21 May, 2024. New York City
Where Adaptation Leaders Converge to Accelerate Innovation & Investment
Over 250 leaders and visionaries will convene in NYC to share actionable insights, scale innovative solutions and unlock the critical capital needed to adapt our urban and natural environments to the changing climate.
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These industry leaders are supporting innovation, investment and collaboration in carbon removal.
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Unrivalled connections
New insights
Unbound opportunity
Climate Change is Here
Reaching net-zero emissions should continue to be our global priority. However, due to decades of collective inaction, we must also adapt to climate consequences to protect humanity from its worst effects. Adaptation is not an alternative to mitigation; it’s an essential complement to it.
The Multi-Trillion-Dollar Opportunity
Adaptation action brings multiple benefits, also known as the triple dividend. From avoided losses to significant economic, social and environmental benefits, there is a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity to invest now and build healthier, fairer and more resilient world. This opportunity is yet to be fully realised, especially by the private sector.
A Global Convening for Urban Adaptation
Now is the time for private and public sector leaders to usher in this new revolution. Adapt Unbound will bring together an expertly curated audience of visionaries and decision-makers to New York, host hyper-focused discussions, facilitate collaboration, and unlock the critical capital and solutions needed to transform our urban areas.
Meet our Speakers
Ask the hard adaptation and resiliency questions and learn from those who can answer them.
Rebecca Szkutak
Senior Writer
Micah Kotch
Partner
Linda-Eling Lee
Managing Director, Global Head of ESG and Climate Research
Jay Koh
Managing Director
Aakash Parekh
CCO, Pixxel
Zinta Zommers
Vice Chair, Working Group II
Isabella Akker
Portfolio Manager
Domingo Morales
Founder
Kevin Mukai
COO, Hohonu
Alan Cohn
Senior Policy and Science Advisor, New York Department of Environmental Protection
Tom Ferguson
Managing Partner, Burnt Island Ventures
JT White
Co-Founder & CEO, Forerunner
Doug Parsons
Founder
Stephen Brittain
Head of Climate
Calvin Cupini
Senior Manager
Ana Gonzalez Guerrero
Senior Manager of Climate & Cities
Tim Sperry
CEO
Giana Amador
Executive Director
Anu Khan
Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Brad Ack
CEO
Meet our Carbon Unbound USA ‘24 Advisory Board
CDR pioneers crafting the discussion.
Brad Ack
Chief Executive Officer
Ocean Visions
Giana Amador
Executive Director
Carbon Removal Alliance
Nikki Batchelor
Director of Carbon Removal
XPRIZE Carbon Removal
Sarabeth Brockley
Head of Carbon Strategy
Nasdaq
Harris Cohn
Head of Sales
Charm Industrial
Kerry Constabile
Vice Chair, Energy Technical Advisory Committee & Senior Climate Expert
Gold Standard
Natalia Dorfman
CEO & Co-Founder
Kita
Kristin Ellis
Partner
Lowercarbon Capital
Alexander Farsan
Head of Climate and Environment
Klarna
Justin Freiberg
Managing Director
Yale Carbon Containment Lab
Mars Garza
Co-Founder
Alcove
Julie Gosalvez
Chief Marketing Officer
Climeworks
Annie Guo
Strategic Origination Lead, Carbon Removal
Microsoft
Angela Hepworth
SVP Commercial Innovation
Drax
Robert Höglund
Climate Advisor
Milkywire
Tito Jankowski
CEO
AirMiners
Hannes Junginger-Gestrich
Founder & CEO
Carbonfuture
Anu Khan
Deputy Director of Science & Innovation
Carbon180
Michelle Li
Founder
Clever Carbon
Jim Mann
Founder & CEO
UNDO
Radhika Moolgavkar
Head of Supply & Methodology
Nori
Luke Rondel
Head of Growth
Running Tide
Ben Rubin
Executive Director & Co-Founder
Carbon Business Council
Gaurav N. Sant
Pritzker Endowed Chair in Sustainability
UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Benjamin Schulz
Founding Partner
Carbon Removal Partners
Mitchel Selby
Sustainability Fund
Shopify
Chris Sherwood
Secretary-General
Negative Emissions Platform
Anna Stukas
VP Business Development
Carbon Engineering Ltd
Susan Su
Partner
Toba Capital
Christian Theuer
Policy + Comms
Heirloom
Duncan Turner
General Partner
SOSV
Ongeleigh Underwood
Director
Circular Carbon Network
Rob van Straten
CEO
Skytree
In numbers
C-Suite or Equivalent
Organisations in Attendance
Scheduled meetings
Unbound Summits Testimonials
Just some of the delegate praise for previous events.
