San Francisco Climate Week

A Convergence in the Fog: San Francisco Climate Week Brings Urgency, Innovation, and Unlikely Allies

By Daisy Carlson

SAN FRANCISCO — When former Vice President Al Gore and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi opened San Francisco Climate Week with a pointed call to “defend the planet like democracy itself,” their words rippled across a city known for both. But if those remarks were the opening notes of urgency, what followed was a symphony of solutions—from AI-powered mining and regenerative agriculture to bitcoin-fueled solar and nuclear energy reboots.

In its boldest iteration yet, San Francisco Climate Week 2025 drew thousands of investors, engineers, policymakers, and climate entrepreneurs from across the globe to map the contours of a carbon-neutral economy—and to debate how to get there fast enough.

From Critical Minerals to Megawatts

Artificial intelligence was the undisputed star of this year’s lineup. A packed session hosted by Nomadic Venture Partners explored the mineral-intensive backbone behind large language models and machine learning tools. “We’re building neural networks on a foundation of copper, lithium, and rare earths,” noted Stanford’s Jef Caers, who is pioneering AI applications in mineral exploration.

Panelists agreed: the AI boom isn’t just driving emissions, it’s redefining global resource flows. Yet paradoxically, AI is also being weaponized for climate action—powering emissions tracking tools, optimizing grid performance, and even aiding in wildfire detection. The question echoed through the room: can the digital brain solve the problems of its own body?

Climate Finance Steps into the Spotlight

At a high-profile finance panel moderated by former Salesforce sustainability chief Patrick Flynn, a standing-room-only crowd learned how institutions like the Sierra Club Foundation and Carbon Collective are moving trillions out of fossil fuels and into renewable infrastructure. “The financial system is the bloodstream of climate solutions,” said Breene Murphy, noting how fiduciary duty and environmental responsibility are converging.

Meanwhile, insurance, once the back-office domain of risk assessment, took center stage. Brad Stevenson of Premiums for the Planet described how underwriting decisions could accelerate or stall climate progress. “We’ve seen what happens when insurance pulls out of wildfire zones—climate finance must be proactive, not reactive.”

Resilience Where the Fires Burn

The specter of wildfire haunted many panels, including a session featuring leaders from BlackRock, Fire Aside, and Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. As blazes worsen across the Western U.S., the climate conversation is no longer theoretical. “We’re not just talking about emissions; we’re talking about breathing,” said one attendee, gesturing toward the smog-softened skyline.

New tech startups showed off fire-detection cameras and satellite early-warning systems. Others discussed prescribed burns and indigenous fire stewardship. Still, consensus emerged around one thing: there is no resilience without equity. As fires threaten low-income communities first, so too must funding, insurance, and infrastructure adapt accordingly.

A Nuclear Renaissance—In California?

A surprising current of optimism surrounded nuclear energy. At a wine-and-vision event hosted by the Oppenheimer Project, nuclear entrepreneurs made the case for small modular reactors and revived legacy plants. “We’ve spent too long arguing about the past,” said Charles Oppenheimer, a descendant of the atomic pioneer. “Let’s talk about an abundant, carbon-free future.”

While critics remain wary of waste and safety concerns, others see nuclear as a necessary stabilizer in a grid buckling under the twin demands of electrification and AI.

Style, Soil, and the Subversive Edge of Climate Culture

Beyond the policy panels, art and fashion played their part. At the Pinterest-backed “Threads of Change” exhibit, designers turned runway into climate commentary, displaying zero-waste tailoring, ocean plastic textiles, and digital garments minted as NFTs. “Sustainability is the new couture,” one visitor mused.

Meanwhile, the soil beneath our feet got its due. Clover Sonoma’s regenerative agriculture panel offered a surprisingly robust discussion on dairy, carbon sequestration, and the ethics of your morning cup of coffee. “Regeneration isn’t a buzzword,” insisted Kiss the Ground CEO Evan Harrison. “It’s a path forward.”

Decentralized Futures and Carbon Market Confusion

Bitcoin miners and energy wonks came together in an unusual alliance at Presidio Bitcoin, where speakers argued that crypto could stabilize grids and fund solar expansion. “We need buyers of last resort for intermittent renewables,” said Optimize Infrastructure’s Ali Chehrehsaz. “Bitcoin miners can be that demand.”

Elsewhere, the conversation turned dense as panels parsed the evolving carbon market. “Credit stacking, double counting, compliance frameworks—this stuff is messy,” admitted one moderator, “but it’s also where we make or break trust in the system.”

A Chorus of Voices, a Mosaic of Solutions

Throughout the week, events echoed in co-working hubs, waterfront cafés, and rooftop labs across the city. Women-led panels emphasized empathy and systems thinking. Nature-based salons invited reflection alongside regulation. AI researchers bumped elbows with regenerative farmers, and fintech wizards mentored startups. Demostrations of Navel electrification to portable biochar trucks that help manage fire danger while putting carbon back in the soil, were just a few of the technology on display around the bay.

If there was one unifying message in a week of wildly diverse sessions, it was this: climate change is no longer just an environmental crisis. It is a design challenge, a market failure, a policy test, and a cultural awakening—all at once.

Progress Carries On In the Face of Adversity

A climate-safe future will emerge from the collective efforts of diverse fields and the combined talent and innovation of the remarkable thought leaders and technologists gathered at this conference—and others like it around the world. Solutions are already showing irreversible traction, even as some governments continue to peddle outdated, dangerous energy sources like a dirty coal. A clean, secure future will be built by people like those I met this week—their bold and diverse solutions, meaningful conversations, and, above all, meaningful collaboration and unwavering dedication. Its groups like these that evolve our society toward a cleaner, safer, more cost effective and well designed world.

“We must keep fighting for solutions to combat the climate crisis with science and justice. Our children’s future depends on it”, said Nancy Pelosi in her closing remarks.

As the fog rolled back over the Bay each evening, one thing was clear: San Francisco Climate Week was not just a conference. It was a mirror of a world in transformation.