The Climate Registry at COP31

Hosted by: Bay Area Air District

Wildfire smoke now crosses entire regions, and recovery can take years. Air District Board Chair Lynda Hopkins and other panelists will share lessons from leading communities through wildfire recovery, and the Air District brings regional data on smoke and its health plus its work with local fire agencies on prescribed burns. Panelists share what works before, during, and after a fire.

Speakers:

• Lynda Hopkins, Sonoma County Supervisor and Bay Area Air District Board Chair
• Dr. Philip Fine, Executive Officer/APCO, Bay Area Air District

Hosted by: The Climate Center

Moderated by Allison Hilliard, Government Affairs Director at The Climate Center, this panel features Assemblywoman Petrie-Norris and Senator Becker. They will discuss key outcomes from the recent legislative session, the state of play for clean energy and affordability, data centers, and regional cooperation.

Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris has also played a central role in shaping California’s energy policy, particularly through her leadership as Chair of the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee. She has championed legislation to expand transmission capacity, strengthen grid reliability, improve energy affordability, and advance regional energy cooperation Senator Josh Becker has been a champion for advancing California’s clean energy transition, authoring legislation to accelerate renewable energy development, streamline transmission infrastructure, improve grid interconnection, and support next-generation battery technologies.

Speakers:

• Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, California State Assembly and Chair, Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.
• Senator Josh Becker, California Senate District 13
• Allison Hilliard, Government Affairs Director, The Climate Center (Moderator)

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Hosted by: The Climate Registry

Agriculture is both highly exposed to climate change and an important part of the solution. California’s Healthy Soils, dairy methane and agricultural resilience programs offer tested models for cutting emissions while protecting farm livelihoods and food security. The panel connects California’s experience with philanthropy, methane experts and the bioeconomy to explore how to scale climate-smart agriculture worldwide and how to measure its benefits credibly.

Speakers:

• Una May Gordon, Senior Climate Resilience Advisor (Moderator)
• Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture
• Carolina Urmeneta, Waste & Circular Economy Director, The Global Methane Hub
• Kelly Sheridan, Vice President, Stewardship & Multilateral Affairs, US Dairy Export Council

Hosted by: The Climate Registry

As climate change fuels extreme weather, the electric sector faces a difficult question: how do we cut ignition risk, keep the grid reliable, and keep financing the clean energy transition without pricing customers out? Spending on wildfire mitigation, liability, insurance, and higher borrowing costs is pushing up utility bills, which makes electrification harder to sell. This one-hour panel brings together policymakers and regulators who are testing new answers: cost-effective risk reduction, reformed liability and cost-sharing frameworks, smarter capital planning, and protections for the most vulnerable customers. Panelists will discuss what’s working and how to pay for climate risk, to achieve safety, affordability, and climate goals.

Speakers:

• John Reynolds, President, California Public Utilities Commission
• Joshua Becker, Senator, California State Senate
• Doreen Harris, President & CEO, NYSERDA
• Amanda Lefton, Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

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Hosted by: Bay Area Air District

The Bay Area is a major US data center hub, with many sites packed into Silicon Valley and backed by large fleets of diesel generators. As data centers grow, so does the risk for neighbors already exposed to high levels of diesel particulate pollution. As more cities adopt data center moratoriums, the Air District will share its approach to limiting health-harming pollution and why more must be done.

Speakers:

• Dr. Philip Fine, Executive Officer/APCO, Bay Area Air District
• Vicki Veenker, Mayor, City of Palo Alto and Vice Chair, Bay Area Air District Board of Directors
• Chris Wheat, Executive Director, America is All In

Hosted by: U.S. Green Building Council

The future of climate action will be won or lost in cities. In this high-level discussion, Doreen Harris (President and CEO of NYSERDA) and Alexandra Liftman (Global Environmental Executive, Bank of America) will share how public-sector innovation and private-sector investment can unlock transformative progress in decarbonization, electrification, resilience, workforce development, and sustainable economic growth. Together, they will explore the leadership and partnerships required to build thriving, future-ready communities in a changing climate. The session will be moderated by USGBC.

Speakers TBA

Hosted by: Port of Seattle and High Ambition Climate Collective

Ports are essential to powering a climate-positive economy; Port Powerhouse by High Ambition Climate Collective (HACC) and the Port of Seattle spotlights ports as drivers of climate action, energy deployment, resilient infrastructure, economic competitiveness, and community prosperity. Port Powerhouse at COP31 will focus on U.S. ports translating climate ambition into investable projects, durable jobs, regional competitiveness, and community value.

