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May­or Adams, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty Unveil Trans­for­ma­tion­al Vision for Cli­mate Research, Jobs Hub on Gov­er­nors Island

Apr 24, 2023 8:57 am

Aer­i­al view of The Exchange, show­ing the icon­ic forms designed to evoke the dra­mat­ic land­scapes and hills of Gov­er­nors Island. © SOM | Miysis

New York City May­or Eric Adams, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO Clare New­man, and State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty Pres­i­dent Mau­rie McIn­nis today unveiled the ​“New York Cli­mate Exchange,” a trans­for­ma­tive vision for a first-in-the-nation cli­mate research, edu­ca­tion, and jobs hub on Gov­er­nors Island that will cre­ate thou­sands of per­ma­nent jobs and $1 bil­lion in eco­nom­ic impact for the city. A cross-sec­tor con­sor­tium led by Stony Brook, the Exchange will cre­ate a state-of-the-art, $700-mil­lion, 400,000-square-foot cam­pus ded­i­cat­ed to research­ing and devel­op­ing inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions that will be scaled across New York City and the world and that will equip New York­ers to hold the green jobs of the future.

“Today, here in the heart of New York Har­bor, we are tak­ing a giant leap toward a clean­er, green­er, more pros­per­ous future for every New York­er with the ​‘New York Cli­mate Exchange,’” said May­or Adams. ​“This first-of-its-kind project will make New York City a glob­al leader in devel­op­ing solu­tions for cli­mate change while cre­at­ing thou­sands of good-pay­ing green jobs for New York­ers and infus­ing $1 bil­lion into our city’s econ­o­my. Where some peo­ple see chal­lenges, New York­ers see oppor­tu­ni­ties, and this team and this project are lead­ing the charge.”

The cul­mi­na­tion of a two-year, com­pet­i­tive request for pro­pos­al process, the selec­tion of the New York Cli­mate Exchange rep­re­sents a major mile­stone in the city’s ground­break­ing Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions ini­tia­tive — a key piece of May­or Adams’ ​“Rebuild, Renew, Rein­vent: A Blue­print for New York City’s Eco­nom­ic Recov­ery” — which will cre­ate 7,000 per­ma­nent jobs and a bil­lion dol­lars in eco­nom­ic impact, while expand­ing and enhanc­ing pub­lic access to Gov­er­nors Island. The Exchange alone will cre­ate over 2,200 100-per­cent union jobs, includ­ing for con­struc­tion and build­ing ser­vices, with a com­mit­ment to hire all con­struc­tion and build­ing ser­vice work­ers at pre­vail­ing wage and a goal of 35 per­cent minor­i­ty- and women-owned busi­ness enter­prise (M/WBE) par­tic­i­pa­tion in construction.

Once ful­ly oper­a­tional, the cam­pus is expect­ed to serve 600 post­sec­ondary stu­dents, 4,500 K‑12 stu­dents, 6,000 work­force trainees, and 250 fac­ul­ty and researchers every year while sup­port­ing up to 30 busi­ness­es annu­al­ly through its incu­ba­tor pro­gram. The cam­pus will be fund­ed in part with sig­nif­i­cant gifts of $100 mil­lion from the Simons Foun­da­tion and $50 mil­lion from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

“New York City still remains the glob­al hub for inno­va­tion — and the invest­ment in Gov­er­nors Island is anoth­er exam­ple of the for­ward-think­ing vision our city can deliv­er on,” said First Deputy May­or Sheena Wright. ​“From a state-of-the-art edu­ca­tion hub to cre­at­ing thou­sands of jobs across emerg­ing sec­tors, the Adams admin­is­tra­tion is writ­ing a new, excit­ing chap­ter in our city’s his­to­ry. I applaud all of the part­ners, the cross-sec­tor col­lab­o­ra­tion, and lead­er­ship across mul­ti­ple may­ors that made this announce­ment possible.”

