Climate action is any step taken to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions causing the planet to warm, or to protect people and nature from the impacts already underway. Examples include switching power grids to renewables, protecting and conserving forests, improving food systems through approaches like regenerative agriculture, redesigning cities to withstand extreme weather, and skilling young people for green jobs.

The global framework guiding this effort is the Paris Agreement – an international treaty adopted by nearly 200 countries in 2015, which commits to limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and no more than 2°C.

Additionally, climate action seeks to build the capacity of people and ecosystems to adapt to the changes already underway such as increasing droughts, floods and heatwaves.

The urgent need for climate action comes from scientific consensus that without rapid, large-scale change across every part of the economy, the harm for people, nature, and economies will be severe and irreversible.

National governments make climate agreements at the UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP, or Conference of the Parties.

But these agreements will be delivered by everyone.

The Global Climate Action Agenda (also referred to as just ‘the Action Agenda’) brings the whole of society together to help solve the climate crisis and spur ambition – national governments, cities, regions and other sub national entities, international organizations, civil society, indigenous peoples, women, youth, academic institutions, as well as businesses.

The focus is on driving change people can see in their communities: cleaner air, cheaper energy, resilient neighbourhoods, and more.

Since the Paris Agreement (the landmark international treaty in which countries committed to limiting global warming) the Action Agenda has grown in speed and scale.

Think of it as complementary to the COP process, the bridge between political ambition and on-the-ground results. It unites hundreds of climate initiatives covering everything from clean energy and forests to food systems, cities, and climate finance. These are not pledges or promises – they are active initiatives with timelines, investment, and measurable outcomes.

The Action Agenda is led by the Climate High-Level Champions – two leaders appointed by their COP Presidencies to mobilize action from all corners of society.

There are always two Champions active at the same time: one from the country hosting the upcoming UN Climate Conference or COP, and one from the country that has just hosted the most recent COP.

Currently, Samed Ağırbaş represents Türkiye (COP31) and Dan Ioschpe represents Brazil (COP30).

They work with the UN Climate Change Secretariat, the incumbent, incoming COP Presidencies, and the Climate Champions Team to coordinate global climate delivery, acting as a bridge between governments, businesses, cities, regions and communities.

The Action Agenda is organized into six thematic areas, called axes: (1) energy, industry and transport; (2) forests, oceans and biodiversity; (3) agriculture and food; (4) cities, infrastructure and water; (5) human and social development; and (6) finance technology and capacity-building.

Together these thematic Axes cover every major system that needs to change to combat climate change; they are designed to address gaps identified by the UN's Global Stocktake, the official assessment of whether the world is on track to meet Paris Agreement goals.

The Action Agenda is organized around six overarching thematic areas guided by the Global Stocktake, and has specific Key Objectives under each thematic Axis designed to make climate action concrete and measurable. They span a wide range of priorities – for example, tripling renewable energy, halting deforestation, ensuring access to clean water, building health systems that can withstand extreme weather, and supporting businesses to reduce their emissions. Each goal is supported by an ‘Activation Group’ and backed by specific delivery plans with timelines and investment commitments, ensuring that global ambition translates into funded, trackable projects on the ground.

2025 marked a deliberate shift away from new commitments towards accelerating implementation. The Action Agenda builds on the initiatives and proven successes from previous COPs, organizing them across six thematic areas and 30 key objectives specifically designed to fill gaps and deliver against the goals set by the UN's first Global Stocktake. The world has already built a powerful foundation of solutions. The task now is to make sure they reach the people and places where they can have the greatest impact.

Progress is measurable across every sector. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy capacity more than doubled between 2015 and 2024, and electric vehicles now account for 22% of global vehicle sales. Forest finance has quadrupled to US$38 billion. Climate finance flows have tripled to US$1.9 trillion. Through Race to Resilience – the Champion's global campaign to build the resilience of people, cities, and ecosystems – 437 million people now have increased resilience to climate impacts like droughts, floods and heatwaves. At COP30 in Belém, Activation Groups published more than 120 delivery plans – known as ‘Plans to Accelerate Solutions’ or PAS – including a US$1 trillion investment pipeline for energy grids and storage and US$6.7 billion committed to protecting tropical forests. The solutions exist. The task now is scaling them.

Every country signed up to the Paris Agreement must publish a national climate plan – known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC – describing what it will do to cut emissions and build resilience. National governments of both developed and developing countries are strengthening voluntary international cooperation through the Action Agenda, including through regional collaboration and sectoral activities, supporting implementation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs), national adaptation plans (NAPs), and national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs). But governments cannot deliver those plans alone. The Action Agenda connects businesses, cities, and investors to national goals, helping translate government commitments into funded, real-world projects.

The business case for climate action has never been stronger. Transforming food systems alone could unlock US$4.5 trillion in new business opportunities annually by 2030, and 91% of new renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels. Companies that move early gain competitive advantage, attract investment, and future-proof their supply chains. The risk of inaction is equally significant. Climate change is already disrupting supply chains, damaging infrastructure, and increasing operating costs. The Action Agenda has already collected more than 120 delivery plans, called ‘Plans to Accelerate Solutions’ (PAS) and welcomes businesses to demonstrate leadership, drive innovation and join a ‘coalition of the willing’.

Plans to Accelerate Solutions (PAS) are plans published by groups of initiatives working together to drive tangible, impactful climate action and scale specific solutions by removing barriers and blockers. They set out exactly what they will do, by when, and with what funding. They are the mechanism that turns Action Agenda commitments into trackable, investable projects.

At COP30 in Belém, more than 120 plans were published, backed by significant capital – for example a US$1 trillion investment pipeline for energy grids and storage, US$6.7 billion committed to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility to protect forests worldwide, and programmes designed to protect hundreds of millions of people from floods, droughts, and extreme heat.

The Granary of Solutions is a library of climate solutions that have already been tested and proven somewhere in the world. Organized across the six thematic areas of the Action Agenda, this bank of solutions allows governments, businesses, and cities to find, compare, and replicate approaches that work – whether that is a model for building flood-resilient infrastructure, financing clean energy access, or restoring degraded farmland. The idea is that leaders around the world – such as ministers, mayors or CEOs – can copy, adapt, or scale the solutions that are most relevant.