IBES joins the conversation at Climate Week NYC
IBES faculty, researchers and alumni played important roles at this year’s Climate Week NYC (September 19-26), offering their expertise on climate obstruction, extreme weather events and public health.
Every year, Climate Week NYC brings together professionals from around the world to discuss effective policy and economic approaches to climate change. IBES faculty, researchers and alumni collaborated with one another to plan for a better and brighter future. Read on for some highlights.
J. Timmons Roberts
Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies, Professor of Environment and Society and Sociology
Professor J. Timmons Roberts (speaking), who serves as Executive Director of the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN), was a panelist on “Powering Through: Tools and Resources to Combat Myths and Local Opposition to Renewable Energy Siting,” hosted by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School at the NYC Bar Association.
The panel marked the launch of two new reports from the Sabin Center and focused on challenges of local implementation of renewable energy and possible solutions to opposition.
Roberts and his colleagues led a walking tour that explored climate obstruction across the Manhattan. The tour highlighted various individuals' and organizations' efforts throughout history to deny climate change's existence and prevent meaningful environmental action from being taken. The tour drew on archival materials gathered by the presenters and their colleagues to illustrate the history of climate obstruction.
That evening, Roberts joined Jennifer Jacquet (a fellow CSSN scholar and University of Miami professor), Climate Town (a group of comedic climate communicators), and other colleagues for a reception reflecting on the day’s events.
NYC Climate Week 26 also coincided with the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, and Roberts was invited to attend “Information Integrity Solutions Dialogue: From Global Principles to Collective Action” alongside Rutgers Professor and CSSN member Melissa Aronczyk and University of Colorado Professor Max Boykoff. Roberts’ and his colleagues’ involvement underscored the importance of strengthening information integrity and supporting climate research and communication initiatives.
Kim Cobb
Director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Professor of Environment and Society and Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences
Professor Kim Cobb served as the Climate Keynote speaker for Aon’s Risk and Resilience Summit 2026. This year’s event explored how energy systems can be strengthened in the face of growing climate challenges.
Cobb also joined Aon’s Global Head of Climate Risk Advisory Liz Henderson for a fireside chat entitled “Rethinking Resilience: How Interconnected Risks Are Reshaping Communities, Economies and the Systems They Depend On.” The talk explored “why forward-looking climate data is critical.”
Cobb also stopped by a Brown Club of New York gathering at The Happiest Hour, the first official Climate Week alumni gathering in partnership with IBES. At “Weaving Brown @ Climate Week NYC,” organized by Michael Keefrider '04 and Robert Guterl '26, Cobb gave remarks to an audience of Brunonians and colleagues, demonstrating the strength of the Brown and IBES community across generations and cities.
August DeVore Welles
Climate Social Science Network (CSSN) Program Manager
CSSN Program Manager August DeVore Welles was invited to a roundtable discussion hosted by Perry World House at the Penn Club of New York. The conversation centered around the World Health Organization’s One Health program and the relationship between climate change and public health.