A day after hundreds of thousands of people jammed New York City's streets for the People's Climate March, the week-long series of awareness-raising events and discussions known as Climate Week NYC got underway Monday with a speech by Secretary of State John Kerry.

In his speech, which kicked off the week's events, Kerry announced that the United States will contribute $15 million to a pilot auction that will be set up by the World Bank, and will pay construction project developers for each ton of methane -- a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that's 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide -- they are able to cut from their facilities like landfills and waste treatment plants.

Highlights from his speech at New York City's Morgan Library -- which you can read in full here -- are captured in the YouTube above.

New York took a major step forward today to prepare for the impacts of climate change after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the state's Community Risk and Resiliency Act, which aims to strengthen the state's infrastructure in the wake of 2012's devastating Superstorm Sandy.

President Barack Obama, whose proposals to rein in U.S. carbon emissions by coal-fired power plants were released earlier this year, sent this tweet today in advance of his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, scheduled for tomorrow:

Also today, hundreds of environmental activists dressed in blue and carrying signs marched down Broadway and gathered in lower Manhattan's financial district to protest what they say is Wall Street's role in the climate crisis.

Organizers say the protest is meant to highlight the role corporations play in stalling political action to combat global warming. It comes a day after roughly 300,000 participated in the People's Climate March through Manhattan.

Participants in Monday's sit-down say they anticipate being arrested to push home their political point. Urban farmer Ben Shapiro from Youngstown, Ohio, told the Associated Press he came to disrupt Wall Street and actively "confront the system," like this tweet described:

Arrests of some Flood Wall Street protesters -- seen in the photos below -- were reportedly made Monday afternoon, but specific numbers were not yet available:

Protesters Stage Wall Street Climate Crisis Sit-In

Demonstrators stage a sit-in on Broadway during a march protesting for action on climate change and Wall Street greed, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, a day after a huge climate march in New York City. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.