London Climate Resilience Finance Summit 2026
Financing climate resilience has become a global priority, and London Climate Action Week is a key platform for climate finance discussions. The London Climate Resilience Finance Summit during LCAW was a pivotal moment in the climate resilience finance agenda.
Speakers, including chief executive officer of the COP32 presidency secretariat office and member of the government of Ethiopia Negusu Aklilu, IIED executive director Tom Mitchell, the Rt Hon. Baroness Chapman of Darlington and chief executive officer of British International Investment Leslie Maasdorp, at the opening plenary of the 2026 summit (Photo: Chris Brody, IIED)
The London Climate Resilience Finance Summit 2026 was a high-level, in-person event where heads of state, senior government ministers, finance and business leaders, and civil society representatives discussed how we supercharge effective finance for climate resilience. The summit was a flagship event of London Climate Action Week.
Climate impacts are accelerating, yet finance for resilience still falls far short of what is needed. At the same time, governments, regulators, investors and insurers are increasingly recognising that climate risk is financial risk – creating the opportunity to embed resilience into financial decision-making and unlock new investment.
This makes the coming year a critical moment to move from commitments to action and scale the finance needed to protect economies, communities and infrastructure from growing climate threats.
The summit aimed to address the critical unmet need for radically scaled-up and better-structured finance for climate resilience by:
- Accelerating and unlocking finance for climate resilience: mobilise more public and private capital for climate resilience by identifying credible incentives, removing systemic blockers, and scaling investable solutions
- Showcasing innovation and what works – especially in Majority World contexts: put practical, real-world solutions on the main stage, highlighting proven models and leadership from Majority World countries.
- Strengthening enabling conditions and financial inclusion: align finance, policy and delivery actors around the regulatory and institutional changes needed to channel capital to vulnerable communities and those most at risk
- Breaking down silos and positioning London as a global hub: foster stronger collaboration across sectors while positioning London – and the Summit – as a leading platform for advancing global climate resilience finance.
The 2025 summit was great and brought some really good questions to the forefront, but 2026 was much more material and granular... we're now talking the same language, about the same challenges
– Amal-Lee Amin, managing director and head of climate, British International Investment
Taking place on Britain’s hottest ever June day, IIED brought together over 850 ministers, COP presidencies, top insurers and bankers, and civil society leaders to answer the questions: what is holding back investment in climate resilience and what can we do about it?
The programme included 14 breakout ‘challenge’ workshops or focused roundtables alongside high-level opening and closing plenary sessions.
The summit was hosted at The Brewery, a prestigious central London venue in the heart of the city. Building on the success of 2025, it brought together over senior leaders from government, business, investment and many more.
The summit was organised by IIED, with programming partners and sponsors contributing to a diverse and engaging programme.
Contact
Clair Grant-Salmon ([email protected]), head of marketing and events, IIED's Communications Group
