What does New York Climate Week have to do with Appalachia?

Ask the region already living the transition.

Invest Appalachia and its regional partners have demonstrated that Central Appalachia has a vital role to play in national climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. The geostrategic importance of the region’s natural and ecological assets in the face of the climate crisis presents complex challenges and significant opportunities for future generations.

Our region has built and tested resilience hub infrastructure that sits at a model stage in many other parts of the country. Our region continues to absorb in-migration, even climate refugees, while we also absorb the compounding effects of climate change, as evidenced by Hurricane Helene.

As we approach the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene, and as our recent co-authored article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) illustrated, Appalachia also has much to share from its homegrown approach of trust-based resilience and recovery.

We know a thing or two about what the lack of climate-savvy investment creates, but we also know what it looks like when community-led solutions get the funding they need to create climate readiness.

Andrew Crosson, our founding CEO, brought that knowledge to Climate Week, along with a working model for the blended, community-governed capital these solutions require. He joined a panel, “Advancing the Next Phase of Community Climate Investment,” hosted by the McKnight Foundation.

Key outcomes from our 2025 Clean Energy portfolio include:

💰 $10.9M in lifetime financial savings generated for local partners
🏢 505,000 sq. ft. of business space modernized with energy efficiency upgrades
🏡 390 residential units empowered with new or expanded clean energy access
🌍 1,789 metric tons of lifetime greenhouse gas emissions mitigated, the equivalent of 4,293+ round trips between Asheville and NYC in a Subaru Outback.

Here’s a spotlight on IA’s shared impact alongside Appalachian Solar Finance Fund.