“Today, New York City estab­lish­es itself as a pace­set­ter in the fight to com­bat the cli­mate cri­sis. Through this trans­for­ma­tion­al ini­tia­tive, we will lead the way in cli­mate research and edu­ca­tion while cre­at­ing a first-of-its kind jobs hub for New York­ers to ben­e­fit from the new green econ­o­my,” said Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island set an inspired process for bold, solu­tions-ori­ent­ed respons­es to cli­mate change, the great­est threat of our time, right in the mid­dle of New York Har­bor. I am excit­ed to see the New York Cli­mate Exchange led by Stony Brook exe­cute upon this vision with a state-of-the-art, 400,000-square-foot cam­pus open to the pub­lic, 7,000 per­ma­nent jobs on the island, 2,000 con­struc­tion jobs in the com­ing years, and a cur­ricu­lum that will make New York City the undis­put­ed leader in address­ing the cri­sis of our time.”

“The future of cli­mate jobs and lead­er­ship is bright,” said Deputy May­or for Oper­a­tions Meera Joshi. ​“The New York Cli­mate Exchange will pro­vide trans­for­ma­tion­al ben­e­fits for green job train­ing and increased access and open space in one of New York’s most beloved parks. Togeth­er with the recent­ly released PlaNYC, we have the blue­print and invest­ment to exe­cute on the cli­mate action New York­ers need.” 

“With today’s announce­ment, Gov­er­nors Island’s role as a his­toric gate­way to New York City enters a new chap­ter, as a place where ideas come to life and hope­ful solu­tions to the cli­mate cri­sis become real­i­ty,” said Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Pres­i­dent and CEO Clare New­man. ​“We are hon­ored to select Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and the New York Cli­mate Exchange to anchor the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions here on Gov­er­nors Island, cre­at­ing a glob­al hub for edu­ca­tion, research, job train­ing, and pub­lic engage­ment on cli­mate solu­tions for cities. Thank you to May­or Adams, Deputy May­or Tor­res-Springer, May­or Bloomberg, and May­or de Bla­sio for your com­mit­ment to the future of the Island, and thank you to Pres­i­dent McIn­nis and the entire Exchange team for answer­ing our call.”

“We are hon­ored, excit­ed, and proud to part­ner with the City of New York to build this his­toric cen­ter that will cement New York City as the world leader on cli­mate change, the most press­ing issue of our time,” said Mau­rie McIn­nis, pres­i­dent, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty. ​“Up until now, the devel­op­ment of cli­mate solu­tions has been siloed, with world lead­ers sep­a­rate from expert sci­en­tists sep­a­rate from the on-the-ground green work­force. As an inter­na­tion­al leader on cli­mate and as the lead­ing pub­lic research insti­tu­tion in New York, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty will bring stake­hold­ers togeth­er from the aca­d­e­m­ic, gov­ern­ment, and busi­ness com­mu­ni­ties to make the Cli­mate Exchange the cen­ter of research, inno­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, and col­lab­o­ra­tion to address this glob­al crisis.”

“We are hon­ored to part­ner with Stony Brook and the Exchange,” said David Spergel, pres­i­dent, Simons Foun­da­tion. ​“Our part­ner­ship with Stony Brook goes back many years, and togeth­er, we’ve made great progress in both basic and health sci­ences. This endur­ing rela­tion­ship is a source of great pride for all of us at the Simons Foun­da­tion. Stony Brook has cat­a­pult­ed to the fore­front of high­er edu­ca­tion through its remark­able strengths as a research insti­tu­tion and its unequaled focus on equi­ty and access. I can­not think of a more qual­i­fied insti­tu­tion to lead this his­toric fight against cli­mate change — a fight that must be met with inno­va­tion, intel­lect, and tenacity.”

“This great news is 22 years in the mak­ing,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, 108^th may­or of New York City, and founder, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies and Bloomberg LP. ​“As a can­di­date for may­or in 2001, I pro­posed trans­form­ing Gov­er­nors Island into a park and uni­ver­si­ty cam­pus, and the next year, Gov­er­nor Pata­ki and I worked with Pres­i­dent Bush to return the island to the city and state for $1. Our admin­is­tra­tion opened a pub­lic school on the island and began build­ing an extra­or­di­nary pub­lic park, but over time it became clear that the city need­ed greater con­trol of its devel­op­ment. In 2010, we worked with Gov­er­nor Pater­son to cede the island to the city, which allowed us to lay the foun­da­tion for ful­fill­ing our orig­i­nal vision of a year-round des­ti­na­tion with a uni­ver­si­ty pres­ence that would bring new life and jobs. Now, thanks to May­or Adams’ lead­er­ship, that vision is being ful­filled through a ground­break­ing part­ner­ship with Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty that holds so much poten­tial, the Cli­mate Exchange. Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies is glad to join Jim and Mar­i­lyn Simons and oth­ers in sup­port­ing it, as part of our glob­al efforts to help cities lead the way in tack­ling cli­mate change. This is a great day for the island, for New York City’s future, and for the fight against cli­mate change.”

