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Search New York Climate Week (NYCW) 2025 once again brought together business leaders, policymakers, NGOs, and innovators in a high-energy atmosphere. This year, however, the tone was different. Instead of spotlighting individual achievements, conversations focused on pragmatic, on-the-ground action: how companies are adapting in real time, where collaboration is essential, and what it takes to deliver resilience at speed.
Key Topics from NYCW 2025
- Agility as a New Imperative
With rising costs, geopolitical pressures, and extreme weather events reshaping operating environments, companies are accelerating action. Speed and agility are now critical, whether in adapting supply chains, product portfolios, or investment strategies. The question is no longer what should we do but how do we move faster, together. - Supply Chains Under Pressure
Global networks are shifting toward more regional models, forcing companies to rethink efficiency, resilience, and viability. While some changes stem from policy shifts, the broader trend reflects years of accumulated pressure now reaching a tipping point. The call from NYCW was clear: leaders need practical tools that help them prioritise, de-risk, and implement change on the ground. - The Changing Language of Sustainability
Terms like resilience and extreme weather are beginning to replace sustainability and climate change. But this does not mean ambition has waned. Instead, companies are reframing sustainability as part of value creation, bundling investments with drivers such as health, nutrition, and consumer demand for clean, transparent products. This linkage could unlock momentum for regenerative agriculture and other transformative practices. - Health and Climate: A Shared Agenda
Sessions across the week highlighted the convergence of health and sustainability, an agenda closely aligned with The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Healthier Lives Coalition:
• Consumer Health and Climate Action (Day 1): Exploring heat as a growing public health risk and its link to climate resilience.
• New Frontiers of Nutrition (Day 2): Shaping dietary shifts for both people and planet, with urgency around investment.
• Food Waste and Food Systems (Days 3–4): Farmer-led debates underscoring system change, investment flows, and measurement tools. - Collaboration as the True Differentiator
At the CGF CSO Forum and networking sessions, leaders from Tesco, PepsiCo, and BCG reinforced that no company can carry rising risks alone. The next wave of progress will come from shared frameworks for co-investment, co-R&D, and collective de-risking.
What’s Next for Business Leaders?
The sustainability agenda has not slowed, it has shifted. The emphasis is no longer on long-term pledges but on immediate, pragmatic execution. Technology is vital, but equally critical is the ability to simplify, act, and move faster together.
For consumer goods leaders, the priorities are clear:
• Build resilient, regionalised supply chains
• Link sustainability to broader consumer and business value
• Invest collectively in practical solutions and real-world implementation
• Collaborate at speed and scale
As NYCW 2025 made clear, the challenge is not just ambition. It is embedding sustainability into resilience and growth strategies today, on the ground, and in collaboration with others.