Attend Our Sister Summit, Carbon Unbound
400 business leaders, investors, buyers and policy makers will meet in New York to discuss the future of carbon removal. Join us for the most impactful days in the carbon removal calendar.
*Carbon levels in the atmosphere (NASA, 2023).
2024 Marketing Partners
2024 Summit Themes
Industry-Wide Collaboration
Creating a Net Zero Equivalent for Adaptation
How Prepared Are Our Cities?
What is Needed to Protect our Urban Populations from the Coming Storm?
Urban Heat Islands
Scaling Sustainable and Equitable Ways to Cool Our Cities
What’s On?
A full day of adapt-packed sessions and insights, tech showcases and bespoke networking opportunities. What are you waiting for?
Tuesday 21st May
Morning
07:00 - Networking Breakfast
08:00 - Opening Remarks
08:05 - Opening Keynote: How Prepared Are Our Cities?
Format: Keynote
- What progress have we made to adapt our urban areas to the changing climate?
- Where do we still need to focus further investment and innovation to scale up adaptation solutions?
- How are public and private sector parties working collaboratively to solve these challenges?
Confirmed Speaker:
Clare Newman - President & CEO, Trust for Governors Island
08:20 - Industry-Wide Collaboration: Creating a Net Zero Equivalent for Adaptation
Format: Opening Panel
- What efforts have been made to define clear metrics to measure adaptation progress, like net-zero for mitigation?
- What is the role of different industry stakeholders, and how can they work together to implement action?
- What characteristics make implementing a global target so challenging?
- What standardised approaches can be used to overcome some of these barriers?
- How can we change the narrative around adaptation vs. mitigation to be one of ‘and’ not ‘or’?
Confirmed Speakers:
Zinta Zommers - Vice Chair, Working Group II, IPCC
Jay Koh - Managing Director, The Lightsmith Group
Linda-Eling Lee - Managing Director, Global Head of ESG and Climate Research, MSCI
09:00 - Urban Heat Islands: Scaling Sustainable and Equitable Ways to Cool Our Cities
Format: Fireside Chat
- What data do we have on the impact of urban heating on health and productivity?
- The emissions from both the refrigerants and the energy used in cooling now account for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. They are expected to triple by 2050 as temperatures continue to rise. What science-backed innovations are allowing us to cool urban areas but also achieve a reduction in cooling-related emissions?
- What other, low-cost solutions are available to reduce or eradicate urban heat islands? How are we protecting the poorest and most vulnerable populations?
- How are we using nature to sustain further warming in urban areas?
- What can we learn from cities across the globe that already have to deal with extreme heat?
Confirmed Speakers:
Catherine Wallace - Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships and Advocacy, Adrienne Arsht–Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center
Caleb Smith - Resiliency Coordinator, WEACT for Environmental Justice
09:30 - Campfire Sessions
Format: Team Collaboration
Organisations invite attendees to an intimate discussion around critical challenges relating to urban adaptation development. The session will culminate in the sharing of new ideas with delegates.
1. Building Resilient Cities: The Adaptation-Removal Nexus
Christiaan Gevers-Deynoot - Senior Manager, Carbon Removal Platforms, South Pole
2. Scaling Up: Raising Funds and Deploying Solutions
Alex Laplaza - Advisor, Lowercarbon Capital
Nick van Osdol - Founder and Editor in Chief, Keep Cool
3. Powering the Energy Transition Through Grid Resilience
Hafiz Bello - Assistant Director, Grid Modernization, NYSERDA
4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Climate Investing
Erin Davis - Co-Founder & COO, Enduring Planet
5. Design for Climate and Human Adaptation
Colin Vernon - Co-Founder, Slow Factory
6. Building the Climate Adaptation Workforce
Micah Kotch - Partner, Blackhorn Ventures
Domingo Morales - Founder, Compost Power
7. TBC
Katie MacDonald - Co-Founder, Tailwind Climate
Emilie Mazzacurati - Co-Founder, Tailwind Climate
10:10 - Networking Coffee Break
10:40 - Infrastructure Planning and Deployment: What Climate Reality Are We Building For?
