Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
Wins for Ocean Conservation, NYC’s Urban Forest Plan, the Summer Solstice, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Monday! Yesterday was the Summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere. Starting today, the hours of sunlight each day will gradually decrease until the Winter solstice. Let the Summer officially begin!
Keep reading for this week’s sustainability news…
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
NEW YORK CITY’S NEW URBAN FOREST PLAN
New York City has released a new, first-of-its-kind Urban Forest Plan, a long-term plan to expand and protect the city's tree canopy as temperatures rise and climate impacts become more severe. The plan sets a goal of increasing canopy cover from 23.4% today to 30% by 2040, adding to the more than 7 million trees already growing here. The Urban forest plan reiterates how trees are critical infrastructure, helping cool neighborhoods, improve air quality, absorb stormwater, and reduce heat-related health risks. The need for climate regulation is especially urgent in lower-income communities, which often have fewer trees and experience significantly hotter temperatures during summer heat waves.
Developed with input from more than 8,000 New Yorkers and 23 city agencies, the plan outlines 43 actions focused on preserving existing trees, planting new ones, and “building long-term community stewardship.” The strategies include creating clearer citywide leadership for tree management, streamlining tree planting and maintenance contracts, and expanding public education and engagement programs. The city estimates that its urban forest already provides about $260 million in annual environmental benefits. For example, the existing trees remove 1,100 tons of air pollution, reduce stormwater runoff by 69 million cubic feet, and account for energy savings equivalent to the annual electricity use of 8,000 homes. Not only that, but trees become more valuable over time, with mature trees providing significantly greater cooling, shade, and stormwater management benefits than newly planted saplings. Without this Urban Forest Plan, New York was not expected to reach its 30% canopy goal until at least 2055.
U.S. STARTUP DEPLOYS FLOATING DATA CENTERS THAT GENERATE ELECTRICITY FROM OCEAN WAVES
A U.S. startup called Panthalassa is taking an unique approach to powering the growing demand for AI and data centers: putting them in the middle of the ocean. They raised $140 million to scale up their floating, self-powered data center platforms. The data centers generate hydropower electricity from ocean waves and use the surrounding seawater to naturally cool their computing equipment. The platforms use the generated power directly onboard to run the AI systems, then transmit data back to land via satellites. Not only does this avoid carbon emissions from using fossil-fuel power, but it also avoids many of the current challenges of traditional data centers, including limited grid capacity, water shortages, permitting delays, and community pushback about energy use and noise. The floating platforms are designed to operate autonomously in deep ocean waters, where wave energy can provide a steady source of renewable power around the clock. Panthalassa has spent the past 10 years testing prototypes, and is finally launching its first Ocean-3 pilot deployment in the North Pacific later this year, and plans to operate commercially in 2027.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REVERSES THE DECISION TO END CRITICAL OCEAN MONITORING PROGRAM
The Trump administration has reversed its decision to dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), a $386 million network of underwater sensors and monitoring equipment that collects data on ocean conditions, climate change, marine ecosystems, and coastal hazards. The OOI has provided real-time metrics used to track coastal flooding, marine heat waves, fisheries health, greenhouse gas absorption, ocean currents, hurricanes, tsunamis, and climate patterns such as El Niño. Scientists warned that shutting down the system would lead to major gaps in climate and ocean monitoring at a time when extreme weather and warming oceans are becoming increasingly important to understand. The National Science Foundation (NSF) had begun removing instruments from sites off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina, and the North Atlantic. But after bipartisan backlash from Congress, criticism from scientists, and growing international concern, the agency announced it would “halt all further removals and convene an expert panel to determine the program’s future.” While some monitoring equipment had already been removed from the Pacific Northwest, the NSF now says it is exploring options to redeploy the instruments after maintenance.
This past Wednesday, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to stop what they called the program’s “reckless dismantling.” This decision will take pressure off the European Union to accelerate plans for its own ocean observation network, called Ocean Eye, intended to help fill potential data gaps. This is considered a victory for our oceans and climate science!
OTHER SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
This summer, the American water crisis becomes real.
PeopleForBike’s released the lists of best cities for biking 2026, and Brooklyn is ranked #1 Large U.S. city. See the full list here.
The nation is literally on fire. There are currently 24 uncontained large wildfires currently burning across the United States, and we are at a level 3 out of 5 for wildfire preparedness.
How FIFA’s climate solution has turned into ‘water-gate’.
Bloomberg announces $285 million of support for renewables.
Park or subway? Mamdani's backing of 'Queensway' plan divides borough.
Developer Elementl says it will build a new 1.5-gigawatt nuclear plant 100 miles outside Columbus, Ohio. The twist: It’ll be powered by small modular reactors.
From the Gothamist: Artificial intelligence firms are feasting on Manhattan office space.
Need to find a route with shade? There's an app for that.
A new paper details how the remnants of dead organisms shape the living world long after they perish.
Humans are changing how nature smells, with risks for wildlife.
Data centers could more than double their share of U.S. power demand and account for up to 15% of electricity use by 2030 as forecast growth outpaces any efficiency gains, according to a federal laboratory’s new report.
Nature’s own emissions are a missing piece in climate modeling.
Community solar needs space to grow. Warehouse rooftops have lots of it.
The Iran war sparked a shift toward clean energy. Will it last?
Electric cars are starting to take over the world, as they are expected to account for 28% of new cars sold this year.
A Wisconsin coal plant previously slated for retirement that’s now receiving $19 million from the Trump administration to modernize operations significantly increased its carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions last year.
Bio-Based Materials Collective advocates for a shift in materials specification.