News & Views: In a Summer of Extreme Heat, Climate Solutions Gain Ground

In this edition: Cities confront record heat with new solutions, the coalition behind electrification gathers pace, and the latest Global Climate Action Agenda milestones on business investment, health, food security, and beyond.

Halfway through the year, with the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) just five months away in Türkiye, the question for global climate diplomacy is not whether the world can agree on ambitious solutions. It is whether those solutions can deploy quickly enough to address the record-breaking heatwaves, catastrophic floods, and deadly earthquakes that are devastating communities around the world.

Over the past two weeks, that question played out in two cities. At the United Nations Campus in Bonn, negotiators gathered for the June Climate Meetings (SB64), the negotiating stop before COP31. Days later, thousands of executives, investors, and governments convened for London Climate Action Week under a scorching heat dome.

Together, the meetings offered an early picture of where climate delivery is gaining traction – with a focus on the Marrakech Partnership and the Global Climate Action Agenda’s nearly 500 climate initiatives led by businesses, cities, investors, governments and civil society.

A Coalition Builds Behind Electrification

The Climate High-Level Champions covered the June Climate Meetings in a special briefing from Bonn. For those catching up, the incoming COP31 Presidency's 35x35 electrification proposal – raising electricity's share of global final energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035 – was one of the most prominent Action Agenda headlines coming out of Bonn.

But ambitious goals only matter if others rally behind them, and in the days that followed, the story shifted from the proposal to the coalition assembling behind it.

Businesses signaled support: More than 100 companies with combined annual revenue above USD 1.5 trillion – including IKEA, Mahindra Group, Natura, Schneider Electric and Uber – voiced their support for the 35x35 electrification proposal while calling on governments to modernize grids and streamline permitting. "After repeated fossil fuel shocks, businesses are saying loud and clear they do not want greater exposure to volatile fuel markets," said Maria Mendiluce, CEO of the We Mean Business Coalition.

Recent polling of nearly 2,000 business leaders across 18 economies found that 90 percent expect their operations to be largely electrified by 2035, while nearly two-thirds said they would consider relocating operations if governments fail to provide adequate support.

Governments lined up too: During London Climate Action Week, governments joined forces with industry leaders to launch Electrify Now, a new platform designed to accelerate grid expansion and policy alignment so renewable-powered electricity can scale faster. Its backers include the European Commission, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Türkiye, Australia, and Ethiopia.

“Many of the plans that were announced in Belém from the Action Agenda are touching electrification and so [this 35x35 proposal] goes exactly in the same direction,” said COP30 President Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago.

The momentum supports existing Climate Action Agenda initiatives already being implemented on the ground: For example, the e-Dutra corridor – an 800-kilometre zero-emissions freight route connecting Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo – has expanded to 39 coalition members since its launch at COP30. Volkswagen Truck & Bus recently completed the first electric truck journey along the corridor, demonstrating progress in one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize.

London: "If You Have the Power, Step Up"

As temperatures surged across Western Europe, thousands gathered in London to debate how the world should respond to a warming planet. The irony was hard to miss: a panel on extreme heat was canceled as pavement temperatures sizzled above 57°C (135°F) – a glimpse of what millions in many developing regions have been battling for years.

London Climate Action Week has become a key moment ahead of COP31, and this year more than 290 events were intentionally aligned with the Action Agenda – from industrial decarbonization to climate finance, methane cuts and rising urban heat.

UK Climate Minister Katie White urged attendees to take implementation seriously: "If you have the power, step up, deliver on your commitments. Join and build the coalitions with the Action Agenda, because that is how we can achieve lasting change."

Read more about London Climate Action Week

The week also showcased the Action Agenda among leaders at the highest level. COP31 Climate High-Level Champion Samed Ağırbaş joined His Majesty King Charles III, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell and other leaders from across the United Nations, government, business and civil society at Buckingham Palace, where he set out a vision for COP31 anchored in people-centered delivery.

Read the COP31 Champion’s Vision Statement

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

That standard – visible in people's lives – is a useful lens for the other Action Agenda progress that surfaced across the two meetings.

Making Climate Action Visible

Cities are bracing for a hotter, more contested future

City leaders spent the first half of this year balancing immediate heat emergencies with longer-term adaptation. In June, more than 50 cities – including Antalya, Lagos, Melbourne, and Yangzhou – joined the new 50@50 activation under the "Beat the Heat" initiative. The cities are working together to scale practical cooling measures such as expanding green spaces and installing cooling centres and water fountains. The effort comes as new data published by CDP found that 58 percent of more than 1,000 cities reporting through its Adaptation and Action Explorer identified extreme heat as a significant climate risk.

