London Climate Action Week 2024
London Climate Action Week 2024: What to Expect?
Now returning for its sixth year, London will host its annual London Climate Action Week (LCAW) at the end of this month. Every year, in collaboration with the London Mayor’s office, LCAW puts on a broad range of talks and seminars focusing on everything climate related, a must see for everyone in the environment sector. This year, we at Shade the UK are thrilled to announce that we will be hosting our first ever LCAW events in partnership with the Islington Climate Centre -our People’s Assembly on Heat and Shade on 19 June and our ‘40 degree stories’ photography exhibition on 25, 26 and 27 June. Both of these events are part of the LCAW 2024 #BeatTheHeat campaign.
Recognising the importance of LCAW in refocusing public and private sector attention on the growing climate crisis, we at Shade the UK thought to put together this primer explaining the purpose of the week, what we can expect from the event programme, and what our own participation will look like.
So read on to learn more!
What is London Climate Action Week (LCAW)?
LCAW was founded back in 2019, a partnership between the Mayor of London’s office and E3G, an independent climate change think tank. Through bringing together stakeholders from across local government, policymakers, the private sector, and civil society groups, the week aims to “demonstrate the whole of society engagement needed to support the delivery of decarbonisation and resilience as well as stimulate other global cities to host similar events,” according to the LCAW website.
Each year, LCAW changes its focus to reflect the shifting challenges faced in the field of climate. This is encapsulated in its series of key ‘themes’, which describe the topics around which each year’s talks and webinars will be structured. For 2024, LCAW is focusing on the following themes:
The road to climate ambition at COP 30: Focusing on what political and multilateral efforts are needed to achieve the 1.5ºC warming limit.
Financing the global climate transition: Exploring how public and private financing can support funding of future climate action.
Delivering a net zero and resilient UK: Investigating what transformations are needed to deliver London’s 2030 net zero goal.
Mobilising whole of society climate action: Mobilising key networks in law, education, health, fashion, arts, culture and beyond, aiming to make LCAW significantly more visible globally and amongst Londoners.
With Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, having pledged to transform London into a net zero city by 2030, events such as LCAW, which unites organisations’ expertise in finding solutions to carbon emissions and facilitating climate adaptation, are seen as key to catalysing this transition. Broken down into a series of events ranging from climate financing to biomaterials to the food supply chain, experts here ideate and share solutions that can help every facet of society reach net zero.
What are this year’s must-see events?
With over 200 events expected to take place across the city throughout the last week of June, there are plenty of options for climate enthusiasts in which to join and participate.
Each year, they issue a series of key flagship events, those determined by the LCAW secretariat based on factors such as their contribution to climate action, alignment with LCAW themes, and embodiment of the LCAW ethos. Brought together by a range of organisers and sponsors, the flagship events will be insightful to all climate change-makers out there.
In particular, we at STUK and Love Design Studio are looking forward to the following:
Reset Connect London 2024: Taking place from 25-26 June, this is one of the UK’s leading sustainability, net zero, and decarbonising events. With 250+ exhibitors and sponsors split across 4 main stages and 8 show floor hubs, Reset Connect strives to help net zero transition in business and encourage greater investment in the sector. They will also be hosting a series of networking events.
Cities Climate Action Summit: CCAS24, hosted on 26 June, will focus on city-level climate action, with the themes of this year’s event surrounding policy development, climate finance, and technology development. With talks from over 60 speakers, this day-long event seeks to share knowledge and expertise on how we can solve urban climate challenges in London and across the world.
Climate Innovation Forum: Returning to LCAW for its 6th year, this event on 27 June will bring together over 1,000 business leaders, policy makers, investors, and civil society representatives. This event is in partnership with the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the City of London Corporation.
Climate Investment Summit: Hosted on 26 June, the Summit unites stakeholders to accelerate investments in clean energy, decarbonisation, and nature-based solutions. Working in collaboration with the London Stock Exchange Group for its third year, this full-day event will host expert panel discussions, keynotes, fireside chats, all followed by a networking event.
This is just a taster of what we will see from this year’s LCAW. For a full list of events, see the agenda here.
We at Shade the UK are also proud to announce that we will be running our own event at LCAW 2024. On Wednesday 19 June, we will be hosting our People’s Assembly on Heat and Shade at the Islington Climate Centre from 6pm-9pm. During this facilitated conversation, we will be bringing together a diverse range of people to pool ideas and provide mutual support to answer a key question: What can we do to make Islington cooler and safer for everyone during hot weather?
Hearing from various community groups, including those who live, work, and study in Islington, including schools, sports clubs, businesses, and faith groups, we seek to understand how we can make communities both more aware of the risks of heat and what to do in the event of extreme heat. We will also hear people’s stories on the heatwaves of 2022 and what they did to beat the heat.
This event is completely free to attend, but to register your interest please email info@shadetheuk.co.uk and we will confirm your place.
We have also curated a free ‘40 degree stories’ photography exhibition of Shade the UK’s ‘40 degree stories’ project. Photographic portraits of Islington residents who have shared their personal experiences of the heatwave of summer 2022 with us will be on display at the Islington Climate Centre. The exhibition will first be available for participants to view at the People’s Assembly on Wednesday 19 June and will then be open to the public on Tuesday 25, Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 June from 10am-6pm each day.
#BeatTheHeat Campaign
It was heartening to hear that LCAW 2024 is partnering with the Red Cross & Red Crescent Foundation to draw attention to the growing frequency and intensity of heatwaves around the world. Highlighting what happened in the UK during summer 2022, when temperature records were shattered by reaching over 40ºC, London has become one of the first global cities to get behind the #BeatTheHeat campaign.
Seeking to understand how we can limit the intensifying urban heat island effect and adapt the city to warming temperatures, LCAW is encouraging all organisers and participants to promote this message across their events.
It seems truly transformative that this challenge of combating overheating across the UK is being picked up by a major event. We are hopeful that its prominence at this year’s LCAW will boost its visibility across all decision makers in London’s climate sector.
Written by Oliver Longstaff
