London Climate Action Week 2026

If there was one theme that set the tone for London Climate Action Week (LCAW) this year, it was the heat. It did not go unnoticed that an event about extreme heat was cancelled because of......extreme heat.  

Across conference stages, roundtables and keynote speeches, the temperatures outside the venue often became the opening line inside it. The heatwave sweeping across Europe provided a powerful reminder of why climate action matters. Yet as speakers repeatedly noted, extreme weather can no longer simply be a compelling hook for panels and presentations. The real challenge is what happens once the temperatures fall and the conference ends. 

Now that LCAW has drawn to a close and the heat has dissipated, the underlying challenge remains unchanged - we still need to close the emissions gap, accelerate decarbonisation and deliver the finance required to support the transition. Those gathered throughout the week were arguably already among the converted. The question now is how to use that collective influence – within businesses, governments and markets – to turn ambition into implementation. 

Against that backdrop, several themes emerged that will shape the carbon market over the coming months. 

The SBTi Is Redefining The Role of Carbon Credits 

One of the most significant developments heading into LCAW was the release of the Science Based Targets Initiative's Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0. The final standard signals an important shift in how corporate climate action is evolving from ambition to implementation, most notably by creating a clearer role for carbon credits alongside emissions reductions.  

For years, discussions around carbon credits and net zero have often been framed as an either/or debate. The new standard moves the conversation forward. It maintains a clear expectation that companies prioritise reducing emissions within their value chains, while also recognising that addressing ongoing emissions has a vital role to play during the transition. The introduction of recognition pathways for companies taking responsibility for ongoing emissions sends an important signal to the market and gives an actionable framework that many companies felt has been lacking in the past.  

However, important questions remain. 

Throughout the week, some discussions highlighted whether aspects of the framework may prove challenging for companies to adopt in practice. If standards become overly complex or create barriers to participation, there is a risk of slowing action rather than accelerating it. That makes continued engagement with the SBTi essential. 

We welcome the direction of travel but believe there is still an opportunity to ensure the framework remains ambitious while also being practical. Our ask of the SBTi has consistently focused on providing organisations with clear, workable pathways that encourage action today rather than creating reasons to delay action until tomorrow 

You can read our initial response to the standard here and join our webinar on July 7th where we will explore what the update means for corporate climate strategies and carbon credit use. 

Governments Are Stepping Further Into The Carbon Market 

Another notable shift throughout the week was the increasingly active role governments are playing in shaping the carbon market and creating the conditions for growth. 

Across multiple sessions, policymakers, businesses, and market participants highlighted a shared understanding that the carbon market has an important role to play in mobilizing finance for climate action, nature protection and sustainable development. What was particularly encouraging was the level of alignment around the need to build confidence and create clearer pathways for participation. 

A recurring theme was the importance of greater consistency across policy, accounting treatment, claims guidance and market frameworks. Governments are increasingly engaging with these challenges, recognizing that clear and practical rules can help unlock investment and support companies looking to take climate action beyond their own value chains. 

The direction of travel is positive. Governments, voluntary initiatives and market infrastructure organizations are increasingly working towards a common objective -- creating the conditions for a high-integrity carbon market to scale. As our CEO, Sheri Hickok, recently wrote in City AM, if we are serious about meeting global climate goals, the carbon market is not optional it is an essential mechanism for directing finance towards the projects and solutions needed to close the climate funding gap. 

The Coalition to Grow Carbon Market's proposed policy playbook for COP31 will be an important development to watch. If it succeeds in creating clearer incentives and stronger foundations for carbon credit use, it could become an important milestone in unlocking future demand and accelerating climate finance where it is needed most.

Carbon Credits Are Becoming a Core Component of Climate Strategies 

One of the strongest signals from LCAW was the growing recognition that carbon credits have an important role to play in helping companies achieve their climate goals. 

Conversations around quality and integrity remain critical, but there was a clear sense that the market is moving beyond the question of whether carbon credits should have a role and towards how they can be used most effectively.  
 
Standards bodies, governments and market initiatives become increasingly aligned, helping to create a more mature and structured market, enabling corporates to purchase credits aligned with the highest quality markers. 

Importantly, this direction of travel is reflected in corporate behaviour. Our latest Fortune Global 500 research found that:  

• 44% of the world's largest companies already plan to use carbon credits as part of their climate strategies  

• Rising to 57% amongst the most climate-ambitious organisations (those with the full stack of SBTi near-term targets, RE100 and either net zero or carbon neutral), and 

• Companies with a net zero target are 11 times more likely to use carbon credits than those without one. 

This tells an important story. Carbon credits are not being used by companies looking for an alternative to emissions reductions. They are being embraced by the companies doing the most to tackle their own climate impact. The organisations setting the most ambitious targets increasingly view carbon credits as a complementary tool that can help address ongoing emissions, support critical climate finance and accelerate progress towards net zero. 

Discussions throughout LCAW suggested a growing confidence that high-integrity carbon markets have a vital role to play in financing climate action – now to unlock their full potential.

Nature Is Moving From Climate Solution to Investment Opportunity 

Finally, nature was impossible to ignore. 

Since COP30, discussions around nature-based solutions have continued to gain momentum, and LCAW reinforced that trend. Conversations have evolved beyond the environmental benefits of protecting and restoring ecosystems and increasingly focus on nature as an investable asset class. 

The underlying rationale is clear. Nature delivers outcomes that governments and businesses need - carbon sequestration, climate adaptation, water security, biodiversity protection and supply chain resilience. As a result, momentum is continuing to build towards attracting capital at scale. 

Nature is no longer being discussed solely as something that needs protecting; it is increasingly being recognised as critical infrastructure underpinning future economic growth and resilience.  

Projects are increasingly designed with the quality and integrity uplift that the carbon markets have witnessed over the last two years. Financial and operational considerations now sit squarely besides assessments on biodiversity, ecology, water and community benefit structures. Investors and off takers understand what well designed projects look like and so the conversation has matured towards integrating these tenets into capital and insurance markets, allowing true investment at scale.