Climate Solutions

Envi­sion­ing a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solutions

Ded­i­cat­ed to prepar­ing New York City and cities around the world for cli­mate change, the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions will cre­ate a sin­gu­lar phys­i­cal hub com­mit­ted to research­ing and demon­strat­ing urban cli­mate solu­tions, and advanc­ing edu­ca­tion, train­ing, and work­force devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for New York­ers in cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal fields. The Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island was announced as a key part of May­or Eric Adams’ ​“Rebuild, Renew, Rein­vent: A Blue­print for NYC’s Eco­nom­ic Recov­ery.”

The Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions is a ground­break­ing ini­tia­tive designed to fur­ther New York City as a glob­al leader in efforts to respond to the cli­mate cri­sis. On Gov­er­nors Island, the project will sup­port the research, devel­op­ment and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for New York City — that can be scaled and applied glob­al­ly — by:

  • Expand­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for the research and devel­op­ment of solu­tions for resilient and healthy urban neigh­bor­hoods to ready New York City, and cities around the world, for cli­mate change.
  • Attract­ing and grow­ing high qual­i­ty green jobs for New York­ers with a diverse range of back­grounds through a range of edu­ca­tion­al and train­ing opportunities.
  • Cre­at­ing space for New York­ers to learn from, engage with, and play a cen­tral role in cli­mate advo­ca­cy and action.

In 2021, the City of New York and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island launched a glob­al com­pe­ti­tion to invite uni­ver­si­ties, and research insti­tu­tions to share their vision for how they would pro­gram, build, and oper­ate a pre­mier facil­i­ty to devel­op solu­tions that ready com­mu­ni­ties for cli­mate change and cre­ate cross-sec­toral edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams to sup­port the growth of high-qual­i­ty green jobs in New York City. The Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions is pro­ject­ed to cre­ate 7,000+ direct new jobs and approx­i­mate­ly $1B in eco­nom­ic impact for New York City, and is envi­sioned to include at full completion:

An anchor academic or research institution

to study the impacts of climate change and bring science, policy, communications, and research under one roof.

A public living laboratory

that enables entrepreneurs and non-profits to test, iterate, and showcase climate solutions in a real-world urban environment and invites New Yorkers to actively engage in climate advocacy and action through programming and the arts.

Space for environmental justice organizations and non-profits

for research, hosting programs and convenings, and connecting with New Yorkers.

​Commercial innovation

that takes an idea from research to scale, supporting small businesses that will transform how we live in a more sustainable manner.

​Dormitories and faculty housing

to support an academic anchor institution and create a uniquely immersive community for learning and innovation.

​Convening spaces

that offer opportunities for New Yorkers and visitors to engage in conversations about climate change.

Above images are inspi­ra­tional examples.

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Rendering by Urban Design Concepts by WXY architecture + urban design; Illustrative Visualization by bloomimages

Why Gov­er­nors Island?

New York City has long attract­ed the best and bright­est minds, insti­tu­tions and com­pa­nies, and Gov­er­nors Island sits at the cen­ter of it all. With a unique water­front cam­pus envi­ron­ment, award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change, a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non-prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants, and a diverse and engaged audi­ence, Gov­er­nors Island is poised to serve as a hub for cli­mate edu­ca­tion, train­ing, and research.

  • Prox­im­i­ty. Just min­utes by fer­ry from Man­hat­tan and Brook­lyn, Gov­er­nors Island offers imme­di­ate access to New York City’s diverse tal­ent pool, lead­ing insti­tu­tions, busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty, and glob­al networks.
  • The feel­ing of being a world apart. Despite its phys­i­cal prox­im­i­ty, the Island feels like a world away from the noise and sen­so­ry over­load of the city, mak­ing it an ide­al venue for edu­ca­tion, research, col­lab­o­ra­tion, and convening.
  • A Liv­ing Lab­o­ra­to­ry. Gov­er­nors Island is itself an exper­i­ment in cre­at­ing resilient coastal land­scapes with a new 43-acre park designed to address pro­ject­ed sea-lev­el rise and dozens of edu­ca­tion­al and cul­tur­al part­ners engag­ing in these issues, includ­ing the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, the Cli­mate Muse­um, GrowNYC and more.
  • Flex­i­bil­i­ty. Gov­er­nors Island is home to 1M+ square feet of his­toric build­ings ready for adap­tive reuse and 33 acres of devel­op­ment area that can accom­mo­date new aca­d­e­m­ic, com­mer­cial, con­ven­ing, and cul­tur­al facilities
  • A Built-In Tal­ent Pipeline. Already home to the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, a pub­lic high school deliv­er­ing career tech­ni­cal edu­ca­tion in mar­itime and envi­ron­men­tal sci­ences, Gov­er­nors Island has part­ner­ships with local pub­lic schools, non-prof­its, insti­tu­tions, and work­force devel­op­ment orga­ni­za­tions ded­i­cat­ed to build­ing the next gen­er­a­tion of tal­ent for grow­ing cli­mate relat­ed fields.
  • A Tru­ly Pub­lic Plat­form. With near­ly 1M vis­i­tors dur­ing a typ­i­cal year and a robust cal­en­dar of free pro­grams span­ning arts, cul­ture, and sci­ence, Gov­er­nors Island is one of New York City’s great pub­lic places with a diverse and engaged audience.

