Stand.earth powers on through advocacy events during Climate Week NYC 2025
October 7, 2025
Representatives of Stand hosted events at Climate Week NYC to advance the goals of its Climate Finance, Transportation, Big Tech, and Amazon Rainforest campaigns
Stand.earth joined other global leaders in the movement for climate progress at the annual Climate Week NYC gathering that took place in late September.
Numerous of our team members were on the ground in New York City to participate in crucial conversations about the challenges and opportunities ahead over the course of the weeklong convening.
Through the four events we hosted, as outlined below, our team members were energized at the opportunity to share our vision for a climate-safe, equitable future, where environmental and climate justice policies uphold the dignity of people everywhere — at the scale our world requires.
Climate Finance
Stand’s Climate Finance program collaborated with partners and PlanetHAUS to host a panel that discussed the impact and momentum behind the Retire Big Oil campaign, through which 500+ actors and SAG-AFTRA members are publicly calling on the $4 billion SAG-Producers Pension Plan to divest from fossil fuels.
The panel included Stand Executive Director Todd Paglia, Sphere Founder and CEO Alex Wright-Goldstein, and actors and SAG-AFTRA members Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black, The Diplomat), Daphne Rubin-Vega (In The Heights, Rent), and Miss Peppermint (RuPaul’s Drag Race, Survival of the Thickest).
“When you have a 401K, a pension, or retirement fund of some kind, 99% of us are unwittingly invested in fossil fuels, but there’s something we can do about it. Ten years ago, it was hard to find a place to move your money that is clean from fossil fuel companies, but there are more and more solutions possible today.” — Stand Executive Director Todd Paglia
Stand’s Big Tech IT campaign collaborated with Kairos partners on an event titled “Magical thinking and greenwashing in Big Tech’s AI takeover,” which featured a panel discussion and Q&A with representatives from a powerful mix of national and community-based organizations campaigning to limit the impact of data centers on communities and the climate.
Topics ranged from local impacts (water use, electricity prices, air/light/noise pollution) to global issues (climate change pollution) to the attempts of Big Tech to spin AI as a climate solution silver bullet while ignoring how it enables fossil fuel companies to increase extraction and its primacy in the federal government’s attempts to roll back environmental regulations.
Photo courtesy of Jun-Ting Zhou
“AI data centers are impacting people all across the country, and no one company has a monopoly on causing issues for local communities. There is a push right now to build out data center facilities, leaving communities that have been historically targeted and overburdened by pollution in the crosshairs yet again.” — Stand Senior Campaigner Nathan Taft
Before hosting this event, members of Stand’s Big Tech campaign engaged in numerous other actions throughout Climate Week NYC, and rallied as part of a coalition of local, national and international organizations speaking out against the dangerous and unfettered rollout of data centers. In addition to marching as a contingent in the Make Billionaires Pay March on Saturday, our team members also brought our banner to the Microsoft Experience Center in New York City to call out the company’s pollution.
“During the week, we saw event after event by corporations like Google and Microsoft push AI as a climate solution, so our event — highlighting how the rollout is being greenwashed to give big tech carte blanche to pollute — felt even more timely. It was amazing to hear the front line stories from North Carolina and Michigan, and to see the similarities that tie our campaigns targeting Microsoft, Amazon, and Google into one movement.” — Stand Senior Corporate Climate Campaigner Rachel Kitchin
Join us in calling on tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to ensure new AI data centers are powered by local, round-the-clock renewable energy, and provide substantial benefits for the surrounding community.
Stand’sAmazonia campaign collaborated with Indigenous leaders as well as partner organizations iIndigenous and Avaaz on an event titled, “Defending a Living Amazon: Indigenous Peoples’ Proposals on the Road to COP30.” This event brought together the Indigenous organizations of the Amazon Basin to present their unified priorities for COP30 in Belém, giving leaders a unique and valuable platform to articulate clear demands and priorities for their governments and the international community toward protecting territories. It was an opportunity to center, amplify and rally support behind that vision.
“My highlight was seeing all of the presidents and high-level representatives of the Amazonian Indigenous organizations gathered together at one table at this fancy, packed event in downtown Manhattan. So much work and relationship building and strategic alignment went into making it possible for people to witness these leaders’ power, passion, and plans for COP30 and beyond. It felt like the world was watching, as they should be. If Indigenous Peoples are united and have the backing they need, together we can do anything. We can be the force for change the world needs to protect the Amazonia and Indigenous Peoples in perpetuity.” — Stand Senior Campaign Director Shayda Naficy
Working alongside event partners OPIAC, COIAB, AIDESEP, and COICA, Stand calls on governments across the globe to heed Indigenous Peoples’ call to protect Amazonia and join the fight. Our team will continue building support for these demands along the road to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil in November.
“I am proud to have been part of this powerful event, and that Stand has had the privilege of partnering with the Indigenous movement on the road to COP30. We will be with them every step of the way towards COP30 and beyond to ensure these demands translate into real actions by governments and the international community.” — Stand Senior Campaigner Gisela Hurtado
Stand’s Deliver Change campaign collaborated with Clean Mobility Collective partners on an event titled “Where do all the polluters go?” Experts and partners shared an insightful discussion on retiring aging heavy-duty trucks and advancing zero-emission transport. Guided with charisma by moderator Michelle Piñon (CMC), the panel underscored that tackling aging vehicle fleets is not just a technical challenge—it’s a matter of equity, climate justice, and public health. Panelists highlighted the environmental, health, and equity impacts of polluting vehicles, and explored solutions such as building reuse and recycling capacity in LMICs, strengthening regional supply chains, and centering communities in policies to make transport cleaner and safer. Read a full recap here.
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“When you have a 401K, a pension, or retirement fund of some kind, 99% of us are unwittingly invested in fossil fuels, but there’s something we can do about it. Ten years ago, it was hard to find a place to move your money that is clean from fossil fuel companies, but there are more and more solutions possible today.”
“When you have a 401K, a pension, or retirement fund of some kind, 99% of us are unwittingly invested in fossil fuels, but there’s something we can do about it. Ten years ago, it was hard to find a place to move your money that is clean from fossil fuel companies, but there are more and more solutions possible today.”
“During the week, we saw event after event by corporations like Google and Microsoft push AI as a climate solution, so our event — highlighting how the rollout is being greenwashed to give big tech carte blanche to pollute — felt even more timely. It was amazing to hear the front line stories from North Carolina and Michigan, and to see the similarities that tie our campaigns targeting Microsoft, Amazon, and Google into one movement.”
“My highlight was seeing all of the presidents and high-level representatives of the Amazonian Indigenous organizations gathered together at one table at this fancy, packed event in downtown Manhattan. So much work and relationship building and strategic alignment went into making it possible for people to witness these leaders’ power, passion, and plans for COP30 and beyond. It felt like the world was watching, as they should be. If Indigenous Peoples are united and have the backing they need, together we can do anything. We can be the force for change the world needs to protect the Amazonia and Indigenous Peoples in perpetuity.”
“I am proud to have been part of this powerful event, and that Stand has had the privilege of partnering with the Indigenous movement on the road to COP30. We will be with them every step of the way towards COP30 and beyond to ensure these demands translate into real actions by governments and the international community.”
