London Climate Action Week 2025 – in person and digital highlights

London Climate Action Week is back from June 21 to June 29, bringing together people from all walks of life, to tackle the climate crisis head-on.

Launched in 2019 by the climate think tank E3G, LCAW has grown rapidly into one of the world’s biggest independent climate events. It’s more than just a conference: it’s a week-long festival of ideas, action, and collaboration designed to show what real climate leadership looks like in practice.

This year, LCAW is especially important. As upheaval in the U.S. raises questions around the impact of New York Climate Week, and infrastructural concerns limit the number of participants at COP30, LCAW is poised to be a significant moment for progressing action on climate and nature.  

I absolutely love the breadth of event types and themes this year. At this moment of disarray and isolation it is energising to see this expertise and diversity showing up to generate insight and hope. Consequently I have just totally overbooked my calendar for the week!

Members of the Empower team will be present both in person and virtually. Please do get in touch if there’s an event that would be a good fit for us, or if you’d like to arrange a chat.

Here’s a few events that caught our team’s eye, across the amazing schedule:

Monday 23rd June

Ad Brake: How to stop advertising fuelling the climate crisis

With a decade of climate communications under our belt, and as Clean Creatives signatories, we strongly recommend checking out this cinematic event, which will show how we can shift the industry away from marketing pollution, and towards scaling real solutions.

Co-Designing the Future of Global Commons Governance and Action

This full-day event brings together global leaders across climate, health, business, and policy to tackle the growing impact of climate change on human health. It features experts from the Wellcome Trust, our client Clean Air Fund, and Water.org, who will speak as part of panels, keynotes, immersive experiences, and interactive roundtables. 

Disability-inclusive Solutions for the Climate Crisis

To be truly effective, the solutions to the climate crisis must benefit everyone. We love the sound of this values-driven full-day participatory roundtable and workshop exploring the intersection of disability inclusion and climate action.

Climate Curious LIVE | The Culture Edition

Whether it’s TV, literature or art, we know culture has the ability to change hearts and minds, but is the climate movement taking advantage of culture’s tools? This podcast recording sounds like a perfect build on the themes at SXSW London’s Has the Climate Emergency Backfired? Empower had a brilliant time supporting TEDxLondonWomen a few years back, and can guarantee this will be great place to ‘meet other climate normies, have a laugh, listen, and learn.’

Tuesday 24th June

Film Screening and Q&A: Stories of Indigenous Governance in Peru

Join this free short film screening and Q&A to hear how the Wampís’ deep ancestral wisdom helps them to manage and protect their territory, culture and forests – to the benefit of their communities and all of us.

Anxiety to Agency workshop: How supporting our emotions can lead to action

Our regular office space x+why is hosting a workshop exploring the relationship between mental health and climate change, and how supporting our wellbeing can lead to action. Promising to be a safe, calm space, amidst the hustle of LCAW.

Better Buildings: Action-driven solutions for decarbonisation

With the buildings and construction sector responsible for approximately 40% of energy and process-related CO2 emissions, its role in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement is critical. We’ve been lucky enough to work with Climate Group and the Green Building Council over the years, and are sure this will be a great session.

Wednesday 25th June

Moving Roots: Diaspora Communities x Climate Action

The UK’s climate sector remains one of the least diverse, despite climate change impacting all of us. This event co-hosted by Counterpoints Arts and Refugee Week who we have worked with in previous years, looks vital for broadening the climate conversation with diverse voices.

Accelerating Natural Climate Solutions: The Role of Accelerators in Building a Pipeline of Investment-ready NCS Projects

With a focus on unlocking early-stage innovation and investment, the session will explore how these platforms help de-risk and operationalise projects that deliver climate, biodiversity, and community outcomes. WWF was one of Empower’s founding clients, and as we now support many clients in the nature space, this looks packed with insights.

Health, Litigation, and Regulatory Risks of Chemicals, PFAS & Microplastics

One of a series of daily of events by the brilliant Planet Tracker group, taking place from 8:30 to 9:30am each day, these roundtables offer a focused and insightful way to begin the day amidst the packed LCAW calendar.

Thursday 26 June

State of Sustainability: A Conversation with Sir Ian Cheshire

Contrary to what the news would have you believe, plenty of private sector actors are still working towards sustainable transformation. We worked with We Mean Business over many of their early years, and would recommend this opportunity to gain insights into the role of business leadership from their chair, Sir Ian Cheshire.

Business case for retrofit – Report launch & discussion

Our client Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, will be hosting an interactive panel discussion of new research from a collaboration between banks and insurance companies examining the socioeconomic and resilience aspects of building retrofit.

The Business Case for Nature: A Leadership Breakfast on Risk and Opportunity

With our experience across nature and climate finance, and work with the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), this looks like a fascinating session on what practical steps leaders can take today to address nature-related risks and opportunities.

Nature talk & walk

And finally, if you’re seeking a breath of fresh air and a reminder of why nature really is worth protecting, why not join the talk & walk hosted by Holland Park Ecology Centre?

Also on our radar

Our client WBCSD, will be hosting multiple events across the week, including Accelerating transport decarbonization day on Monday 23rd, Ready, Set, Heat: Scaling Electrification Solutions for Net-Zero Industry on Tuesday 24th and Shaping the future energy system: navigating investments in long-duration energy storage (LDES), on Wednesday 25th. Learn more about how WBCSD will convene the their member community with policy makers, financial institutions and key stakeholders

Fall in love with the future is off the official agenda, but complementary with Rob Hopkins, “time travelling” to the year 2030—walking down imagined future streets, talking with imagined future neighbours, visiting imagined future local businesses. Rob brings essential new thinking to anyone overwhelmed with dread and anxiety for the future. He asks us to consider: what would the world look like if we all got to work imagining—and then building—a world we were deeply in love with? I’ll be heading along, after my visit to SXSW last week chimed with Rob’s work – catch up here: Has the Climate Emergency Backfired?

Joining LCAW online

Also for those not in London – like many of our team, here’s a couple of great online sessions that caught my eye:

• Resilient Leadership for People and Planet: one-hour taster session – your opportunity to build your resilience, creativity, and motivation to keep going.
• The Scintilla Salon: Networking for Climate Changemakers – you’ll be invited to small group conversations, share what’s alive for you
• Climate Psychology for All – the psychology of climate stuckness (denial) and overwhelm
• How Anti-Greenwashing Regulation Can Create Your Competitive Edge – we’ll be tuning in to her from our client at CISL
• AI for a Sustainable Future: Opportunities, Challenges, and Critical Conversations  – one of several AI events
• Regenerative Futures: Shaping Design for a Resilient Planet – with Keynote Speaker: André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, COP30 President, this is sold out in-person but well worth tuning in online for a showcase real-world examples of implementing regenerative design principles.

Hope to see you there – do drop me an email if you want to connect