Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
NYC Climate Week, Phytomining, The Sustainable Future Program, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday and NYC Climate Week! One of my favorite moments from this week was when Rainn Wilson from the Office performed at the NYT Climate Forward Event. His main message was that to address climate change, we need to address and transform our relationship with nature. He taught the 20-5-3 rule, meaning to spend 20 minutes outside 3 times per week, 5 hours per month in actual nature, and 3 days per year off the grid in nature without a cellphone. Watch the full performance here.
Also coming up is Archtober, and Open House NY Weekend (October 17-19th, tickets go on sale on October 3rd!)
Keep reading for sustainability news…
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
NEW YORK ANNOUNCES THE $1 BILLION SUSTAINABLE FUTURE PROGRAM
NY Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $1 billion Sustainable Future Program during Climate Week in NYC, the state’s biggest-ever climate investment. The plan will fund home energy upgrades such as heat pumps for low- and moderate-income families, campus-scale thermal networks, renewable energy projects, and clean transportation like electric school buses and EV charging. Hochul framed the plan as both an affordability and climate strategy, because doing nothing would be even more expensive in the future. She was quick to point out the success so far of NYC congestion pricing in reducing emissions and improving air quality. Some environmental and labor groups praised the program for creating jobs and lowering costs, but criticism came from both sides. Some activists demanded her to go further by rejecting fracked gas pipelines, Frack Action accused Hochul of cutting deals with the Trump administration to fast-track controversial gas pipelines, and Republican Senator Mario Mattera argued the state is leaning too heavily on renewables and should invest in carbon capture for existing power plants.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the $1 billion total core investments for clean energy deployment, building decarbonization, and clean transportation in the Sustainable Future Program:
$50 million – EmPower+ program for low- and moderate-income households, including home energy checkups and heat pump installations.
$200 million – Expansion of thermal energy networks at SUNY campuses ($50 million for SUNY Purchase, $68 million for SUNY Buffalo, $22 million for SUNY Stony Brook)
$100 million – Zero-emission school buses and charging infrastructure.
$50 million – Medium- and heavy-duty vehicle charging.
$50 million – EV charging station rebates for workplaces and apartment buildings.
$50 million – Support for public schools to reduce carbon footprints and improve air quality.
$150 million – Green Small Buildings Program via NY State Homes and Community Renewal, for energy-efficient upgrades in homes and rentals.
$200 million – NY Power Authority financing for renewable energy projects and lowering utility costs.
NYC CLIMATE WEEK
There were so many amazing events happening during NYC this week! While Climate Week is not over yet, there were definitely some common themes throughout the events so far. The Heatmap House event brought together political leaders, clean energy executives, investors, and technologists to talk about the state of climate action. Senator Chuck Schumer opened with a fiery speech slamming Trump’s climate rollbacks and praising New York’s position as a climate leader. There was a call for affordability, public power modernization, and the need for cleaner transportation. In terms of the global energy landscape, almost every leader agreed that the world is pushing ahead with decarbonization even if the U.S. drags its feet. The setbacks for clean energy projects range from the major associated costs, tariffs, and policy uncertainty. There are several inspiring upcoming climate tech investments, such as the rise of low-carbon cement, and carbon-sequestration projects.
At the New York Times Climate Forward live event, world leaders, executives, and activists discussed the big tensions currently shaping climate policy. California Governor Gavin Newsom blasted Trump’s recent UN speech on climate as an “abomination,” while Energy Secretary Chris Wright defended the administration’s attacks on renewables and downplayed mainstream science. Many global figures also reacted strongly to Trump’s climate denial. Leaders like Hilde Heine of the Marshall Islands invited him to see firsthand the damage from rising seas and extreme heat. See more here.
China released emissions targets that some called underwhelming (at 7-10% reductions by 2035) but still far ahead of U.S. action. China’s dominant in solar, batteries, EVs, and even secretive fusion projects. America’s attachment to gas cars is holding us back and could turn highways into “a tourist attraction for outdated tech,” Bill McKibben reminded us. Another theme was soaring energy demand, especially from data centers built by tech giants.
A takeaway from these events is that climate policy is messy and sometimes hostile, but there’s still strong momentum, innovation, and investment pushing toward a decarbonized future. A reminder that while most of the world is moving forward with climate pledges, the U.S. stands isolated, and was absent from the latest UN climate summit.
USING FLOWERS TO HARVEST METAL AND RARE EARTH ELEMENTS
Phytomining is the process of using hyperaccumulating plants that naturally absorb high concentrations of metals like nickel, zinc, copper, gold, and rare earth elements from soil to recover the valuable metals for industrial use. There are around 700 known species of these plants where metals are stored in leaves, shoots, or sap as a defense against predators, but are harmless to the plants. The technique began in the 1980s to clean contaminated soils, including radioactive sites like Chernobyl, and evolved in the 1990s into phytomining.
Metalplant, a startup in Albania, is growing Odontarrhena plants on a site near where nickel levels are too high for crops but too low for conventional mining. The plants absorb nickel, which makes up about 2% of their dry weight. After harvesting and drying, the plants are ground and incinerated to produce “bio-ore,” which is washed and treated with sulfuric acid to produce nickel sulfate used in batteries for electric vehicles. Metalplant has harvested over three tons of nickel from the field over 3 seasons. Genomines is another startup doing the same thing, but producing Nickel at $10,000/ton instead of the industry median of $16,000/ton.
Phytomining is significantly less environmentally damaging than conventional mining, which produces toxic tailings, causes deforestation,comes with human rights concerns, and generates 10-59 tons of CO₂/ton of nickel. It also allows unusable soil to be cleaned and repurposed for forestry or recreation. Global demand for nickel is expected to double by 2050 thanks to electric vehicle battery growth, but most current supply comes from high-concentration mines, such as Chinese-owned operations in Indonesia. Phytomining is a good alternative for local sources in countries with high soil nickel concentrations where crops can’t grow, however phytomining probably cannot replace conventional mining at scale.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
This week at the United Nations General Assembly in NYC, in front of drowning nations, Trump called climate change a ‘con job’, and renewable sources of energy like wind power a “joke” and “pathetic,” falsely claiming they don’t work. (Even FOX news reported world leaders laughing and squirming at him!) Here are the facts and context.
Maine’s oyster farms are adopting electric battery-powered boats for a cleaner alternative to the smelly, polluting, louder petroleum-powered boats.
Wildfire smoke in America is now killing 40,000 people a year, more than car crashes.
Your kitchen is full of microplastics. Here's how to eat less of them.
Micro-solutions to microplastics: 4 ways cities and states are legislating away the plastic crisis.
With September coming to an end, so are EV tax credits in America (10 years ahead of schedule thanks to GOP Congress).
The people behind America’s disaster recovery, from cleanup crews to powerline techs.
A new nature preserve in Ohio will protect 3,000 acres of Appalachian foothills in one of the largest private land protection initiatives in state history.
A study using advanced CT imaging of a 1 million-year-old skull points to much earlier and complex origins of modern humans.
Can climate comedy still work? This offshore wind ad starring Samuel L. Jackson suggests it can.
Chart: Check out how fast China is shifting to renewables.
How Bill Gates is playing both sides of the climate crisis.
Arizona State University received its largest-ever grant to launch a new school dedicated to preparing the next generation of conservation leaders.