Climate activist Xiye Bastida with model and activist Arizona Muse at last year’s Nat Gala. Photo: The Nat Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story Once a year, New York Climate Week comes to town, bringing a melting pot of industries, celebrities, activists and policymakers with it. Hot on the heels of New York Fashion Week , with some events bleeding into the week itself, this year’s climate week is seemingly more jam-packed than ever.
With over 1,000 events on the official schedule, and many more unofficial gatherings alongside, Vogue Business called on insiders to help you make sense of it all. Here are the key themes fashion will be grappling with throughout the week and the can’t-miss events on their radars.
There are several closed-door sessions on the agenda this year, as climate week joins the growing line-up of other sustainable fashion conferences leaning into off-record roundtables to drive candor and progress. “This year, I’m doing invite-only, curated rooms instead of running myself ragged across every panel,” says Rachel Kibbe, CEO of American Circular Textiles (AMCIRC). “My advice to other execs would be to pick your rooms and don’t try to do it all.”
The mayhem is part of the magic, says Erin Allweiss , co-founder of communications agency No. 29, which counts French footwear brand Veja among clients. “Fashion needs to break out of the fashion algorithm, and climate week is a moment for executives to reach cultural tastemakers in the environmental space,” she explains. “We need to learn from one another, across industries.”
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That cross-pollination is crucial, agrees climate advocate and UN Human Rights Champion Sophia Li. “It’s important for fashion executives to understand what’s happening in the energy, food, finance sector, because — most likely — that will touch fashion in the near future. Fashion sets trends for clothes and culture, but it has historically been slow to adopt industry-wide adaptation and innovation.”
Li is an advisor to non-profit The Nat, whose founders aim to close the approximately $700 billion nature finance gap . Last year, New York Climate Week opened with the inaugural Nat Gala , a star-studded fundraiser with Billie Eilish, Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, and more in attendance. For 2026, the green carpet is back with a new theme: “water is life”. Attendees have been asked to choose outfits that conserve water — the style guide points to materials grown with regenerative agriculture, dye methods that curb water consumption, and brands that invest in safeguarding waterways. Alternatively, they can side-step new water consumption entirely by opting for pre-loved and rented fashion.
At the gala and the roundtable discussions that will follow throughout the week, Li hopes attendees will consider “how the fashion industry [can] start valuing nature assets — such as soil, farmers, and raw materials — as the most valuable assets”.
Designer Stella McCartney and actress Jane Fonda at the first annual Nat Gala in 2025. Photo: The Nat Indeed, the question of how to finance the climate transition will loom large throughout climate week. From the Building Fashion’s Circular Future mini-summit on Wednesday to the Regenerative Textiles Forum on Thursday, there will be plenty of chances for fashion to reconsider the cost of progress, says Collective Fashion Justice f…