London Climate Action Week 2024: Mobilising Whole of Society Climate Action

Nick Mabey, Co-CEO and Founder, E3G, explores each of the #LCAW2024 themes in a series of posts highlighting the climate action context and related events from across the week. London Climate Action Week takes place 22-30 June 2024.

From our very beginning, London Climate Action Week has reached beyond the climate bubble to engage a wide range of people and institutions in climate action.

As we have seen in the past year across in Europe, climate action that is not rooted in broad societal consent, and seen as fair and effective, will face a public backlash that can quickly become politically weaponised. London has seen its own green controversies over Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and the Ultra Low Emission Zone which give a foretaste of the hard politics of climate transition. The results of a survey on what Londoners think about climate change will be launched at LCAW this year.

This year LCAW has prioritised public engagement around promoting resilience to extreme heat through our “Beat the Heat” campaign in partnership with the British Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent. This has included reaching out to major music events, including Taylor Swift and Green Day who are playing in London during LCAW, and major sporting venues and associations.

A special lesson plan on “Beat the Heat” has been put together as part of the regular London Climate Curriculum that goes to all 3600 London schools for use during LCAW. Other schools engagement include design workshops at the V&A Museum, a student climate challenge day at HSBC, explaining green careers, exposing Sixth Formers to innovative start-ups and encouraging student climate innovators.

LCAW will also see a huge number of local and community events involving the public, including festivals in Southwark, Hackney and Barnet. Londoners will also be able to join an on-line campaign to log their environmental actions.

Alongside public outreach LCAW aims to mobilise London-based sectors with large global reach and influence. This year we have focused on fashion, hosting the Future Fabrics Expo and a range of sustainable fashion events from fashion shows to engaging consumers and how to harness AI to green fashion.

London’s professional bodies are truly global networks and many are leaders in redesigning themselves to lead on the climate transition. The legal cluster in London will hold events on how it can decarbonise and positively shape the climate transition, but also face criticism of how it entrenches fossil fuel incumbents. Chapter Zero will explore the legal landscape for non-executive directors aiming to shape corporate behaviour.

London’s creative and cultural sectors have a critical role to play in climate action. LCAW will host events on how to the creative industry should collaborate better for impact, improve media design, understand the role of commercial broadcast media, and build a creative professionals climate community. Finally, the BBC will host an evening of films and discussions on the art of climate storytelling.

Alongside these industry-focused events LCAW will host many public exhibitions showing how artists are interpreting and responding to the climate crisis. Highlights include a special event showcasing the work of three female artists and filmmakers on the Arctic and Antarctica at the Royal Geographical Society, and the London Museum of Water and Steam examining the Art of Transition.

As a global city, and leader in climate action, London has the opportunity to demonstrate what whole of society climate action looks like, sharing and learning with other cities who are going on a similar journey. LCAW has been reaching out globally over the last year to share its approach with other city-led climate weeks, including Sydney and Shanghai which held their first sessions this year, and through international organisations like the OECD.

Following LCAW 2024 we will establish a year-round LCAW Secretariat which will help shape, mobilise and align London’s climate activity throughout the year as well as work globally to encourage a global movement for city climate action.