“If you have the power, step up”: London Climate Action Week drives forward climate solutions

As temperatures surged across Western Europe this week, thousands of investors, executives, activists and policymakers gathered in London to debate how the world should respond to a warming planet.

The irony was difficult to miss. A panel on extreme heat was among the events canceled as Britain baked under a rare June heatwave. Thermal imaging recorded pavement temperatures exceeding 57°C (135°F), while across Europe, authorities warned of mounting health risks as temperatures approached 40°C (104°F) and heat-related deaths were reported in Spain, Italy and France.

London Climate Action Week is already one of the most influential meetings on the calendar ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in November. But this year, under the sweltering heat dome, attention turned to the Global Climate Action Agenda as pressure grows to rapidly deploy climate solutions. Among the Action Agenda’s nearly 500 climate initiatives led by businesses, cities, investors, governments and civil society are wide-scale city cooling initiatives and health strategies to help hospitals cope with extreme weather events.

Nick Mabey, chair of London Climate Action Week and chief executive of E3G, said more than 290 events during the week were intentionally aligned with the Action Agenda – from electrification and decarbonizing industry to scaling climate finance, cutting methane emissions and helping cities prepare for more frequent extreme heat.

Additionally, UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched a global Call to Action on Methane, urging fossil fuel, agriculture and waste sectors to deliver nine priority actions by 2030. The call reinforces Action Agenda initiatives already working to scale methane solutions: the World Bank's CH4D platform, which is turning methane cuts into investable projects across 15 countries, and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition's Technology and Economic Assessment Panel, which de-risks emerging mitigation technologies for financiers. Both initiatives target the same gap Guterres flagged: methane receives under 2 per cent of global climate finance despite driving a third of warming.

“If you have the power, step up, deliver on your commitments,” UK Climate Minister Katie White urged attendees at one of the week’s events. “Join and build the coalitions with the Action Agenda, because that is how we can achieve lasting change.”

What Cities Are Doing: Cooling, Clean Air, and Digital Accountability

Throughout the week, city leaders focused on protecting residents from rising temperatures while preparing urban infrastructure for a hotter future.

A newly launched Cool Cities Lab, which is part of the “Beat the Heat” initiative, is helping cities including Boston, Buenos Aires, Durban and Nairobi turn heat-risk assessments into critical cooling plans built around shade, water and green space.

| Person seeks shade amid London’s June 2026 extreme heat warning.

But cooling cities are colliding with a force that heats them. Data centres powering artificial intelligence are placing growing demands on electricity and water systems just as heatwaves push urban grids closer to their limits. In response, mayors from 41 cities endorsed the C40 Cities Global Urban Data Centres Pact, committing to renewable-powered facilities, lower water use and stronger engagement with local communities.

Alongside tackling extreme heat, London Mayor Sadiq Khan launched City Climate Facts, an open data platform designed to track and counter coordinated online disinformation campaigns around climate policy. Findings show that up to 48 percent of online engagement on air quality and low-emission policies is driven by bots. The first pilot will launch in Cape Town, where nearly 90 percent of residents say they want help identifying false environmental information.

What Businesses Are Doing: Increased Investment and Electrification

Corporate ambition within the Action Agenda remains equally strong. Of the Action Agenda's nearly 500 initiatives, most depend on the private sector as a core implementation partner, said Dan Ioschpe, the COP30 Climate High-Level Champion. Additionally, two-thirds of the indicators tracking them carry at least one private-sector metric, such as finance mobilized or companies engaged.

| Ana Toni, COP30 CEO, speaks about private sector engagement in the Action Agenda in London.

Survey data released during the week showed that commitment holding even under pressure: the Business Breakthrough Barometer found nearly 90 percent of 508 surveyed companies and business leaders have either kept pace or increased their climate-related investment over the past year. Ambition is climbing too: 38 percent of companies strengthened their climate targets in 2025, double the share a year ago.

A separate survey of nearly 2,000 executives across 18 economies found that 90 percent expect their businesses to be largely electrified by 2035, while 79 percent said geopolitical instability has made that transition more urgent.

Meanwhile, ConcreteZero shared that its members achieved 55 percent low-carbon concrete procurement, nearly double the initiative's 30 percent interim target, showing that corporate demand for low-carbon concrete is accelerating.

But the week's sharpest signal was electrification – the lever that most directly cuts the fossil fuel demand driving the heat in the first place. More than 100 companies with combined annual revenue exceeding USD 1.5 trillion backed the incoming COP31 Presidency’s "35x35” electrification goal which would raise electricity's share of global final energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035. Their statement aligned with the launch of the Electrify Now platform, which unites governments and industry leaders to work on electrifying the global economy, alongside expanding grids and storage.

| Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, endorses Electrify Now in London.

Subnational leadership also took stage as the Local Leaders Forum – convened by Bloomberg Philanthropies alongside C40 Cities, the Global Covenant of Mayors and the Under2 Coalition – closed with mayors and governors translating Action Agenda targets into municipal practice. Breathe Cities, for example, added Addis Ababa and Madrid to its network of 14 other cities and announced $45 million to strengthen clean air policies, reduce pollution and improve public health. Samed Ağırbaş, Climate High-Level Champion, committed to carrying their priorities directly into COP31, pointing to electrification, building efficiency and Zero Waste as areas where cities are already delivering: from municipal charging infrastructure and grid localization to retrofitting and circular waste systems. Multilevel governance now sits formally within Axis 4, and cities and subnationals are delivering local projects across all six Axes of the Action Agenda ensuring national progress reporting points back to local delivery.

Samed Ağırbaş takes the Action Agenda to Buckingham Palace and beyond

The push for measurable climate progress reached the highest levels of British diplomacy. COP31 Climate High-Level Champion Samed Ağırbaş joined His Majesty King Charles III and leaders from across the United Nations, government, business and civil society at Buckingham Palace to strengthen the Action Agenda.

“As we look ahead to COP31, our focus is on turning ambition into measurable action, building partnerships, and sharing success stories that inspire greater public engagement and confidence in the clean energy transition."

| Samed Ağırbaş (second from left) and HM King Charles III (second from right) meet in London.

During his Buckingham Palace visit, along with numerous engagements during the week, Ağırbaş set out his vision for COP31 and called on global leaders to deliver people-centered climate action.

Central to that vision is Zero Waste, one of the incoming COP31 Presidency's priorities. Anchored by the newly announced Istanbul Platform on Zero Waste for Climate Action, the initiative aims to connect work already underway across food systems, cities, industry, methane reduction and nature while reducing emissions through more efficient use of resources.

Ağırbaş also urged global leaders to ensure that COP31 delivers tangible outcomes for people. He commended businesses for their investment progress and city leaders for tackling heatwaves and air pollution, adding that climate action must ultimately be judged by whether it improves people's lives.

“The true measure of our success will not be the number of declarations we adopt,” he said, “but whether climate action becomes visible in the lives of people around the world.”