Climate Week
Advancing environmental & climate justice policiES THROUGH STORYTELLING And a Frontline Framework
The NAACP has long tackled the root causes and impacts of climate-related disasters, advocating policy change and equity, and most recently by amplifying our Power in the Storm toolkit and leading our Stop Dirty Data campaign. Through local branches and community partnerships, we've led coordinated responses that amplify excluded voices and drive systemic change. With the second year of initiatives like Climate in Color: Reframing Our Future and a community-informed approach to making polluters pay for data center harms, we're spotlighting innovative solutions from frontline communities.
During this year's Climate Week NYC, the NAACP is leading and participating in key events to advance the fight for environmental and climate justice.
Climate Film Fest
Join NAACP's Abre' Conner, Director of the Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, for the Climate Film Fest on Sunday, September 20. As a juror for the film festival, Conner will review films for its third annual edition, bringing 52 films — including 33 premieres — to venues across New York City during Climate Week NYC. The four-day festival will pair boundary-pushing climate cinema with filmmaker conversations, immersive experiences, industry programming, and free public events connecting artists, scientists, advocates, and audiences from around the world.
The DATA CENTER REVOLUTION WILL BE televised
Join us on Sunday, September 20 at 11 AM ET, as we discuss how data center fights can make their way into storytelling and create a culture shift, with a community-centered focus. As big tech and AI data centers continue to expand in communities, sentiments regarding what can be done have developed from stories on the ground and everyday people highlighting what this issue means to them. TV and film have long been utilized to shift public perception and policies around key issues. We have an opportunity to engage on a topic that resonates on the ground and moves people to act.
Join us as we explore the best ways to offer insight with individuals leading data center fights, storytelling efforts, and filmmakers who have mastered utilizing film to shift perceptions and move people to environmental advocacy.
I'm honored and excited to serve as an NAACP Climate in Color Ambassador. When we center the voices of the most vulnerable, we push for solutions that are equitable and create a path forward that better protects us all.
- Traci A. Curry, Director, Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time on Nat Geo and NAACP Climate in Color Ambassador
Powering Justice: Data Centers and building a just digital future
On Monday, September 21, from 1-5:30 PM ET, this invite-only policy seminar will bring together community leaders, policymakers, legal and policy experts, civil rights, labor, environmental and climate justice, and conservation groups, as well as other researchers and data scientists to address the rapid growth of data centers and its federal, state, and local impacts.
Presented by the NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and hosted by NRDC, the program will examine solutions that protect frontline communities, reduce pollution and water stress, ensure renewable and clean power projects are not deprioritized, and create accountable pathways for a just and community-centered democratic future.
Data Centers: Community-Led Advocacy to Real Solutions
You can't talk about data centers without talking about the South. Our region has become the largest hub for these facilities in the U.S., and communities — from city neighborhoods to rural towns — are feeling the impact.
Join us on Tuesday, September 22 from 9 AM - 10:30 AM to hear how grassroots organizers are pushing for change not only at the local level but calling for more transparency and national policy action. NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice Director, Abre' Conner will join this panel
Ava: Films From the Frontlines
Rural America & The Clean Energy Transition
Join NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice Director Abre' Conner on Tuesday, September 22 from 12-7 PM ET as she speaks with Canary Media journalists regarding how data centers are impacting rural America. Anchored by Canary Media's flagship reporting series on rural America, this event spotlights communities that too rarely make the headlines.
The day features main-stage conversations that dive deeper into the topics shaping clean energy's next chapter.
Data Centers Buildouts as Civil Rights and Democracy Issues
The NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice is collaborating with New York University School of Law's Environmental and Climate Justice Initiative to host invite-only roundtables as part of a strategy summit to strengthen legal, community-centered, and democratic strategies for addressing the intersection of data center legal advocacy and democracy.
On Tuesday, September 22, from 2 PM - 4:30 PM ET, we will connect immediate litigation and permitting fights with the broader democratic and civil rights concerns needed to secure environmental and climate justice. This convening will identify how to use organizing, research, policy, and legal advocacy for stronger strategies to bring cases.
Powering the Digital Economy: Sustainable Data Centers
On Wednesday, September 23 from 11 AM -12 PM ET at Convene 75 Rockefeller Plaza, Ceres at Climate Week NYC hosts a full day of flagship programming focused on the issues shaping the next phase of the clean energy transition. AI Implementation is accelerating, and data centers are driving energy and water demand.
The opportunity is massive to build sustainably and incorporate clean energy and water innovations, ensuring sustainable operations, affordability, and community benefits. The program will explore risks and opportunities and highlight practical approaches for scaling digital infrastructure responsibly and efficiently. Join NAACP Center for Environmental and Climate Justice Director Abre' Conner as she joins the main stage for this conversation.