Climate Week NYC 2026: Turning Ambition into Impact

02 Oct 2026Sustainability Stories

New York in September: busy streets, tightly scheduled conversations, high expectations. During Climate Week and the UN General Assembly, people came together to work on a shared challenge: how to make business and society fit for the future. For DEKRA, it was the company’s first appearance at these international gatherings. Yet the occasion itself mattered less than the insight gained from the many encounters: sustainability will not become reality through isolated initiatives. It requires collaboration, robust data and trust in the solutions that emerge from them.

At Climate Week NYC: From Targets to Verifiable Impact

In conversations with companies, international organizations and experts, four topics kept coming up: the energy transition, expanding renewable energy, the energy demands of AI and data centers, and the path to decarbonization. These issues are closely connected. Anyone rolling out new technologies quickly also needs to understand the resources they consume. Anyone seeking to cut emissions needs data that makes progress visible. And anyone investing needs to be able to trust that processes and claims can stand up to independent scrutiny.

We want to engage with customers and partners who share our commitment to sustainability, and exchange ideas on how we can turn ambition into real impact.

DEKRA CEO Stan Zurkiewicz at the start of Climate Week

For DEKRA, impact begins where goals become verifiable and solutions prove themselves in everyday practice.

As an independent partner, DEKRA combines safety, digital security and sustainability with technical expertise. This helps organizations identify risks early, assess requirements transparently and make sustainability measurable. In this way, a goal becomes a sound basis for decisions – within the company, across the supply chain and in dialogue with customers and the public.

Tracking the Climate: Trust Grows Through Partnerships

The UN General Assembly, which took place in parallel, gave this ambition a concrete setting. At UNICEF’s “Scaling Impact: Partnerships that Deliver for Children and Young People” panel, Stan Zurkiewicz joined representatives from Adobe and AstraZeneca to discuss how partnerships can respond to people’s needs and create lasting impact. The discussion focused on responsibility for future generations and climate-resilient solutions that adapt to local circumstances.

Zurkiewicz also highlighted the partnership between DEKRA and UNICEF. Together, the organizations support climate-resilient water and sanitation solutions in Ethiopia and India – including solar-powered water infrastructure, local technical capacity and modern water-treatment solutions. The approach combines global expertise with local knowledge. It shows that climate responsibility is not only about reducing emissions. It is also about strengthening communities so that they can cope with the effects of climate change.

Transformation needs partnerships. No company, no industry and no country can tackle these challenges alone. Governments, businesses, technology providers, investors, NGOs and international organisations must bring together knowledge and practical experience.

Maik Beermann, SVP External Affairs at DEKRA.

Climate Week NYC was therefore not an endpoint, but a first step. DEKRA is bringing its role as an independent safety partner to the transformation – so that innovation can not only grow faster, but also deliver impact safely, transparently and sustainably.