Pulitzer Center to Convene Journalists, Scientists and Communities at Climate Week NYC 2026

New York, September 2026 — The Pulitzer Center will bring together journalists, academics, community leaders and civil society organizations at Climate Week NYC (21–27 September 2026), hosting a series of panels and roundtables examining how investigative and community-centered journalism can strengthen transparency, accountability and governance around environmental issues.

Background

Climate issues are increasingly shaping decisions about infrastructure, technology, energy, natural resources and public policy — yet the consequences of those decisions are often experienced far from the rooms where they are made. Journalism can help bridge that gap, bringing evidence and local perspectives into global conversations while making complex environmental challenges understandable to wider and newer audiences.

For the Pulitzer Center, global climate convenings like Climate Week NYC offer an opportunity to connect the climate and environment reporting it supports with the people and organizations working directly to address these challenges. The Center’s participation builds on its broader approach to “breakthrough journalism,” pairing high-quality reporting with engagement strategies designed to extend its reach and influence, with audiences and impact placed at the center of the work.

Across its Climate Week programming, the Pulitzer Center will examine emerging environmental questions surrounding data centers and artificial intelligence, geospatial technologies, climate innovation, and the future of environmental journalism itself.

Event Schedule

How Data Center Fights Are Renewing Local Power Across the U.S.
September 22 | 5:30pm–7:30pm | Retro Report, New York

The rapid expansion of data centers is creating new environmental and governance questions around energy, water, land, infrastructure and community decision-making. The Pulitzer Center will join Data & Society and Retro Report for a panel moderated by Kit R. Roane, featuring Maia Woluchem, Alejandra Martinez, Brian Crawford and Ginny Marcille-Kerslake, examining how residents are responding to this new wave of industrial development. Anchored by new research from Data & Society and Pulitzer Center-supported reporting from The Texas Tribune, the discussion will explore how communities are organizing, engaging media and working with government to gain greater say over decisions affecting their environment and quality of life.

Turning Geospatial Data Into Action on Pollution and Climate
September 23 | 8:30am–1:30pm | Manhattan, New York

Convened by SkyTruth, this working session will bring together leading voices in climate and conservation technology, including John Amos and Karl Wurster, to explore how satellite imagery and geospatial data can help document environmental harm and support action — from tracking ocean pollution and the climate impacts of offshore oil and gas, to monitoring threats to biodiversity. Jonatan Rodríguez of the Pulitzer Center will present the Amazon Mining Watch tool, developed under the Rainforest Investigations Network program.

Breakthrough Journalism: Climate Stories, Collective Action
September 24 | 10:30am–12:30pm | Columbia Journalism School, New York City

In partnership with Columbia Journalism School, the Pulitzer Center will host an interactive roundtable featuring President and CEO Lisa Gibbs, along with Flora Pereira, Duy Linh Tu, Annika McGinnis and Isabelle Tavares, exploring how environmental journalism can contribute to accountability, stronger governance and cross-sector collaboration. The conversation will draw on journalism and engagement projects the Center has supported, spanning environmental health, biodiversity, oceans, the Amazon rainforest, and the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence.

Bending the Climate Curve
September 25 | 8:30am–12:00pm | The Explorers Club, New York

This event will bring together scientists, innovators and journalists to examine emerging approaches to ocean-based carbon dioxide removal and the governance questions they raise. Alexandra Talty, former Pulitzer Center Ocean Reporting Fellow, will moderate a panel featuring Ken Buesseler, Danielle Ringer and Fatima Candace Vahlsing, exploring the potential of these technologies alongside the safeguards, evidence and accountability needed as they move from research toward real-world application.

A Model for Environmental Journalism

The Pulitzer Center’s participation reflects a model of journalism that extends beyond producing and publishing reporting. Through its engagement approach, the Center works with journalists to identify the audiences, communities and decision-makers who can use their reporting, building intentional pathways connecting stories and evidence with those positioned to act on them.

Conclusion

Climate Week NYC offers the Pulitzer Center an important space for building connections between local evidence and global decision-making, between journalism and engagement, and between reporting and real-world impact. By convening scientists, community organizers, technologists and journalists across four distinct sessions, the Center’s programming underscores a central conviction: that the voices, experiences and evidence documented through environmental journalism deserve a place in the conversations shaping the world’s environmental future.