A pioneer of the global sustainable development agenda, Jeffrey Sachs has advised governments as well as successive U.N. secretaries general on poverty reduction and climate action. As director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development, Sachs has championed clean energy investment, carbon pricing, and debt relief tied to climate resilience, while also urging reforms at the World Bank and IMF to expand concessional lending. Sachs sits down with Reuters Climate & Environment Editor Katy Daigle during New York Climate Week to discuss the politics of net zero, financing for the energy transition, and how to balance climate ambition with development needs in the Global South.