Speakers:

• Ryan Calkins, Commission President, Port of Seattle
• Titli Thind, Program Manager, High Ambition Climate Collective

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Hosted by: Business Council for Sustainable Energy

Join BCSE for a discussion of how place-based solutions can bring technology, finance, and the built environment together to strengthen resilience and expand access to efficient, affordable cooling. Business and government leaders will share practical approaches to protecting communities and critical supply chains while lowering energy demand and modernizing infrastructure.

Drawing on examples from cooling, building design, finance, and policy, the conversation will examine which solutions can scale across markets, which must reflect local conditions and regional strengths, and how public-private collaboration can turn climate ambition into durable economic growth.

Speakers TBA

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Hosted by: American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

Extreme heat is impacting more communities in the U.S. and globally. Most heat analysis has relied on satellite data. But drone-based thermal imaging captures heat at a 0.6 inches (1.5 cm) resolution, and AI trained on drone data infers heat patterns from satellite data. Learn how communities can use technology-enabled, nature-based approaches to reduce extreme heat impacts.

Speakers:

• Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA, CEO, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
• Keenan Gibbons, ASLA, ASLA Climate & Biodiversity Action Fellow; Principal and Director of Landscape Architecture, SmithGroup; and Lecturer, University of Michigan

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Hosted by: World Wildlife Fund – US

Featuring U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and other experts, this panel conversation will focus on the bipartisan issue of the widening insurability gap, climate risk, and nature loss—and on the levers available to fix them. The discussion will examine how policy, regulation, and NbS disaster risk reduction techniques can value nature, reduce risk, and make the built environment in the U.S. and beyond more resilient.

Speakers TBA

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Hosted by: The Climate Registry

Around the world, women entrepreneurs are building innovative businesses—from regenerative agriculture and clean energy to circular economy ventures and climate-resilient livelihoods. Yet they still face persistent barriers to capital, networks, markets, and policy influence. Leaders are working to close those gaps by mentoring, financing, and advocating for women-led sustainability enterprises in their regions. Join panelists to hear practical insights on what works on the ground, how local context shapes both challenges and opportunities, and why investing in women is essential to a just and effective transition to a sustainable economy. You will leave with your own ideas for building ecosystems where women and the planet can thrive together.

Speakers:

• Dr. Carol Franco-Billini, Vice Chair, UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) (moderator)
• Racquel Moses, CEO, Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator
• Milagros de Camps, former Co-Chair, Green Climate Fund
• Vivian Nerea Atakos, CGIAR Gender Equality and Inclusion Accelerator

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Hosted by: The Climate Registry

Wildfires, floods, and extreme heat are reshaping insurance markets and putting climate risk on every balance sheet. California’s SB 261, as written, will require large companies to report climate-related financial risks, and insurance regulators are rethinking how they price and disclose risk. Regulators, investors, and insurance companies discuss how better climate risk disclosure and resilience investment can keep communities insurable and markets stable.

Speakers:

• Ricardo Lara, Insurance Commissioner, California Department of Insurance
• Rachel Lamb, Senior Climate Advisor, Maryland Department of the Environment
• Paddy Arber, Policy Programme Director, IIGCC
• Tom Corringham, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Ignacio Fernandez, Policy Director, The Climate Registry (moderator)

Hosted by: The Climate Registry

California’s Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261) are the first and most far-reaching corporate climate disclosure laws in the United States. They cover thousands of companies that do business in the world’s fourth-largest economy. The panel brings together a member of the Legislature and executives from reporting companies to discuss implementation: CARB’s regulations, the first round of Scope 1 and 2 reports, assurance, and the laws’ impacts on other states.

Speakers:

• Charles Hernick, Head of Energy and Environmental Policy, Amazon (reporting entity)
• Caroline Choi, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Edison International
• Robyn Camp, The Climate Registry (moderator)

Hosted by: The Climate Registry

California is showing that the world’s fourth-largest economy can keep growing while cutting emissions. State and regional leaders explain how California combines clean air regulation, a clean, affordable grid, land-use and climate-innovation policy, and local air district programs into one economy-wide strategy. They also cover how these policies are holding up under federal headwinds.