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

City leaders are also working to counter climate disinformation through City Climate Facts, an open-data platform. Early findings show that bots drive up to 48 percent of online engagement on low emission policies. The first pilot launches in Cape Town, where nearly 90 percent of residents say they want help identifying false environmental information.

Corporate climate ambition grows despite uncertainty

One of the clearest trends of the past year is that corporate climate ambition continues despite geopolitical uncertainty. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development found that nearly 90 percent of surveyed companies maintained or increased climate investment over the past year. Additionally, 38 percent strengthened their climate targets in 2025 – double last year's share.

Throughout London Climate Action Week, the Climate High-Level Champions encouraged businesses and investors to continue to scale their efforts in line with the six axes of the Action Agenda, which help identify where private-sector expertise, technology, investment and operational capacity are most needed.

“Businesses play a central role in climate delivery,” said COP30 Climate High-Level Champion Dan Ioschpe. “Of the nearly 500 climate initiatives being advanced through the Action Agenda, most include a significant business component or rely on the private sector as a core implementation partner.”

Read more about business leadership through the Action Agenda

Climate projects are increasingly investible

Investment is following ambition. A new Global Project Tracker from the Mission Possible Partnership and Industrial Transition Accelerator found that 19 commercial-scale clean industrial projects worth USD 43 billion reached final investment decision in just six months, more than doubling last year's pace. Globally, 161 projects are now operating or under construction, with a pipeline valued at an estimated USD 4.7 trillion.

Meanwhile, Eco Invest has continued attracting international investment into Brazil’s ecological transition. Its third, fourth and fifth finance auctions together represent approximately USD 21 billion in mobilized or expected investment, using public financial tools to reduce currency risk for foreign investors. Projects include transitioning 54,000 hectares of degraded pasture land into sustainable eucalyptus planting and large scale water and sewage improvements.

People-centered action is the focus

Critically, climate action that improves daily life is an Action Agenda focus, with progress moving forward on incoming COP31 Presidency priorities like food security and health.

Under the Belém Declaration on Hunger and Poverty, national programmes are moving toward implementation – from a climate-smart livestock plan aiming to reach roughly 5 million Ethiopian smallholders to a project equipping some 1,400 Kenyan schools in drought-prone counties with rainwater harvesting.

That same focus on resilience is shaping health. Since COP30, the Belém Health Action Plan has secured commitments from 36 countries and 50 organizations to climate-proof hospitals and prepare health workers for rising heat and changing patterns of infection. In Brazil, that commitment is being backed by a national investment of USD 2 billion to make the health system more climate-resilient, alongside Climate and Health Information Centers across all regions of the country.

However, people-centered climate action also means building skills. Currently, one of the biggest barriers to scaling sustainable transport solutions worldwide is a shortage of trained workers. Since January, the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) has trained more than 500 transport professionals across Latin America and the Caribbean, advancing its goal to train 2,000 transport officials each year.

Looking ahead to what’s next

Just over six months into the year, the defining story isn't a shortage of new ideas. It's that more of them are beginning to move beyond negotiation rooms and into boardrooms, city halls and investment portfolios.

That is the role of the Global Climate Action Agenda: bringing together the partners that can support turning political ambition into real-world delivery. The momentum building from Bonn to London suggests that this delivery is already taking shape, and that by the time leaders arrive at COP31, they will have more than new pledges to point to. They will have real-world progress to build on.

In case you missed it

• The 2026 edition of the Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report finds that 655 million people still lack access to electricity and 2 billion lack access to clean cooking. Although international public finance for clean energy in developing countries increased in 2024, progress remains slow and uneven. It calls for faster electrification and greater international finance, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa. Despite these challenges, the report highlights encouraging progress in several areas of sustainable energy. Read more.

• During the Zero Waste Forum in Istanbul in June, the Climate High-Level Champions published a declaration committing to strengthen the Marrakech Partnership and the Global Climate Action Agenda, and to prioritize zero waste and circular economy. Read more.

Mark your calendar

• High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), New York, USA, 6-15 July

• World Green Growth Forum, Pohang, Republic of Korea, 8-10 July

• AI for Good Global Summit, Geneva, Switzerland, 8-11 July

• UN Convention to Combat Desertification, COP17, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 17 - 28 August

• São Paulo Climate Week, São Paulo, Brazil, 3 - 7 August 2026

• World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden, 23 - 27 August

• 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, Koror, Palau, 30 August – 4 September

• UNFCCC Climate Week 4,Baku, Azerbaijan, 7 - 11 September