This year's London Climate Action Week ran under the theme ‘cooperation in a fragmented world’. In recent times, energy shocks, contested politics and a retreat from climate language in some markets has made cooperation sound like a distant concept.

But the events we attended have left us feeling hopeful and aligned with LCAW’s 2026 campaign message: ‘don't tell me climate action isn't happening’

Between us, we attended a range of sessions during the week, including the London Impact Investing Network’s Just Transition event, the launch of the ILPA and Tideline’s Allocator’s Guide to Climate Solutions, and the Our Common Air Commission’s roundtable on financing the energy transition.

Across all of them, a few things came into focus.

The bar for climate action has shifted

London Climate Action Week this year felt like a step change. The level of expertise in the discussions and the ability to work across government, business and civil society has grown phenomenally in the last two decades.

It was a reminder that the reality of climate change means that for asset owners, investors, corporates and government institutions, a detailed cross organisation understanding of climate risks and solutions is now just the minimum viable requirement. The standard for ‘climate expertise’ has moved up to now mean deep knowledge, an ability to work across multiple sectors and stakeholders (across government, civil society and the private sector), recognition of systemic challenges and dependencies, and an ability to plan and operate across an uncomfortably wide range of climate and economic scenarios.

The social side of the transition is becoming financially material

At the LIIN Just Transition session, Anthropocene Fixed Income made the case that execution risk on the energy transition - much of it social - feeds through to credit and pricing for debt investors. The Eiris Foundation made the important point that transition gets debated in terms of carbon, energy and technology, but it is experienced through jobs, communities and labour rights.

We heard examples of companies walking away from energy projects that lacked the social licence to operate. Overall, there was a distinct feeling that a just transition that puts people and communities at the centre is not only the right thing to do, but also a precondition for projects succeeding in the long term.

Climate solutions investing has moved from niche to mainstream

The Tideline and ILPA report described a market that has matured significantly. Panellists suggested that it was a natural fit with fiduciary duty rather than a tension, because both work over long horizons. The harder question, which the panel grappled with, was how to shift whole systems while still deploying capital into specific deals today. There was no clean answer, but the role of catalytic capital and philanthropy alongside mainstream finance was clear - someone must take the risk that crowds others in.

Progress is happening, and so is climate breakdown

There has been genuine progress across policy and technology. Last week, the seventh carbon budget was agreed in the UK, London published its new heat action plan, and we saw commitments to action across investors and government.

Despite this, what we couldn’t ignore was that we are already in climate breakdown. London Climate Action Week took place during ‘Europe’s worst ever heatwave’. The UK has exceeded 35 degrees on three days already this year. Our food and water systems are already under strain. According to the Climate Change Committee, an ‘extreme year’ scenario with prolonged temperatures at this level would create losses for UK farming in the range of £2.3 billion, creating major food security risks.

Another concern ran through every conversation just as persistently. Our political and economic systems are not set up to support collective action. We are stuck in a prisoner's dilemma, and our potential escape routes are a combination of investing for massive technological breakthroughs and a fundamental shift towards a system that values and protects our ecosystem. Both of these paths require a pretty big imaginative leap. A more tangible set of questions we were left with for BSC and social investment more broadly.

What can we back now that moves climate tech solutions forward, improves access to the essential adaptation and mitigation technologies we already have, empowers communities to own climate action and strengthens accountability?

Where social impact investment sits in this

Our role is to break down barriers for investors and use our own capital to mobilise institutional money behind opportunities the market will not yet fund alone. This week left us more convinced than ever that social impact investment is not on a separate track from the climate agenda. Energy security, a just transition and resilient communities are all part of the same story.

We hope that at next year's LCAW, we can point to more inspiring social impact investments that have taken steps forward on these challenges. If you have ideas, we'd love to hear from you.