Same sunshine as last year. Same buzz around low-carbon innovation. Fewer overcrowded coffee corners this time — though the WiFi’s still just as patchy. And yes, the same stunning glass roof soaring above us. But outside, the Olympia redevelopment has come a long way — and inside, the conversation has evolved too… at least in some ways.
Here are a few takeaways and reflections from today’s sessions — with the summit still running until later this evening:
A different atmosphere this year
Compared to last year, the energy felt noticeably lower. In 2024, with national elections on the horizon, the place was teeming with politicians and campaigners. This year? The spotlight has shifted. No ministers in sight — just a scattering of CEOs, mayors, innovators, and salespeople pitching their products. Let’s be honest: at a time when we need urgent, collective mobilisation, it all felt a bit… routine. Maybe climate just isn’t paying politically right now.
What stakeholders are still calling for
The message from attendees remains unchanged:
- Stronger leadership and greater ambition from government to give businesses the clarity and confidence they need to plan and invest.
- Improved coordination across all levels — from local councils to national institutions.
- Increased funding and practical support to ensure the transition is not only effective, but fair.
Still heavily climate-tech focused
Despite a few valuable roundtables with a local focus — particularly on the built environment and climate resilience — the summit remains heavily centred on product-driven tech solutions. There is still limited space for services, system change, behaviour change, education, and other critical levers where innovation could drive climate action — but that’s perhaps a broader conversation for another time. That said, a few discussions did stand out:
Retrofitting the built environment: A mammoth task
Talks on housing and buildings revealed just how steep the challenge is:
- Retrofitting 28 million homes in the UK by 2050? That’s 2 homes every minute for the next 25 years.
- It will require systemic transformation, with innovators, policymakers, and investors finally pulling in the same direction.
- Meanwhile, 6 million homes are already at risk of flooding, and millions more are exposed to heatwaves and other climate-related threats.
Stay tuned for the UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap, set to launch during London Climate Action Week on June 26, 2025.
Local action in West London: What’s next at Earls Court?
A particularly exciting example: a major housing project in Earls Court, aiming to transform a site with zero existing biodiversity into 4,000 homes designed to:
- Be 85% car-free
- Integrate nature that can withstand future climate extremes
- Reuse water, prevent flooding, and generate on-site energy
It’s currently awaiting planning approval — and it’s exactly the kind of project we at The Green Londoner want to follow closely in the coming months.
The resilient cities panel – Missed opportunity?
The most anticipated session for The Green Londoner — on London’s resilience — sadly fell short.
We heard powerful interventions from the mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool, calling for greater devolution and stronger support for green industrial growth in the North — while also warning about the lack of central government backing for resilience measures and the urgent need to adapt infrastructure to a changing climate.
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the London Climate Resilience Review (see our article), reminded us that adaptation and resilience cannot wait — with 50 recommendations issued last year, including half directly addressed to, and accepted by, the Mayor of London.
Yet the Mayor was notably absent.
Instead, Deputy Mayor Mete Coban stood in — and while he outlined some initiatives, they left important gaps:
Yet the Mayor was notably absent.
Instead, Deputy Mayor Mete Coban took the stage. While he highlighted several initiatives, key gaps remained:
- Urban greening: Tree-planting efforts were mentioned, but with no update on which recommendations from previous reviews have been actioned, what targets are being pursued, or how the Mayor plans to track progress and remain accountable.
- Swimmable rivers: Coban referenced Paris’s plans for Olympic river bathing, but the comparison felt misplaced given the Thames’ ongoing pollution crisis and London’s much-delayed 2034 target — as explored in our latest article.
- Warmer Homes London: The retrofit scheme aims to improve insulation and cut energy bills for around 22,000 homes, but how this fits into a wider retrofit strategy remains unclear.
One of the key recommendations from the review was to launch a Climate Resilience Challenge — a call to drive innovation across the capital and develop solutions to help Londoners cope with the impacts of climate change. Nearly a year on from the review’s release, yesterday would have been the perfect moment to spotlight it. But not a word was said.
When asked whether London is better prepared for an extreme heatwave following Operation Helios — a simulation exercise testing how stakeholders would respond and coordinate during a crisis — the response was, to say the least, far from reassuring. While we learned details may be included in the upcoming London Climate Action Plan later this year, the pace remains too slow and the gaps too wide. Acting now saves lives, protects our future, and represents an investment we simply cannot afford to delay.
This coincides with the release of the Progress Report on the UK’s Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3), which assesses how effectively the UK is preparing for the impacts of climate change. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) delivers a stark verdict: the UK is not on track, and the current government has failed to change course — despite commitments made in last year’s Labour manifesto.
As the CCC puts it: “Action is needed now whilst we still have the opportunity to address these risks in a way that is both cost-effective and timely.”
Let’s hope we move forward, not backward — because as Emma Howard Boyd rightly warns, the cost of inaction could be catastrophic. That applies to London just as much as anywhere else.