Led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty, the New York Cli­mate Exchange will be a first-of-its-kind, cross-sec­tor non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to cli­mate research, solu­tion devel­op­ment, edu­ca­tion, work­force train­ing, and pub­lic pro­grams on Gov­er­nors Island. The con­sor­tium will func­tion as a hub for edu­ca­tion and train­ing to grow green jobs for New York­ers and includes 15 mem­bers rep­re­sent­ing lead­ing uni­ver­si­ties from around the world, as well as busi­ness and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions ded­i­cat­ed to devel­op­ing and deploy­ing solu­tions to the glob­al cli­mate cri­sis. High-res­o­lu­tion ren­der­ings of the Exchange cam­pus are avail­able to down­load online.

The New York Cli­mate Exchange pro­pos­al presents a unique com­bi­na­tion of scale, vision, and impact; a wide range of pro­posed edu­ca­tion­al activ­i­ties for New York­ers of all ages; a focus on devel­op­ing, imple­ment­ing, and scal­ing cli­mate solu­tions; a broad coali­tion of part­ners with proven track records of deliv­er­ing ground­break­ing research; and a demon­strat­ed capa­bil­i­ty to deliv­er the pro­posed project. In addi­tion to Stony Brook, a flag­ship of the SUNY sys­tem, the con­sor­tium includes the fol­low­ing core partners:

• Geor­gia Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy (Atlanta, GA)
• Pace Uni­ver­si­ty (New York, NY)
• Pratt Insti­tute (New York, NY)
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton (Seat­tle, WA)
• Boston Con­sult­ing Group (BCG) (New York, NY)
• Good Old Low­er East Side (GOLES) (New York, NY)
• IBM (Armonk, NY)

The Exchange will offer an ambi­tious range of acces­si­ble and free edu­ca­tion­al and job train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to pre­pare New York­ers and stu­dents at every lev­el for careers focused on devel­op­ing solu­tions to cli­mate change.

A new cli­mate solu­tions semes­ter abroad pro­gram will launch for under­grad­u­ate stu­dents enrolled at insti­tu­tions rep­re­sent­ed in the Exchange con­sor­tium, fea­tur­ing course­work in cli­mate sci­ence, pol­i­cy, and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice; a grad­u­ate-lev­el fel­low­ship pro­gram offer­ing train­ing and research space to stu­dents; intern­ship and fel­low­ship pro­grams; and con­tin­u­ing education.

The Exchange has also com­mit­ted to expand­ing a New York State Path­ways in Tech­nol­o­gy (NYS P‑Tech) pro­gram with the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, a pub­lic high school locat­ed on Gov­er­nors Island, as well as SUNY Mar­itime Col­lege to offer skills-based job train­ing in addi­tion­al career path­ways and through col­lege-lev­el course­work relat­ed to cli­mate solu­tions. Expand­ed learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties will be offered to chil­dren through field trip pro­grams and a sum­mer camp inten­sive program.

In col­lab­o­ra­tion with local part­ners, the Exchange will host a wide range of work­force devel­op­ment and train­ing pro­grams geared towards pro­vid­ing acces­si­ble oppor­tu­ni­ties for New York­ers to gain skills in career fields relat­ed to New York City’s grow­ing green jobs sec­tor. Train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties will be deliv­ered in part­ner­ship with local orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing Green City Force, New York City Employ­ment and Train­ing Coali­tion, Non­tra­di­tion­al Employ­ment for Women, and SolarOne, and will work with the New York State Build­ing Trades and Con­struc­tion Coun­cil to devel­op con­struc­tion trade train­ing pro­grams focused on cli­mate resilient and sus­tain­able build­ing technologies.

