Below the Tip of the Iceberg: UNGA 80 and Climate Week

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80): Crafting Context with PolecatX

Marking its 80th year, the UN General Assembly opened on September 9th in New York City, with the High-Level General Debate starting a few days ago (1). With an event as expansive as the UN General Assembly, it’s critical that stakeholders can grasp the essential themes emerging from the conversation.

The above chart shows the most relevant themes for "UN General Assembly" from the past two months.

PolecatX analysis allows us to quickly visualise the topics of anticipation leading up to UNGA 80 and compare them to the themes actually shaping the conversation in real time. 

For example, while the theme of sustainable development decreased by nearly 50% from August, new topics (such as gender equality and climate) emerged at the UNGA itself. The prominence of “Middle East conflict” and “Peace and Security” underscores the increasing need to recognize climate’s role in geopolitical debates, particularly as renewable energy and climate action intersect with questions of stability and security. 

How Peace and Security Go Hand in Hand with Climate Policy 

It’s no secret that war is bad for the climate. According to PolecatX data, sentiment regarding the impact of war on climate change has consistently remained below the baseline for the past year. 

PolecatX sentiment graph for "Impact of War on Climate Change" from the past year.

In addition to a below-baseline average sentiment, our PolecatX platform also allows us to visualise the sentiment broken down by them in regards to the impact of war on climate change. 

PolecatX radar graph depicting AI-generated themes broken down by sentiment for "Impact of War on Climate Change" from the past 365 days.

As the visual above illustrates, there is solely negative interaction when it comes to themes concerning the impact of war on climate change -- particularly military emissions, environmental damage, and climate conflict nexus. 

In fact, The Guardian reports that the carbon footprint of the first 15 months of Israel’s war on Gaza will exceed the annual emissions of 100 individual countries (2). In addition, the first two years of Russia’s war on Ukraine generated more greenhouse gases than the annual emissions of 175 countries (3).

War and climate change are not parallel issues, but mutually reinforcing crises. Conflict accelerates emissions and environmental destruction, while climate stressors intensify instability and insecurity worldwide.

Contextualising Climate Week Within UNGA 80

Against this backdrop, Climate Week NYC began just as UNGA 80 convened across town. Yet, its share of the global conversation pales in comparison: Climate Week accounted for just 8% of impact versus 92% for UNGA 80.

Polecat RepVault visual depicting the shape of impact of Climate Week NYC compared with UNGA 80 from the past 7 days.

Part of this disparity reflects scale. While UNGA 80 spans a month, Climate Week lasts only a week. But it also highlights broader challenges: waning global political will, funding rollbacks, lawsuits against nonprofits, and corporate hesitancy to engage amid U.S. political polarisation (4).

Even so, Polecat’s RepVault show that volume doesn’t always equal importance. The stakeholders driving Climate Week conversations demonstrate its deep intertwinement with UNGA 80, and together they reveal how climate is threaded into nearly every dimension of today’s global agenda.

Top stakeholders and their impact in the conversation regarding Climate Week NYC from the past week.

Polecat’s Role

The conversations unfolding at UNGA 80 and Climate Week are not separate. They are parts of the same story. Climate is no longer a siloed issue; it is at the core of peace, security, and sustainable development. For stakeholders navigating these shifting contexts, the challenge is clear: policies evolve rapidly, risks to reputation and strategy multiply, and the line between climate, peace, and security grows thinner each year.

Polecat provides the intelligence to make sense of these dynamics through showing not just who is shaping the debate, but how issues intersect and what’s at stake. From mapping the share of impact to identifying reputational risks, our platform aids companies and nonprofits alike to anticipate change and adapt with confidence.