Moments & Insights From New York Climate Week 2025
The Prime Coalition team was on the ground at New York Climate Week, engaging with a wide range of investors, founders, and ecosystem partners to better understand how catalytic capital can advance climate solutions. Across panels, convenings, and fireside chats, our team explored key themes in climate finance, adaptation, resilience, and the scaling of first-of-a-kind solutions.
At Ethic’s “Beyond the Grant: Funding Innovation in DAFs” panel, Sarah Kearney spoke alongside Robbie Heeger (Endaoment) and Alex Fang (RoundZero) to examine how donor-advised funds are supporting for-profit climate solutions.
The panel took stock of where the $250B DAF market is today, why it's experiencing 400% year-over-year growth, and examined stocks and flows across a complex ecosystem of partners.
It also focused on how capital is flowing into and out of DAFs to support for-profit climate solutions, including nonprofit, catalytic, and market-rate companies, projects, and funds.
Ethic is a tech-driven asset management company that enables the creation of customized investment portfolios to help people invest their money in ways that match their personal values—like caring about climate change, fairness, or equality—while still being smart about growing wealth and saving on taxes.
The photo of Sarah Kearney posing after the panel includes leaders from Forward Global and ClimeOn, who attended the panel.
Lindsey White participated in Women Inspiring Network’s inaugural WIN Lounge, engaging in conversations about how catalytic capital can accelerate gender and climate resilience alongside leaders from Ambition Loop, Frontier Markets, Goodness & Co., and Women of the World. Founded by Stuti Jalan, Women Inspiring Network (WIN) is a global non-profit initiative created to connect, collaborate, and celebrate the success, strength, and stories of women. WIN seeks to inspire women in India and beyond through podcasts, networking events, and global summits. The photo above is of Lindsey alongside her fellow panelists prior to the event.
Claudia Leon attended many climate week sessions focused on a mix of indigenous-led climate finance and adaptation & resilience investing and moderated the Adaptation Forum panel, Investing in climate adaptation & resilience, as seen in the photo above, alongside leaders from Virta Ventures, The Lightsmith Group, Tailwind Futures, and Resilience Investments. The panel confirmed that the case for investing in adaptation & resilience is clear and provided the stage for founders, investors, and asset owners to demonstrate actionable strategies for advancing A&R outcomes in the near-horizon.
Lindsey White, Emily Lewise O’Brien, and Genevieve Hummer also joined the “Female Founders and Funders” gathering, which brought together over 500 participants. These convenings provided opportunities to meet funders, investment managers, and founders advancing climate innovation across sectors.
Keri Browder attended a special event hosted by the Monarch Foundation with special guests, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, climate leader and author, who read a passage from her new book, Climate Wayfinding, and Zach Ducheneaux, former Director of the Intertribal Agriculture Council and Administrator for the USDA's Farm Service Agency.
Throughout the week, our team connected with a wide spectrum of partners and gathered actionable insights. The conversations reinforced that meaningful climate impact requires collaboration across sectors, geographies, and investment stages.