Research and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties at the Exchange will be orga­nized around the themes of envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice and inclu­sion; the impacts of use of food, water, and ener­gy on cli­mate change; and sus­tain­able and resilient cities. The cam­pus will host a Research and Tech­nol­o­gy Accel­er­a­tor, which will com­pet­i­tive­ly award lab­o­ra­to­ry and demon­stra­tion space to aca­d­e­m­ic, com­mu­ni­ty-based, and entre­pre­neur­ial teams work­ing on research ini­tia­tives and cli­mate solu­tions that deliv­er imme­di­ate sup­port to impact­ed com­mu­ni­ties, along with a Cli­mate Tech Incu­ba­tor that will pri­or­i­tize M/​WBEs and draw upon the exper­tise of busi­ness part­ners, includ­ing IBM and Boston Con­sult­ing Group.

Addi­tion­al research activ­i­ties host­ed through the Exchange will offer grant oppor­tu­ni­ties for com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, as well as free exhibits, activ­i­ties, and hands-on learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors to engage with and pro­vide input towards projects in development.

The Exchange is slat­ed to begin con­struc­tion in 2025 and open in 2028. As part of the his­toric part­ner­ship announced today, the Exchange will have the option to con­struct a sec­ond phase, includ­ing com­plet­ing the ren­o­va­tion of Liggett Hall and devel­op­ing addi­tion­al facil­i­ties on three acres of the east­ern devel­op­ment zone. Thanks to his­toric lev­els of invest­ment in Gov­er­nors Island gen­er­at­ed from the project, the Trust will deliv­er fer­ry ser­vice every 15 min­utes as part of the project, with a new, hybrid fer­ry set to begin trans­port­ing pas­sen­gers in sum­mer 2024.

Affil­i­ate part­ners rep­re­sent­ed in the con­sor­tium include the City Uni­ver­si­ty of New York, Duke Uni­ver­si­ty, SUNY Mar­itime Col­lege, Moody’s, New York Uni­ver­si­ty, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Oxford, and Rochester Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy. Advi­so­ry part­ners to the con­sor­tium include Brookhaven Nation­al Lab­o­ra­to­ry and urbs.

The Exchange team also includes an unprece­dent­ed group of over 30 non­prof­it and com­mu­ni­ty part­ners with exper­tise in envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, arts, work­force devel­op­ment, edu­ca­tion, and labor. Part­ners include the Amer­i­can Muse­um of Nat­ur­al His­to­ry, Water­front Alliance, WE ACT for Envi­ron­men­tal Jus­tice, The Build­ing and Con­struc­tion Trades Coun­cil of Greater New York, Ser­vice Employ­ees Inter­na­tion­al Union Local 32BJ, and The Point Com­mu­ni­ty Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. The full list of part­ners is avail­able online.

The Exchange’s 400,000-square-foot cam­pus will include class­rooms, lab­o­ra­to­ries, research labs, pub­lic exhi­bi­tion space, stu­dent and fac­ul­ty hous­ing, uni­ver­si­ty hotel rooms, and an audi­to­ri­um space. The cam­pus will include two new­ly con­struct­ed class­room and research build­ings on three acres of the Island’s east­ern devel­op­ment zone, as well as the restora­tion of over 170,000 square feet of space with­in his­toric build­ings, includ­ing Liggett Hall and the Fort Jay Theater.

In addi­tion, the Exchange will deliv­er 4.5 acres of new open space in its Phase 1 plan, adding to the Island’s exist­ing 120 acres of open space across the His­toric Dis­trict and South Island park. Con­struc­tion of the cam­pus will expand and enhance access to the Island’s exist­ing 43-acre park and its cul­tur­al and his­toric attractions.

