop up coal, even as clean-energy groups warn of investment slowdowns.
Why this matters (and what to watch)
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Signal vs. scale: Climate Week’s surge shows companies, cities, and NGOs aren’t waiting for federal leadership. But federal funding shifts reshape what actually gets built.
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Courts & Congress: Some funding freezes were partially blocked in court earlier this year; expect more litigation over cancellations vs. congressionally authorized spending.
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Global pressure: The finance gap remains the political fault line, today’s U.N. speeches made that explicit. Watch whether fresh pledges materialize before COP30.
At Civic Goods, our stance is simple: Planet Over Profits isn’t a slogan, it’s a priority. If the policy wind shifts, civic action has to blow harder.
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