Format: Panel Discussion
- What climate thresholds are city planners and infrastructure companies taking into account? How are we using climate risk models to predict how infrastructure will be impacted based on different levels of warming?
- Where are the quick wins to make our cities more resilient, even if multiple climate thresholds are broken? What infrastructure is most at risk?
- How can we retrofit existing infrastructure to deal with adverse climate effects, saving time and capital?
- Where are the innovation and investment gaps to improve infrastructure resilience?
- What examples of solutions provide additional mitigation benefits whilst also improving resilience?
Session Chair:
Calvin Cupini - Senior Investment Manager, Activate
Confirmed Speakers:
Mary Claire Morris - Senior Sustainability Associate, Siemens Financial Services
Mike Strauch - Head of Product, Transaera
Ana Gonzalez Guerrero - Senior Manager of Climate & Cities, MaRS Discovery District
11:20 - Developing a Nature-Positive Strategy for the Built Environment
Format: Presentation
- What is the value of a tree? How do we currently evaluate nature’s benefits, and how can we make this accounting more robust?
- Trees that are great at providing shade and those that increase biodiversity are not always one and the same. How should we think about balancing different objectives when implementing nature-based solutions?
- When compared with engineered solutions like sea walls, how effective is nature in combating climate events? Where are the biggest opportunities in an urban context?
- If mandated, how would quantifying the private sector’s dependency on nature change its relationship with it? What business models allow for private sector deployment of NbS?
11:30 - Tech Showcase: Pioneering Solutions for Urban Resilience
Format: Start-Up Pitching
- Spotlighting the next generation of pioneers, 3 start-up founders take the stage to showcase their solutions to a panel of potential investors.
Start-Up Founders:
Sissi Liu - Co-founder and CEO, Metalmark Innovations
Kaitlyn Suarez - Co-Founder and CEO, Terra Watts
Kevin Mukai - COO, Hohonu
Investor Judges:
Austin Evarts - Director, ACRE Incubator, Urban Future Labs
Isabella Akker - Portfolio Manager, TIME CO2
Afternoon
12:00 - Networking Lunch Break
13:00 - Canary in the Coal Mine: Solutions to Improve Early Warning Systems and Crisis Response
Format: Panel Discussion
- What new tools are being used to improve our understanding of the risk, from hazards, exposure, vulnerabilities, to coping capacities? How do we apply this to specific communities and regions?
- What early disaster detection and crisis response innovations have emerged over the last year? How are the strengths and weaknesses of existing systems informing these?
- How are we leveraging advancements in machine learning and satellite imagery to help identify areas suffering most acutely and model our interventions? How close are we to being able to deliver real-time imagery?
- What examples are there of low-cost, open-source, and community-maintained solutions that have been effective?
- How are we ensuring the full detection and response value chain is not siloed? How can collaboration between government agencies, private companies, and NGOs strengthen our response efforts?
Session Chair:
Rebecca Szkutak - Senior Writer, Tech Crunch
Confirmed Speakers:
Michael Jacobs - Sustainability & Social Innovation Leader, IBM
Aakash Parekh - CCO, Pixxel
JT White - Co-Founder and CEO, Forerunner
Jeff Schegelmilch - Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia Climate School
13:40 - Water Resilience: Managing Scarcity, Flooding and Pollution in Our Cities
Format: Fireside Chat
- What are the most pressing climate-induced threats to urban water resilience?
- What innovations can enhance the resilience of a city’s water infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and hurricanes? Are there any notable success stories?
- How can utilities and municipalities use predictive technologies to model how current systems will respond to increasingly chaotic weather and ensure cities are prepared for opposite ends of the spectrum; flash floods and droughts?
- What are the latest advancements in containing and ultimately destroying emerging contaminants in water sources? What contaminants are most likely to impact our water sources?
- How do we move from reactive to proactive processes?
Session Chair:
Tom Ferguson - Managing Partner, Burnt Island Ventures
Confirmed Speaker:
Alan Cohn - Senior Policy and Science Advisor, New York Department of Environmental Protection
Subit Chakrabarti - Vice President of Technology, Floodbase
14:10 - Closing the Capital Gap: Changing the Narrative from Sunk Cost to Economic Opportunity
Format: Panel Discussion
- What is the current shortfall in urban adaptation financing? How much could the total adaptation market be worth by 2030?