The cam­pus will serve as a liv­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry, show­cas­ing inno­v­a­tive approach­es to sus­tain­able and resilient design, including:

• An all-elec­tric cam­pus with 100 per­cent of ener­gy needs gen­er­at­ed onsite;
• The first aca­d­e­m­ic cam­pus in New York City to meet Liv­ing Build­ing Chal­lenge stan­dards, includ­ing ren­o­vat­ed his­toric build­ings and new con­struc­tion with­in the campus;
• New York City’s first com­mer­cial build­ings uti­liz­ing mass timber;
• One of the first cam­pus­es in New York City to receive True Zero Waste cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, with 95 per­cent of waste gen­er­at­ed on cam­pus divert­ed from landfill;
• Cli­mate-resilient build­ings achiev­ing Water­front Edge Design Guide­lines certification;
• 100 per­cent of non-potable water demand met with rain­wa­ter or treat­ed wastewater;
• A dis­trict geot­her­mal and heat pump HVAC net­work serv­ing the entire cam­pus, pro­duc­ing an esti­mat­ed 70-per­cent reduc­tion in ener­gy use com­pared to facil­i­ties of a sim­i­lar size; and
• No red-list chem­i­cals uti­lized dur­ing construction.

Pri­or to open­ing, the Exchange will launch advi­so­ry coun­cils to guide the work of the insti­tu­tion; launch a new seed grant pro­gram to sup­port the design of new work­force, edu­ca­tion­al, and cul­tur­al pro­gram­ming; and engage with com­mu­ni­ty stake­hold­ers to con­tin­ue the design process for the campus.

The cam­pus is expect­ed to cost approx­i­mate­ly $700 mil­lion in total, with $150 mil­lion com­ing in pre­vi­ous­ly allo­cat­ed city cap­i­tal fund­ing, $100 mil­lion from the Simons Foun­da­tion, and $50 mil­lion from Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies. The Exchange con­sor­tium will raise funds to sup­port the remain­ing devel­op­ment and oper­a­tional costs.

Pro­pos­als for the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions anchor insti­tu­tion were eval­u­at­ed based on cri­te­ria devel­oped by the Trust and the city, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Gov­er­nors Island Com­mu­ni­ty Advi­so­ry Coun­cil. The pro­pos­als were reviewed and scored by a selec­tion com­mit­tee made up of rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Trust, the Mayor’s Office of Cli­mate and Envi­ron­men­tal Jus­tice, the Mayor’s Office of Equi­ty, and the New York City Depart­ment of City Plan­ning. Addi­tion­al input was pro­vid­ed to the selec­tion com­mit­tee by the city’s Cli­mate Advi­so­ry Com­mit­tee and through pub­lic input ses­sions attend­ed by more than 200 par­tic­i­pants held in Octo­ber and Novem­ber 2022.

The Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions pro­pos­al was first pre­sent­ed pub­licly in 2020. An ini­tial request for expres­sions of inter­est for the center’s anchor insti­tu­tion was released in June 2021. Fol­low­ing the release of May­or Adams’ ​“Rebuild, Renew, Rein­vent” eco­nom­ic recov­ery blue­print in March 2022, the city and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island iden­ti­fied four teams in April 2022 to respond to a tar­get­ed request for pro­pos­als. May­or Adams and the Trust announced the three final­ist pro­pos­als in Octo­ber 2022.

For more infor­ma­tion on the project, includ­ing future pub­lic meet­ings and progress updates, please vis­it gov​is​land​.org.

Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmos­pher­ic Sci­ences has been a leader in severe storm research, weath­er pre­dic­tion, cli­mate change research and mit­i­ga­tion efforts, and edu­ca­tion­al and research efforts to restore and pro­tect water qual­i­ty, includ­ing in the Long Island Sound, Shin­necock Bay, and oth­er bod­ies of water on Long Island. The school SoMAS also hous­es broad­er sus­tain­abil­i­ty-relat­ed and atmos­pher­ic research with the goal of improv­ing pre­dictabil­i­ty about weath­er-relat­ed risks and build­ing resilience against severe storms, storm surge and coastal flood­ing, and ero­sion prob­lems. More infor­ma­tion about Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmos­pher­ic Sci­ences is avail­able online.

