Almost every conversation during London Climate Action Week began and ended with one topic: the scorching, record-breaking heat. Londoners complained with good reason about everything from the sleepless nights trying to catch a breeze to the heat-related school cancellations that kept kids home. Americans in the crowd agreed among themselves that heat isn’t the problem; the pervasive lack of air conditioning is. And yet through drenched shirts and heat-induced train delays, some 100,000 people ran between more than 1,000 events.
The second most common remark in my conversations was how big London Climate Action Week has become. As a result of the newly unfriendly political environment in the U.S., companies, NGOs, and government officials have come to see London as the place for forthright discussions related to climate change. On the surface, a safe space for climate discussions may sound sort of fluffy, but it’s crucial to what people inside climate circles call “implementation” and what in the business world you might say is simply doing deals. Implementation has always been the key step in anything climate related. Ultimately, no matter what pledges a company or country adopts, actually making things change on the ground is what slows emissions.
What does it mean that the shift in gravity in the climate world is moving from New York to London at the same time as pledges are turning into real-world work? The organizers of this week’s gathering in London say the city can serve as the platform for the collaboration that moves beyond consensus-based negotiation. Instead of relying on nearly 200 countries to come to an agreement (as is the case with the annual U.N. climate summits), a variety of different coalitions can make headway independently while leaning on the city’s status as a global business and finance hub. It’s telling, for example, that Nigeria hosted a climate investment summit in London to pitch opportunities for supporting the country’s energy and climate economy. And, more broadly, country-level plans that lay out investable climate projects across different countries received top billing at different forums.
“You don’t need to have consensus to get things done,” says Nick Mabey, who chairs London Climate Action Week, “because people are forming different coalitions and moving different pieces forward.”
This one conference is a reflection of a broader opportunity for London to situate itself at the center of the climate economy—particularly when it comes to figuring out how to finance it all. London is home to some of the most influential financial institutions focused on sustainable finance and the NGO standard-setters laying out rules of the road. It’s true, of course, that U.S. capital markets remain dominant across sectors, but London has played an increasingly important role in key parts of the puzzle, from green bonds to finance aimed at cutting emissions from dirty sources. Historically, though not necessarily currently, climate policy has enjoyed support across partisan lines. Now, London understands that the investment involved in creating a safe space for climate can compound benefits, driving additional investment as the U.S. cedes ground.
“London has now been elevated as the most central green finance hub globally,” Leslie Maasdorp, CEO of British International Investment, told me on the sidelines of a summit focused on climate resilience.
It’s June, and I’ve spent more time in London this year than any year in the past. It’s where the climate world wants to convene, to the detriment of New York. Nonetheless, the horizon isn’t straightforward for London or anywhere else. My climate week began on Monday morning as I woke up bleary-eyed landing at London Heathrow to news of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s resignation. Despite a strong climate track record, Starmer had avoided talking much about the issue publicly, fearful of how voters would receive it. Perhaps his Labour Party successor will do a better job. But the political turmoil is a reminder that climate investment can’t solely rest on the political process.
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