About
Rio Climate Action Week
23-29 August 2025
BACKGROUND
Rio Climate Action Week (RCAW) is an independent initiative, in support of the Brazilian COP30 Presidency and in partnership with London Climate Action Week. It is the latest edition of a series of city-based climate action weeks – which include Auckland, Baku, Bangkok, Dublin, Prague, Shanghai and Sydney – inspired by the unique model pioneered by London Climate Action Week from 2019 onwards.
RCAW is closely tied to the UNFCCC process of climate diplomacy and its implementation-focused action agenda. It owes its origins to a desire to promote closer cooperation between the COP29 and COP30 Presidencies at a pivotal time for international climate change policy and action.
Rio Climate Action Week is a prominent city-based response to the Brazilian COP30 Presidency’s call for “mutirão” – collective effort.
RCAW and the climate action weeks are Mutirão in Action: demonstrating both bottom-up and top-down action to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change and build resilience across societies and communities.
Intended as a permanent, multi-annual event, the Programme of the inaugural RCAW 2025 is designed to support the Brazil’s COP30 Presidency’s Action Agenda.
RCAW 2025 will host a number of activities addressing these themes across the city in partnership with leading local, national and international partners. There will also be physical Hubs in key venues across the city.
For example:
Culture & Fashion Hub at the Museum of Art in Rio
Community Hub hosted by PAPO RETO
Geopolitics, Climate Policy & International Relations Hub with CEBRI
Governance Hub in partnership with GLOBE Legislators at the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Tiradentes Palace)
Oceans & Water Hub at AquaRio
Private Sector Hub in partnership with CEBDS
Risk, Resilience & Insurance Hub hosted by Howden
SME Hub (Small & Medium Enterprises) in partnership with SEBRAE
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Hub in partnership with Ação da Cidadania
The RCAW Ethos
Reality-based
Tackle tough problems, inspire robust debate and address difficult issues
Collaborative
Organisers work together to design events, cross-publicise, share speakers & generously raise everyone’s profile & impact
Bottom-up / low barrier to entry
Event organisers align with ethos of what we are co-creating & agree to simple terms and conditions when registering
Inclusive
Embrace diversity of people & ideas to innovate and co-create across divides for robust consensus-based climate action
RCAW provides an open and inclusive platform as a public good, with a low barrier to entry. We ask that event organisers align with the ethos of what we are co-creating to help accelerate climate action and a just transition for all.
RCAW is not politically affiliated, and we welcome constructive engagement across the political spectrum, with dialogue grounded in reality. RCAW is collaborative and inclusive, ambitious, and solutions focused. We welcome healthy and vibrant debate with a diversity of views respectfully expressed.
While we welcome debate on climate policy, we cannot accept events which seek to undermine global commitments on climate action such as the UN Climate Convention’s Paris Agreement or seek to actively undermine climate ambition.
