We went in expecting to talk about targets and goals. We left thinking about one word: collaboration.
At the Climate Week NYC opening ceremony, we heard from heads of government, international institutions, and some of the world’s largest brands. The clearest message was that resilience is a return, not a cost. The speakers stressed how infrastructure lasts for decades, meaning designing for renewal is investing in an asset’s future value. They described nature and biodiversity as assets in their own right, making the case that sustainable design is becoming a requirement for attracting capital.
The urgency felt personal when Eileen Higgins, Mayor of the City of Miami, reminded the room of how her city continues to flood, and that municipalities have to be part of the solution. She stressed the need for public-private partnership in an ever-changing world. Similarly, Ezgi Barcenas, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer at L'Oréal Groupe, emphasized how resilience requires a choice before disruption happens.
That shift in thinking came up again and again. The old corporate social responsibility view, that we need less of the negative, must move aside to prioritize renewal and rehabilitation. Collaboration was the connecting piece present in every conversation. Business leaders including Paul Polman, Jesper Brodin, Cimarron Nix of Nike, and Sarah Chandler of Apple spoke about alignment across borders, consistency in time, and reaching agreements when working with suppliers, policymakers, peers, and even other corporations. They framed depth of relationships as a measure of success for supply chains, and were honest about how difficult this truly is.
Zihan and I realized we can all move faster and greener together by collaborating in new ways with creativity and urgency. For EDG, this means treating collaboration as actionable rather than simply a discussion point. We embrace this philosophy and are choosing to start now.
