Twenty years of Climate Group

Climate Group plays a foundational role in establishing the States and Regions Alliance, now known as the Under2 Coalition, launched at COP11 in Montreal. 

This initiative was pivotal in scaling up climate action by leveraging the influence and capabilities of subnational governments, establishing an international network for knowledge sharing on a global level. 

We publish our Carbon down profits up report, a ground-breaking piece of thought leadership that made a case, for the first time, that businesses that took emissions reductions seriously made a profit.

Our thought leadership and expertise has helped shape the discourse on climate across regions and industries over the last two decades.

A second and third edition were published in 2007 and 2008.

We start work in North America and India
 

The North America organisation is incorporated in 2004 and its New York office opens in 2007, building on our work in California, helping to position Climate Group at the heart of a growing American agenda on driving climate solutions.

The work of the North America team has driven widespread progress. In 2009, Climate Group launched Climate Week NYC, now the largest climate event of it's kind. In 2020, we launched the US Climate Action Summit, now the US Leaders' Forum taking place annually in April. It brings together the largest and most prominent coalition of subnational and federal leaders, C-Suite level executives from the private sector and NGO decision makers who are committed to the US leading on efficiency, resilience and mitigation.

Our India office opens in Delhi following the Government of India’s launch of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

Since then, the team in India have worked with local partners to provide over 65,000 people in rural households access to clean, affordable solar energy. At present, seven states in India have joined the Under2 Coalition and over 195 of our programme members are based in India.
 

We host the first Climate Week NYC in New York City, positioned to help drive ambition for a new global agreement at COP15 in Copenhagen. The event includes street theatre, film premieres, music, rallies, and discussions to help people to make their voices heard on global warming. 

Today, Climate Week NYC is the biggest annual climate event of its kind, with leaders convening from the world of business, tech, politics, academia, and civil society.

The Clean Revolution is launched at Climate Week NYC in 2011 with the backing of Tony Blair. The project spearheads a global push towards clean energy, working with progressive businesses and governments to scale up transformational clean technologies around the world.

Since then, we have convened the world's most influential business and government leaders to help create jobs, drive economic growth, and tackle climate challenges.

We launch RE100, the global corporate renewable energy initiative bringing together hundreds of large and ambitious businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.

Ten years on, if our RE100 programme was a country, it would be the world’s 10th largest in terms of electricity consumption.

COP21 takes place, resulting in the pivotal Paris Agreement. Signatories of the Agreement pledge to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees C of the preindustrial average.

Alongside COP21, we launch the Under2 Coalition to support and advocate for subnational states and regions. This action by states and regions, together with ambition from cities and businesses, helps give confidence to nations to deliver an ambitious Paris Agreement. 

Today, the Coalition represents over 180 states, regions and subnational groups constituting more than 50% of global GDP.

We launch two new programmes, EP100 and EV100 following increased demand for global energy efficiency and electric vehicles.

These programmes are supporting businesses to take collective action to accelerate their journeys towards net zero. 

Since launching, EV100 members have put 500,000+ electric vehicles on the road. EP100 members have reduced CO2e emissions by more than 320 million metric tonnes – more than the current annual emissions of France and Switzerland combined.

In 2022, we launch EV100+ which is working to phase out polluting medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.

We launch SteelZero, the first programme of its kind to bring together steel users globally, to commit to buy and use net zero steel and increase demand across the supply chain.

Expanding on our industry system work, we launch ConcreteZero in 2022, to harness collective purchasing power and send a strong demand signal to create a market for net zero concrete.

At present, we have around 80 members across our industry programmes, committed to transitioning 10 million tonnes of steel demand to net zero.

Our first US Climate Action Summit is held in Washington DC. 

This gathering builds on the success of President Biden's 2021 Leader's Summit, hosted by Climate Group, to boost state climate strategies and business action. 

At present, our US Climate Action Summit has grown to become the most influential convening of climate leaders from business, government, and non-profit sectors in the US, tackling roadblocks to taking effective climate action. 

In 2022, we open a European office in Amsterdam. Since opening, Climate Group Europe has been officially approved as an 'organisation for the greater good' by the Dutch government. Its work spans industries including Food, Built Environment, Heavy Industry, and Systems and Governments, and maximises on impact through partnerships, policy, and research.

In the same year, we re-open an office in China, in Beijing, expanding our network across Asia. Our work in this region aims to support China’s climate goals by helping accelerate the country’s decarbonisation process and elevating its leadership role in climate action.

The following year we ran our first Climate Group Asia Action Summit in Singapore where we convened leaders from the world of business, politics, non-profit, philanthropy and media. They discussed how Asia can take urgent action to become the green economic powerhouse of the future.

The IPCC'S sixth assessment report stresses the importance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C, and the need for global net zero emissions.

At COP28 we see a greater focus on the role of cities, states and regions than ever before, due to extensive advocacy from the Under2 Coalition - a clear signal that we cannot accelerate climate action without national and sub national governments working together.

Alongside COP28, we held our largest Under2 Coalition General Assembly to date, with subnational governments joining businesses and civil society for a day of talks and activities aimed at driving change.

This year marks 20 years of Climate Group driving climate action, fast. Our global network has grown to over 800 businesses, governments, and signatories unlocking the power of collective action to move whole systems including energy, transport, heavy industry and food to a cleaner future. Yet there is still a lot of work to be done.

Ahead of COP29 and our ninth Under2 Coalition General Assembly, Climate Week NYC returns with an urgent message: It’s Time. With the world continuing to heat up and emissions plateauing, at best, it's time to speed up climate action and ignite progress. We're simply not going fast enough – yet.