AEE at Climate Week NYC: Workforce, Efficiency, and Partnerships in Action

Every September, Climate Week NYC brings together leaders from business, government, and civil society to push climate solutions forward. This year, the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) was there to advance a message at the core of our mission: the energy transition depends on skilled people and practical implementation. Here’s a look at where we showed up and what we took away.

Workforce Development with Trane Technologies

AEE Executive Director Bill Kent joined a panel with our strategic partner, Trane Technologies, at The Cool House. The working lunch, “Workforce Innovation for the Energy Transition,” explored a key question: new technology is essential, but who will design, deploy, operate, and scale it?

Moderated by Courtney Haynes of Opportunity@Work, the panel brought together leaders in industry, training, and credentialing:

• Erin Garrity, Trane Technologies
• Bill Kent, C.E.M., AEE
• Stephen Miller, Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI)

The conversation focused on how workforce development must evolve to meet the demands of a new energy era.

Touring the Association for Energy Affordability

The AEE team toured the Association for Energy Affordability (AEA) with Asit Patel, Senior Director of Technical Services, a recent inductee into AEE’s Energy Managers Hall of Fame. The visit included AEA’s training facility, where simulator rooms with heavy equipment give learners hands-on experience. We also visited an apartment building to see a heat pump installation up close. AEA has completed more heat pump projects than anyone in the U.S., which made for rich discussions on the gap between policy and implementation when it comes to funding.

Executive Panels and Hub Live

Bill Kent also attended a series of executive panels hosted by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), and Mary Elise Cox and Catelyn McGovern attended Hub Live, an interactive program where experts and leaders tackled urgent climate challenges, policies, and solutions, with a focus on speeding up progress.

Co-Hosting a Transatlantic Conversation

AEE co-hosted “Powering the Next Energy Chapter: Efficiency, Innovation and Workforce Across the Atlantic” with the Alliance to Save Energy and the Delegation of Flanders to the USA. The evening brought U.S. and European leaders together for a practical discussion on how energy policy becomes infrastructure investment, technology deployment, and jobs.

A few themes stood out:

• There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Different markets need different approaches, but efficiency remains foundational.
• Efficiency is a jobs story. Energy efficiency is the largest employer in the energy sector.
• Efficiency and affordability go hand in hand. Making better use of existing buildings and infrastructure supports affordability, reliability, and resilience.
• There’s much to learn across the Atlantic. Europe has moved faster on efficiency investment, offering valuable lessons for the U.S.

Looking Ahead

From workforce panels to heat pump installations, Climate Week NYC reinforced what AEE members already know: technology alone won’t deliver the energy transition. People will. We’re grateful to take part in these events, and we look forward to continuing these conversations throughout the year.