“With an all-elec­tric cam­pus, a True Zero Waste cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, and a dis­trict heat pump net­work that will serve the entire cam­pus, the New York Cli­mate Exchange will simul­ta­ne­ous­ly serve as a place of research and learn­ing as well as a one-of-a-kind sus­tain­abil­i­ty exam­ple for New York City and the world,” said Chief Cli­mate Offi­cer and New York City Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Com­mis­sion­er Rohit T. Aggar­wala. ​“Fur­ther, because it is based on Gov­er­nors Island, the Exchange will be able to uti­lize New York Har­bor and its amaz­ing come­back as a resource for demon­strat­ing how our envi­ron­ment can recov­er if we make smart and sus­tained investments.”

“With the advance­ment of the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, the world should take note of New York’s com­mit­ment to going green,” said New York City Depart­ment of City Plan­ning Direc­tor and City Plan­ning Com­mis­sion Chair Dan Gar­o­d­nick. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is com­bin­ing a spec­tac­u­lar new park, improved pub­lic access, and, in part­ner­ship with Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty, a cut­ting-edge research and edu­ca­tion­al facil­i­ty. The Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island is a huge win and will help New York con­tin­ue to be a glob­al leader in com­bat­ting cli­mate change.”

“I am thrilled to have been part of the selec­tion com­mit­tee for the anchor insti­tu­tion of the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions ini­tia­tive,” said Mayor’s Office of Cli­mate & Envi­ron­men­tal Jus­tice Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Kizzy Charles-Guz­man. ​“The New York Cli­mate Exchange will advance sci­ence, cen­ter envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice learn­ing, cre­ate a new gen­er­a­tion of inno­va­tors in sus­tain­abil­i­ty and resilience, and expand New York­ers’ already vibrant rela­tion­ship with Gov­er­nors Island. Our beloved island will be a cli­mate hub for the world, and I can think of no bet­ter pair­ing of place and purpose.”

“The New York Cli­mate Exchange will incu­bate the action­able, inno­v­a­tive research need­ed to address our glob­al cli­mate cri­sis,” said Mayor’s Office of Equi­ty Com­mis­sion­er Sideya Sher­man. ​“With an incred­i­ble con­sor­tium of part­ners, the Exchange will cre­ate inclu­sive oppor­tu­ni­ties for New York­ers to con­vene, learn, work, and grow their busi­ness­es while advanc­ing cru­cial envi­ron­men­tal and sus­tain­abil­i­ty goals. We applaud the Trust and all part­ners who have come togeth­er to advance this ambi­tious plan, which will have a last­ing impact on our city and glob­al community.”

“The world’s great­est chal­lenges require imag­i­na­tion, courage, and col­lab­o­ra­tion that breaks down silos, and today’s announce­ment of the New York Cli­mate Exchange as the new anchor insti­tu­tion for the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island answers that call,” said Ali­cia Glen, chair, board of direc­tors, Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City’s great trans­for­ma­tion sto­ries, and I’m immense­ly proud of near­ly two decades of invest­ment across the lead­er­ship of mul­ti­ple may­oral admin­is­tra­tions that have led to this his­toric moment. Lead­ers around the world will always look to New York City as a cen­ter of inno­va­tion and lead­er­ship, and I could not think of a bet­ter part­ner than Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and its coali­tion of glob­al lead­ers and advo­cates to stew­ard this project.”

“Cli­mate change rep­re­sents an exis­ten­tial chal­lenge, and SUNY is at the fore­front of the sus­tain­abil­i­ty, research, and work­force devel­op­ment solu­tions that will change the world for the bet­ter,” said SUNY Chan­cel­lor John B. King. Jr. ​“Under the lead­er­ship of Pres­i­dent Mau­rie N. McIn­nis, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty is the nat­ur­al choice to lead the New York Cli­mate Exchange and is per­fect­ly posi­tioned to seize this moment for New York and the nation. Our thanks to May­or Eric Adams, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, the Simons Foun­da­tion, and for­mer May­or Michael Bloomberg for sup­port­ing this once-in-a-gen­er­a­tion opportunity.”