Speakers:

• Sarah Swig, Deputy Cabinet Secretary and Senior Advisor on Climate to Governor Newsom (invited)
• Phil Fine, Bay Area Air Quality Management District
• Chris Wheat, Executive Director, America is All In
• Robert Parkhurst, Executive Director, The Climate Registry (moderator)

Hosted by: The Climate Registry

For more than a decade, the California-Québec carbon market under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) has shown that a linked, subnational emissions trading system can cut emissions while funding climate investments. California has extended its program as Cap-and-Invest, Washington is pursuing linkage, and New York is designing its own program. The panel examines what makes carbon markets credible and durable, and how robust monitoring, reporting and verification underpin them.

Speakers:

• Jocelyn Savoie, Assistant Deputy Minister, Québec’s Climate and Energy Transition Office within the Ministry of the Environment
• Amanda Lefton, Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
• Dirk Forrister, President & CEO, IETA
• Rick Saines, Arden Capital and Chair, TCR Board of Directors (moderator)

Hosted by: Virginia Tech

The lack of education on climate change in different professional sectors. Climate change education is needed across professional sectors to support our adaptation and mitigation goals. How climate change education decreases misinformation and builds green skills.

Speakers TBA

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Hosted by: Plant Based Products Council (Partnering with Farm Journal Foundation)

The bioeconomy is creating new opportunities to advance climate goals, support rural communities, and drive innovation. This panel will explore connections across the value chain, from sustainable agricultural production to biobased manufacturing and end-use applications, highlighting opportunities to enhance resilience, livelihoods, and economic growth.

Speakers TBA

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Hosted by: Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Plant Based Products Council

Description and speakers TBA

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Hosted by: SEEC Institute and Wildlife Conservation Society

Coral reefs cover less than one per cent of the ocean floor, yet they support around a quarter of all marine species and underpin food security, livelihoods and coastal protection for close to a billion people. Twenty-four have joined the Climate-Resilient Coral Reefs Commitment, alongside more than 45 supporting organisations, and are working this science into their national plans, NDCs, NBSAPs and marine protection targets. This session brings together governments, scientists and finance partners to look at where reef protection stands as the world moves from commitment to delivery. It will be built with the Commitment’s signatories and supporters, amplifying the work they are already leading: what the science now allows governments to do, what implementation looks like in practice, and where the financing gap lies.

Speakers TBA

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Hosted by: Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley Law; partner organizations: NRDC and Iniciativa Climática de México (ICM)

Mexico and California share aggressive climate goals – as well as a border. This panel discussion will focus on the areas that are most ripe for collaboration to help achieve success in both jurisdictions, including energy storage, methane emission reductions, building energy efficiency, and cross-border transport and electricity grid decarbonization.

Speakers:

• Dr. Adrián Fernández Bremauntz, Executive Director and CEO of Iniciativa Climática de México (ICM)
• Ethan Elkind, Climate Program Director of the UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE)
• Representative, Mexico’s Secretariat of Energy (SENER) (TBD)

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Hosted by: Business Council for Sustainable Energy

How can countries meet surging energy demand while cutting emissions and preparing for a changing climate? This panel of public and private sector leaders from different economies will explore how countries and localities are planning for growth, ensuring new energy access and upkeep of aging infrastructure—and making investment decisions amid market volatility and policy uncertainty. The discussion will examine how long-term planning can support affordable, secure energy within tight budgets and constrained supply chains, and where international collaboration can accelerate progress.

Speakers TBA

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Hosted by: The American Institute of Architects with Partner Organizations International Code Council, Built Buildings Lab, Architecture 2030, U.S. Green Building Council, ASTM International, Climate Heritage Network

As cities face growing risks from disasters, climate change, aging infrastructure, and economic uncertainty, collaboration has become more critical than ever. This panel will explore how partnerships between municipal leaders and resilience experts are advancing innovative strategies to strengthen community resilience and accelerate climate adaptation. Panelists will examine how communities can better prepare for and recover from disruption while improving quality.

Speakers:

• Illya Azaroff, FAIA | 2026 President, The American Institute of Architects
• Yiselle Santos Rivera, AIA | 2026 President Elect/2027 President, The American Institute of Architects
• Loris Ferriss, AIA | Senior Fellow, Architecture 2030 | Co-Founder & Executive Director, Built Buildings Lab
• Judy Zakreski | Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Solutions, International Code Council
• Liz Beardsley | Senior Policy Counsel, U.S. Green Building Council
• Emmanuel Escoto | Senior Manager, International Engagement, ASTM International

Hosted by: Climate Healers and Partnering with Loving Hut and Plant Based Treaty

A panel discussion that will address how our food system can be transformed to reverse planetary boundary transgressions, while addressing some of society’s most pressing concerns including poverty, food insecurity, and chronic disease epidemics and meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Speakers TBA

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