US Climate Action Summit
April 21 - 25, 2025
This is a link to a past event. For more information about the US Leaders' Forum 2026 click here. The US Climate Action Summit 2025 launched on April 21 and ran until April 25 with a week of engaging events across Washington, DC. These include Health and Climate Day on April 22, and our flagship event, The US Leaders' Forum on April 24. The Leaders’ Forum brought together the largest and most prominent coalition of subnational, federal, private sector and NGO decision makers committed to addressing climate change through a series of public events and dealmaking sessions.
What is the US Climate Action Summit?
Back for its fifth year, the US Climate Action Summit united key leaders in business, government and the third-sector to drive US climate momentum.
The US Leaders’ Forum, the flagship event of the week hosted by Climate Group on April 24, brought together over 250 climate leaders for an agenda specially curated to facilitate big conversations on stage while allowing leaders to drill into the detail during small group workshops and roundtables.
To amplify impact, the US Climate Action Summit 2025 expanded into a week-long series of activations and events. This expansion enabled us to collaborate with other organizations committed to the fight and highlight a number of high-level external events as part of our official program.
Our goal is to create an action-led platform that drives measurable outcomes on climate policy and business action, with attendees at the heart of the agenda.
Museum on Fire Documentary Premiere
Monday, April 21, 2025, 5:30 - 7:30pm
"Museum on Fire" takes viewers on a global journey to chart the impacts of climate change on humanity's cultural heritage — from endangered archeological digs in Alaska to a disappearing historical site on the coast of Tanzania. The documentary's world premiere screening was followed by a panel discussion including host Nelufar Hedayat, producer Kevin Clancy, and Climate Group's Executive Director for North America Angela Barranco. The film was presented freely to the public by Evident, a nonprofit news organization producing documentary journalism for the public good. Learn more here.
Climate and Health Day
Tuesday April 22, 2025, 9am-5pm
The National Academy of Medicine hosted its second annual Climate and Health Summit on April 22, 2025. This full day event included panels featuring top climate and health experts and offer insights into innovative and exemplary climate and health programs across the nation. Learn more here.
Exclusive Tour of the Smithsonian’s Bird House
Wednesday April 23rd, 2025, at 8:30-9:30 am
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo hosted a private tour of the newly renovated Bird House led by Curator of Birds, Sara Hallager. This immersive exhibit highlighted the remarkable journeys and ecological importance of migratory songbirds, waterfowl, and shorebirds across North, Central, and South America.
Welcome Reception
Wednesday April 23rd, 2025 at 5:30-7pm
Fellow speakers and participants joined for an informal Welcome Reception the evening before the US Leaders' Forum began. This was a relaxed opportunity to connect, network, and kick off the forum's conversations.
How Should We Communicate Climate Change in 2025?
Friday April 25th 2025, 11:00am - 12:00pm
For the second year, the US Climate Action Summit partnered with the Impact Communications Institute to hold an online session discussing the role of impact communications in fighting climate change. This session was jointly an official part of the US Climate Action Summit and well as part of the Impact Communications program to engage with the wider communications community. This session was hosted as a LinkedIn Live.
Aligning Policy & Finance to Advance Climate Solutions
Friday April 25th 2025, 1:00 - 5:00pm
Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) hosted an afternoon of insightful discussions on how policy and finance can drive climate solutions forward. The conference, co-hosted by the Julis Romo-Rabinowitz Center for Finance and Public Policy and the Climate Group, convened leaders from policy, finance, and science to explore high-integrity carbon markets and resilient climate policy under shifting political conditions. It was held during the World Bank–IMF Spring Meetings to foster cross-institutional dialogue on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and climate finance. Learn more here.
Cullud Wattah Play
Friday April 25, 2025, 7:30 pm
“Cullud Wattah" addresses one of the most pressing social issues of our time: our right to safe, clean water. At the center of the play, three generations of Black women stand resilient, caring and supporting one another amid a world that is poisoning them. It is a gripping, loving family drama that also issues a clarion call for environmental justice, a call that has become even more timely in this political moment.
Our impact
We know events alone will not change the world, but the people and conversations at them can. That’s why we bring together a combination of closed and open sessions centered around confronting disparity between climate ambition and climate reality.
We curate a platform for our business, policy and NGO networks for an open and honest platform that pushes progress and implementation.
We design an agenda that puts participation at the center of the program, creating an open space for off the record conversations, carefully curated small-group gatherings, and a series of closed-door implementation sessions that deliver real outcomes.
In 2021, we organized the first the Leaders’ Summit on Climate. We helped curate and organize a series of events to showcase US climate action. Building on this success, US Climate Action Summit has evolved, and is now established as a vital moment to connect climate leaders on key policy and climate issues in the United States.
