Introducing a new anchor institution for the center for climate solutions: the exchange

The New York Cli­mate Exchange will be a first-of-its-kind cross-sec­tor con­sor­tium led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty. It will cre­ate a state-of-the-art, 400,000-square-foot cam­pus on Gov­er­nors Island, ded­i­cat­ed to research­ing and cre­at­ing inno­v­a­tive cli­mate solu­tions that will be scaled across New York City and the world and equip­ping New York­ers to hold the green jobs of the future.

What is the exchange?

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 and busi­ness and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions ded­i­cat­ed to devel­op­ing and deploy­ing solu­tions to the glob­al cli­mate cri­sis. Click here to view all project partners.

Programs, research, and activities at the exchange

The Exchange will host a diverse range of edu­ca­tion­al and train­ing pro­grams for all New York­ers, as well as research ded­i­cat­ed to devel­op­ing and deploy­ing cli­mate solu­tions to com­mu­ni­ties in New York City and around the world. High­lights include:

• Edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams that will pre­pare stu­dents at all lev­els for careers focused on cli­mate change across sci­ence, pol­i­cy, and advo­ca­cy. Pro­grams include a cli­mate solu­tions ​“semes­ter abroad” inten­sive pro­gram, fel­low­ship and intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties, con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion, and a com­mit­ment to offer­ing addi­tion­al career path­ways to stu­dents at the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School through a New York State Path­ways in Tech­nol­o­gy (P‑Tech) program.
• Work­force Devel­op­ment and Jobs train­ing pro­grams, 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 Tech­nol­o­gy Accel­er­a­tor, with a 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,
• Cli­mate Tech Incu­ba­tor, which will pri­or­i­tize minor­i­ty and women-owned busi­ness­es (MWBEs) and draw upon the exper­tise of busi­ness part­ners, includ­ing IBM, and BCG
• Grant oppor­tu­ni­ties and part­ner­ships with com­mu­ni­ty-based organizations.
• Pub­lic pro­grams, exhibits, spe­cial events, talks, and art, open to Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tors to engage with the work of the Exchange

Once ful­ly oper­a­tional, the cam­pus is expect­ed to serve 600 post­sec­ondary stu­dents, 4,500 K‑12 stu­dents, 6,000 work­force trainees, and over 250 fac­ul­ty and researchers annu­al­ly while sup­port­ing up to 30 busi­ness­es through its incu­ba­tor program.

Learn more: Governors Island