- Adaptation has largely been seen as a sunk cost that doesn’t deliver returns, not an investment. What is needed to unlock more private capital like we see in renewables or carbon removal?
- What current avenues of funding are available for adaptation start-ups? What examples are there of public and private sectors working together to create more effective blended finance vehicles for long-term solutions?
- Which areas of innovation are most supported in this space? Where is not being adequately financed that could see oversized returns?
Session Chair:
Louie Woodall - Editor, Climate Proof News
Confirmed Speakers:
Emilie Mazzacurati - Co-Founder, Tailwind Climate
Sonam Velani - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Streetlife Ventures
Anish Patel - COO & Managing Director, Yamaha Motor Ventures
14:50 - Government Foresight: Creating Adaptive and Reactive Policies to Weather the Storm
Format: Presentation
- Laws and policy are normally needed to be written in stone, but the challenge of climate impacts is ever changing. What progress has been made in creating laws and policies that can adapt and react to our changing world?
- How are federal and state governments working with other organisations and communities to ensure these policies work for all?
- What current policies are currently in place that have been identified as not fit for purpose?
- What case studies are there of politicians and city officials taking action and implementing comprehensive resiliency plans?
15:00 - Closing Remarks and Networking Drinks
16:00 - End of Summit
Early-Bird deadline on 3rd May!
Join the most curated leadership conference in the adaptation industry. For any enquiries or further details, our team is on hand to help.
Big Apple Buzz
Nestled amongst iconic landmarks and globally important institutions, One Liberty Plaza in downtown NYC is the perfect space to listen to, share, and form the ideas of the future.
We’ve chosen NYC as the stage for our inaugural Adapt Unbound for many reasons. The city is implementing pioneering adaptation policies while grappling with systemic climate impact. It is home to the world’s largest capital market and the UN headquarters. It’s also one of the biggest and most culturally diverse cities in the world.
Nearest Subway Stations
- Fulton Street Station
- Cortlandt Street Station
- WTC-Cortlandt Station
Closest airports
- Newark Liberty: 35 minutes by cab, 1 hour by train
- JFK: 50 minutes by cab, 1 hour by train
Hotel Recommendations
- Budget Conscious: AC Hotel New York Downtown
- Mid-Range: Millennium Downtown New York
- High-End: The Beekman
A priceless experience
One ticket to gain access to the best in the industry. Join a highly curated audience to discuss and collaborate towards a more resilient future.
Need a discount?
Click on the relevant group below, fill out a contact form and we will be in touch! Join us at Adapt Unbound USA and build a resilient future, one groundbreaking conversation at a time.
Super Early Bird
Early Bird - Expires 3rd May
General Admission
SOLD OUT!
$695.00
$895.00
Need a discount?
Click on the relevant group below, fill out a contact form and we will be in touch!
Have questions? Read our FAQs
Need more answers? Contact our team by clicking the button below.
Is the summit streamed/ available digitally?
We believe nothing can replace the value of in-person meetings and sitting behind a screen for hours on-end hinders creativity and focus. Taking place in the heart of New York City, we've made the decision to do away with virtual streaming. Get out from behind your desk and come away energized, with the connections and insights you need to take your project to the next level.
I'm a start-up. Are there special rates?
Start-ups are entitled to a special discount if you meet certain critera. Please get in contact with delegates@unboundsummits.com and share your number of employees, series of funding and company focus.
What is included in my ticket?
Full day, in-person summit pass as well as access to our networking drinks reception. Listen to all live discussions and join the debate. Access to our networking app three weeks before and four weeks after the summit. Breakfast, lunch, networking break snacks, and coffee.
What is your refund policy?
Up to 30 days before the event date you can cancel and request a refund, there will be a 15% cancellation fee. After this point, we unfortunately are unable to provide a refund. You can however transfer your pass to a colleague anytime.
Do you have an event app, and am I able to book 1-1 meetings?
Yes! Meetings and networking is at the core of our summits. As an attendee, you will receive information about how to join our event app one month before the summit. On there, you will be able to connect with other attendees and set up meetings onsite.
How can I apply for a press pass?
For more information on press attendance, please email rupert@unboundsummits.com.
Tickets now on sale!
Join us at Adapt Unbound USA and build a resilient future, one groundbreaking conversation at a time.
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