“In the New York Cli­mate Exchange, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty will bring togeth­er aca­d­e­m­ic, cor­po­rate, phil­an­thropic, and com­mu­ni­ty part­ners to pio­neer an inno­v­a­tive, col­lab­o­ra­tive approach to devis­ing action­able cli­mate solu­tions,” said Kevin S. Law, chair­man, Stony Brook University’s Stony Brook Coun­cil; and chair, board of direc­tors, Empire State Devel­op­ment. ​“The Exchange will incor­po­rate cut­ting-edge research, crit­i­cal input from affect­ed com­mu­ni­ties, and the prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence of com­mit­ted cor­po­rate part­ners to bring these solu­tions to mar­ket, demon­strat­ing that address­ing our ener­gy and cli­mate chal­lenges can gen­er­ate eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment opportunities.”

“The cli­mate issues of today are urgent. And envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice and eco­log­i­cal sus­tain­abil­i­ty neces­si­tate action from lead­ers across the world,” said Chaou­ki Abdal­lah, exec­u­tive vice pres­i­dent for research, Geor­gia Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy. ​“As a core part­ner of the Exchange, Geor­gia Tech will pro­vide research exper­tise in the areas of ener­gy, urban plan­ning, bio­log­i­cal ecosys­tems, pub­lic pol­i­cy, and more, and we look for­ward to play­ing an instru­men­tal role in bring­ing its mis­sion to fruition.”

“At Pace Uni­ver­si­ty, our stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, and staff walk the walk of sus­tain­abil­i­ty every day, and we are thrilled to bring our exper­tise to the New York Cli­mate Exchange,” said Mar­vin Krislov, pres­i­dent, Pace Uni­ver­si­ty. ​“As home to the nation’s num­ber-one-ranked envi­ron­men­tal law pro­gram — and our exper­tise in land use, cli­mate jus­tice, ESG, and region­al clean water ini­tia­tives — we are eager to work col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly and bring an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach to cli­mate actions that forge a more resilient future for New York City and com­mu­ni­ties world­wide. Our exper­tise, vast stu­dent and alum­ni net­work, and loca­tion in Low­er Man­hat­tan pro­vide the per­fect spring­board for cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the green econ­o­my and engage­ment on Gov­er­nors Island.”

“We are so excit­ed to be part of the New York Cli­mate Exchange, an ini­tia­tive that res­onates deeply with Pratt Insti­tute and our long­stand­ing part­ner­ing with local com­mu­ni­ties to address the crit­i­cal issues fac­ing us today and tomor­row,” said Frances Bronet, pres­i­dent, Pratt Insti­tute. ​“Pratt is one of the pre­mier schools of cre­ative inquiry, art, archi­tec­ture, plan­ning, and design in the world. As a world-renowned aca­d­e­m­ic and cul­tur­al insti­tu­tion com­mit­ted to civic engage­ment and advanc­ing envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, we prob­lem-solve through an inclu­sive design process that brings deep tech­ni­cal exper­tise togeth­er with the expe­ri­en­tial exper­tise of com­mu­ni­ty part­ners, which over time has built an exten­sive net­work of trust­ed com­mu­ni­ty and indus­try part­ners. Pratt brings both this unique net­work plus research in crit­i­cal areas, from devel­op­ing green build­ings, pol­i­cy, prod­ucts, and infra­struc­ture to resilient streetscapes, envi­ron­men­tal sen­sors, and sus­tain­able mate­ri­als. For years, we have been lead­ing research on Gov­er­nors Island and are look­ing for­ward to expand­ing our scope as part of the Exchange’s net­work of com­mu­ni­ty and indus­try collaborators.”

“We are very proud to bring our university’s deep and diverse strengths in cli­mate and clean ener­gy research and inno­va­tion to the New York Cli­mate Exchange,” said Ana Mari Cauce, pres­i­dent, Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton. ​“As the only core part­ner on the west coast, we are excit­ed to lever­age our region­al and glob­al rela­tion­ships to accel­er­ate efforts to address and adapt to the impacts of cli­mate change. This work is vital and urgent for the health and sur­vival of our peo­ple and our world.”

“GOLES is proud to be a part of this thought­ful­ly put-togeth­er ini­tia­tive to address issues around cli­mate jus­tice and resilien­cy,” said Damaris Reyes, exec­u­tive direc­tor, GOLES. ​“The Exchange is the result of inten­tion­al­ly built part­ner­ships between com­mu­ni­ty, aca­d­e­mics, advo­cates, and oth­er stake­hold­ers, and we look for­ward to all that we can achieve together.”

