Registration opens for climate action summit 2026 centred on locally led initiatives

By the Climate Centre

Registration opened today for the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Action Summit 2026 being held online on 16 September and hosted by the IFRC and the Climate Centre.

It will gather global leaders, community voices, and climate innovators “to explore how locally led action can help the world get ahead of climate disasters,” organizers say.

“As the world’s largest humanitarian network, the IFRC works in communities facing climate impacts every day,” they add. “This summit will spotlight the solutions already emerging locally and the partnerships needed to scale them globally.”

Around the world people are already taking action in their own communities, but local solutions often lack the support and financing needed to grow; only a small share of global climate funding actually reaches the local level.

The summit will also cover new approaches to help communities anticipate and build resilience to climate-related disasters.

The world is at a critical moment for climate action, the Red Cross Red Crescent believes. Climate disasters are increasing and communities everywhere are feeling the impacts. At the same time, global cooperation is under pressure, making strong leadership and practical solutions more important than ever.

Climate action: Vivian Saba, 36, was one of the farmers chosen by the Red Cross to pioneer climate-smart farming in northern Matabeleland. The Finnish and Danish Red Cross are assisting the Zimbabwe Red Cross with implementing climate-smart disaster preparedness and risk reduction and are also using weather forecasting to build resilience to climate shocks through anticipatory action – one of the case studies underpinning next month’s climate action summit. (File photo: Alexander Uggla/Finnish Red Cross)