Request for Pro­pos­als: Anchor Edu­ca­tion­al & Research Institution

In April 2022, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island released a Request for Pro­pos­als (RFP) as part of the next phase in the com­pe­ti­tion to estab­lish a glob­al Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island. 4 final­ist teams will com­pete to cre­ate a new aca­d­e­m­ic and research insti­tu­tion on the Island to sup­port the research, devel­op­ment, and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for New York City. Respons­es were due in August 2022. In Octo­ber 2022, May­or Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island announced three final­ist pro­pos­als, and a win­ner is expect­ed to be announced in ear­ly 2023. 

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, in part­ner­ship with Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine, Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, New York City Coun­cil Mem­ber Christo­pher Marte, Man­hat­tan Com­mu­ni­ty Board 1, and Con­gress­man Jer­ry Nadler, held two com­mu­ni­ty brief­in­gs (Octo­ber 26 and Novem­ber 14, 2022) on pro­pos­als sub­mit­ted to this RFP.

Cli­mate Cen­ter Advi­so­ry Committee

This group of experts from cli­mate sci­ence, pol­i­cy, envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, phil­an­thropy, and busi­ness will advise on the city’s efforts to cre­ate a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions on Gov­er­nors Island and will pro­vide input on prospec­tive aca­d­e­m­ic and research part­ners’ pro­pos­als to a selec­tion com­mit­tee made up of City and Trust offi­cials. Mem­bers include:

  • Eddie Bautista, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, NYC-EJA
  • Dana Bour­land, Senior Vice Pres­i­dent, Envi­ron­ment and Strate­gic Ini­tia­tives, The JPB Foundation
  • Chris­t­ian Bra­ne­on, Cli­mate Sci­en­tist, NASA God­dard Insti­tute for Space Studies
  • Mar­co Car­rión, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, El Puente
  • Mark Cham­bers, Senior Direc­tor for Build­ing Emis­sions and Com­mu­ni­ty Resilience, White House Coun­cil on Envi­ron­men­tal Qual­i­ty, Exec­u­tive Office of Pres­i­dent Joseph R. Biden, For­mer Direc­tor of Sus­tain­abil­i­ty, City of New York
  • Dr. Luz Clau­dio, Pro­fes­sor of Envi­ron­men­tal Med­i­cine and Chief of the Divi­sion of Inter­na­tion­al Health, Icahn School of Med­i­cine at Mount Sinai
  • Cheryl Cohen Effron, Senior Advi­sor, Tish­man Speyer
  • Adam Freed, Prin­ci­pal, Sus­tain­abil­i­ty, Bloomberg Asso­ciates
  • Arturo Gar­cia Costas, Pro­gram Offi­cer, The New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust
  • Chante Har­ris, Direc­tor, Cli­mate Invest­ment and Part­ner­ships, Ven­ture for Cli­mateTech, Sec­ond Muse
  • Kyle Kim­ball, Vice Pres­i­dent, Gov­ern­ment Rela­tions, ConEdi­son
  • Michael Northrop, Pro­gram Direc­tor, Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment, Rock­e­feller Broth­ers Fund
  • Michael Oppen­heimer, Albert G. Mil­bank Pro­fes­sor of Geo­sciences and Inter­na­tion­al Affairs, Prince­ton University
  • Henk Ovink, Spe­cial Envoy for Inter­na­tion­al Water Affairs, King­dom of the Netherlands
  • Julie Tighe, Pres­i­dent, New York League of Con­ser­va­tion Voters
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