“From our van­tage as an advi­sor to a diverse set of clients in New York City and across the globe, we believe that the Exchange has a unique and vital role to play in accel­er­at­ing and scal­ing sus­tain­able cli­mate solu­tions,” said Gio­van­ni Fas­sio, prin­ci­pal, tech­nol­o­gy prac­tice, BCG. ​“We are proud to sup­port the New York Cli­mate Exchange in build­ing a ​‘first-of-its-kind’ liv­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry and in incu­bat­ing the most impact­ful cli­mate solu­tions to save the plan­et and to join ranks with a group of part­ners unit­ed by a shared mis­sion to advance cli­mate solu­tions that make the world a bet­ter and safer place.”

“IBM is hon­ored and look­ing for­ward to being part of this trail­blaz­ing ini­tia­tive by col­lab­o­rat­ing on tech-dri­ven social impact and inno­va­tion efforts with Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and the City of New York,” said Justi­na Nixon-Sain­til, chief impact offi­cer, IBM. ​“The New York Cli­mate Exchange project will allow us to con­tribute tech­nol­o­gy, skills, and research capa­bil­i­ties need­ed to help find cli­mate solu­tions that put jus­tice and equi­ty at the center.”

“It is a tremen­dous hon­or to design a new kind of cam­pus: One that not only sets the stage for our post-car­bon world but also cen­ters a com­pelling new pub­lic realm for all New York­ers,” said Col­in Koop, design­er part­ner, Skid­more, Owings & Mer­rill. ​“Our design embod­ies this stew­ard­ship by weav­ing sin­u­ous mass tim­ber pavil­ions through the rolling land­scape of the park and reusing the his­toric build­ing fab­ric of Gov­er­nors Island. Togeth­er, these spaces will cul­ti­vate advances in cli­mate research and pilot new tech­nolo­gies that can be deployed across the city and even­tu­al­ly the world. We look for­ward to work­ing with the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty, and our team of design and engi­neer­ing col­lab­o­ra­tors to bring this impor­tant project to life.”

“CUNY is pleased to sup­port and par­tic­i­pate in the New York Cli­mate Exchange, a cross-insti­tu­tion­al, cross-dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tive mod­el that has the strength and flex­i­bil­i­ty to address the exis­ten­tial cli­mate cri­sis,” said City Uni­ver­si­ty of New York (CUNY) Chan­cel­lor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. ​“This work on Gov­er­nors Island in New York City will allow our researchers and stu­dents to address cut­ting-edge cli­mate ques­tions, build a more sus­tain­able and equi­table city, and pro­vide a mod­el for high­er edu­ca­tion insti­tu­tions and cli­mate-focused schol­ars every­where to work togeth­er in pur­suit of research solu­tions to envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice and relat­ed concerns.”

“Brookhaven Lab researchers have played key roles in design­ing and con­duct­ing land­mark cli­mate stud­ies from the Arc­tic to the Ama­zon for the U.S. Depart­ment of Ener­gy,” said Jack Ander­son, inter­im direc­tor, Brookhaven Nation­al Lab­o­ra­to­ry. ​“We’re excit­ed at the prospect of col­lab­o­rat­ing with oth­er researchers through the New York Cli­mate Exchange as part of this new, impor­tant ini­tia­tive focused on devel­op­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of cli­mate experts and cre­at­ing equi­table cli­mate solutions.”

“The Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School com­mu­ni­ty is thrilled to wel­come the New York Cli­mate Exchange and ready to col­lab­o­rate with the con­sor­tium of edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions in estab­lish­ing New York City’s Cli­mate Cen­ter on Gov­er­nors Island,” said Jef­frey Che­tirko, prin­ci­pal, Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School. ​“This excit­ing announce­ment not only ben­e­fits all New York City pub­lic school stu­dents, but also pro­motes diver­si­ty in the mar­itime indus­try, marine fields, cli­mate research, and sus­tain­able devel­op­ment. By pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for all New York City stu­dents to engage with­in these fields, New York City is break­ing down bar­ri­ers and paving the way for a more inclu­sive and sus­tain­able future.”