Invest NYC SDG Initiative

A two-year initiative led by NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (CSB) to engage the private sector and drive financing toward creating a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient New York City

NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business announces new initiative to scale up investment in NYC local economy with $350K in sup

New York City (NYC) is the first city in the United States to align its ambitious sustainability goals with those of the world. Our purpose is to support NYC in its work to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — “localizing the SDGs.” This project aims to take on six primary areas: sustainable mobility, the built environment, climate resilience, renewable energy, food and health, and waste.

Ultimately, our goal is to identify the best private sector business and finance opportunities, where there are significant interested key players, realistic business incentives, alignment with government policy, support from the community, and significant impact in meeting the SDGs.

Through concrete demonstration projects in NYC, we also plan to identify any government policy, and/or finance innovation needed to be successful. With this work, we hope we will have created a road map for other cities, both in the U.S. and internationally, to achieve the SDGs with strong private sector support.

Thank You To Our Sponsors

Support from NYC Mayor's Office

On January 24th, 2020 at City Hall, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Dan Zarrilli, Chief Climate Policy Advisor and OneNYC Director, Office of the Mayor, committed city support for the Invest NYC SDG Initiative in a meeting with CSB Director Tensie Whelan and the Project Director Marianna Koval. The Mayor is supporting the Initiative as part of NYC’s global leadership to advance sustainability and the United Nations SDGs.

NYC Mayor and Invest NYC SDG

The Process

The knowledge, technology and financing resources to make significant progress towards the UN SDGs are available, but these resources are currently fragmented and siloed throughout a complex stakeholder ecosystem. As a consequence, collaboration can be difficult and impede SDG development.

Government Needs the Private Sector
Much of New York City's sustainable development plan, One City: Built to Last, aligns with the UN SDGs, and is inspiring in its ambition. Systemic change, however, requires engagement and collaboration between the private and public sectors, at both regional and local government levels. The UN Business and Sustainable Development Commission's 2017 Better Business, Better World report identified $12 trillion in business opportunity with multi stakeholder interaction.

The Private Sector Needs Government
Effective private sector investment in advancing the SDGs will mean understanding that the focus areas in this project are largely supported by public infrastructure, owned and operated by public entities. This infrastructure requires ongoing management and maintenance within changing physical and financial environments. Real constraints exist for governmental action, particularly as agencies are pushed to do more within the SDG framework. Government entities are subject to various types of compliance regulations that can make innovative policy development with the private sector difficult. But systemic policy and operational change can take place.

NYU Stern CSB Creates the Space and Supports the Conversation
The NYU Center for Sustainable Business intends to lead and create that space over the next eighteen months. As a major research university, trusted by public and private sector stakeholders, NYU brings a broad academic community with many departments already engaged in these SDG issues. Leveraging these resources, NYU Stern CSB will connect important stakeholders among the public sector, interest organizations, and the private sector (including both the corporate and finance sectors) to develop a shared vision of how private sector investment can be stimulated in partnership with the public and non-governmental sectors.

With support from Goldman Sachs Center for Environmental Markets, New York Community Trust, PepsiCo, Con Edison, and Sims Metals Management, CSB aims to help NYC create a blueprint for private sector financing of the UN SDGs at a municipal level.

Focus Areas


Focus Area	Project Types
Sustainable Mobility	Public transportation, electric/hybrid, vehicles, fuel efficiency, and congestion management
Built Environment	Energy efficiency, smart buildings, and affordable housing
Waste	Circular solutions (for plastics, glass, metals, paper, etc.), combined food waste, and wastewater for energy production
Renewable Energy	Wind, solar, ground source heat, identifying renewable energy buyers
Food and Health	Food waste, food deserts, food transport, and urban farming
Climate Resilience	Prevent, prepare, respond, repair and retreat in public infrastructure and private real estate

Administration and Governance

NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business will coordinate the project under the leadership of CSB Director, Professor Tensie Whelan and Marianna Koval as Project Director.

Invest NYC SDG Steering Committee

Thank you to the following Steering Committee members for lending their time, expertise and support to the Invest NYC SDG project.

Lindsay Clinton, Executive Vice President of Industry and Innovation, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Lara Croushore, Chief of Staff, Climate Policy and Programs, NYC Office of the Mayor
Jeff Gitterman, Co-Founder, Gitterman Wealth Management
Gretchen Johanns, General Group Counsel and Company Secretary, Sims Metal Management
Will Kennedy, Programme Officer, UN Office of Partnerships
Micah Kotch, Managing Director, Urban-X
Nilda Mesa, Director, Urban Sustainability and Equity Planning Program, Center for Sustainable Urban Development/Earth Institute, Columbia
Tom Outerbridge, Manager, Sims Metal Management
Kyung-Ah Park, Managing Director & Head of Environmental Markets, Goldman Sachs
Gian-Carlo Peressutti, Vice President, Global Communications, Pepsico
Sanaz Raczynski, Adjunct Senior Research Scientist, Nuveen
Frances Resheske, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Con Ed
Aniket Shah, Senior Fellow at Columbia University Center for Sustainable Investment, Columbia, and former Head of Sustainable Investing, Oppenheimer
Kevin Smith, Vice President, Environmental Markets Group, Goldman Sachs
Tim Wilkins, Partner, Head of Sustainability, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, LLP
John Williams, Chairman and CEO, Impact Infrastructure

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