HomeThree real estate takeaways from Climate Week NYC 2026
Every September, Climate Week NYC brings together the investors, asset managers, owners and policymakers shaping how real estate responds to climate risk and the energy transition. This year’s edition ran from 20 to 27 September, with a focus on energy, impact and action.
For Deepki, it has become one of the most important weeks of the year. The US is one of our fastest-growing markets, and there is no better place to hear first-hand what North American investors are prioritizing. Across our executive roundtable and events throughout the week, the same themes came up again and again.
Here’s what we learned. Our CEO, Vincent Bryant, shares the three that stood out most.
The short version: the climate conversation in real estate has moved on from reporting. It is now about risk, capital allocation and asset value.
1. Power access is becoming a defining factor in asset value
Power was the theme nobody could avoid, and the numbers explain why. The latest Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate suggests data centers could account for 11.8% of total US electricity use by 2030. Meanwhile, bringing new supply online is slow: for power projects completed in 2025, the median time from interconnection request to commercial operation was more than five years.
For real estate, that makes power a question of value, not just cost. Grid access, power availability and on-site infrastructure such as solar, battery storage and EV charging are increasingly shaping which assets investors buy, how they plan capex and what occupiers will pay for, particularly for logistics and other energy-intensive assets.
An asset with available capacity and room for on-site generation is worth more to a power-hungry occupier than one without. The owners best placed to benefit are those who can see where power constraints and opportunities sit across the whole portfolio, and who treat electrification as part of one investment plan rather than a set of standalone projects.
2. Climate resilience is moving into investment and underwriting decisions
Physical climate risk is no longer a disclosure exercise. Investors are assessing flood exposure, extreme heat and other hazards, and building that analysis into how they underwrite, hold and sell assets.
The losses are already visible. Swiss Re estimates insured natural catastrophe losses reached $107 billion in 2025, the sixth consecutive year above $100 billion, with the US accounting for 83% of the total.
Those costs flow straight through to real estate: higher insurance premiums, higher capex to adapt and a real risk of value erosion over the hold period. Investors who understand their exposure early can price it and plan for it. Those who don’t may find it priced in for them at exit.
That requires asset-level risk data, a transparent methodology that can stand up in an investment committee, and physical risk viewed alongside energy and carbon performance rather than in a separate silo.
3. Basic carbon accounting is over. The next step is turning intelligence into action
Investors no longer want generic carbon accounting or disconnected reporting tools. A strong data foundation is the starting point, not the destination. The expectation now is that data drives decisions: which assets to invest in, which interventions deliver the best return, and in what order. Decarbonization pathways, including benchmarks such as CRREM, need to translate into financial terms: the capex required, the value protected and the cost of doing nothing.
Getting there takes three things working together. First, trusted data, collected automatically and consistently so teams aren’t re-entering figures or questioning the numbers. Second, purpose-built AI. There is no shortage of AI experimentation in real estate, but turning it into results is harder: in Deloitte’s latest survey of commercial real estate executives, 92% said they were still piloting or researching AI, and only 8% had integrated AI solutions. General-purpose models struggle with the specifics of real estate, which is why the demand is for AI built for the domain, able to automate workflows and support investment decisions. Third, experienced people, because software on its own rarely changes outcomes.
A good test: when your data flags an underperforming asset, how long does it take to become a costed, approved and tracked action? If the answer involves multiple tools and manual handovers, that is where value is being lost.
What this means for owners and investors
The conversation that used to sit with sustainability teams now sits with investment committees, asset managers and CFOs. Power access, physical risk and decarbonization are no longer separate workstreams. They all feed the same question: where should we invest next, and what return will it deliver?
That is the problem Deepki is built to solve: helping owners and investors turn portfolio data into prioritized, financially grounded action, with technology and experienced people working together.
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