What we built together in 2025

Climate Leaders came together through trainings, organized in their cities, launched Climate Hubs, and took part in workshops and campaigns. Together with the Branch, they worked to influence policy and led initiatives in their own communities. Here are some of the highlights that defined our year and that we’re most proud of.

A Climate Reality Leadership Training - celebrating 10 Years of the Paris Agreement

In March, more than 800 people passionate about climate arrived from across Europe and beyond to gather in Paris to mark the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. Supported by 40 dedicated mentors, participants expanded their understanding of climate science, justice, and advocacy - and took action on the ground.

During the training, participants signed letters calling on decision-makers at the European and national levels to:

• Strengthen 2035 and 2040 emissions reduction targets,

• Commit to fast and fair decarbonization, and

• Ensure better implementation of Paris-aligned commitments.

Since the European Union did not submit its Nationally Determined Contribution to COP 30 in Belem, Brazil, we followed-up on this action by signing an open letter to Members of the European Parliament ahead of the voting on the proposal for the 2040 EU emissions reduction target. Thanks for the collaboration of climate coalitions and responsible politicians, the efforts to reject the target entirely, were stopped, and the Parliament approved the target proposal of 90% emission reduction by 2040 in the EU.

Mobilizing our network through the Climate Hubs model

One of the most significant achievements of 2025 was the launch of the Climate Hubs model - a new organizing structure designed to support locally led, city-based climate action.

With the leadership of our four Regional Organizers - Elena-Alexandra Miron, Shooka Bidarian, Lodovica Cattani, and Idriss Brockmann-Serbis - we supported the creation of 21 new Climate Hubs across Europe (with more in the making), far exceeding our initial expectations.

These Hubs are already:

• Mobilizing communities,

• Running education and engagement campaigns,

• Collaborating with municipalities, and

• Building durable local coalitions for climate action.

We were glad to bring the Hubs together for the first All Hubs call in December to get to know each other better, look for opportunities for collaboration and inspiration and share first learnings with each other. The Climate Hubs Europe website we shared during that meeting, will serve as a source of information on Hubs activities and invite more members to join - check it yourself here.

From awareness to action: climate justice in practice

From 6 to 17 October, almost 60 people from across Europe and beyond brought their experience, curiosity, commitment, and passion for justice to the training and received a certificate. A total of 25 Action Proposals were submitted and some ideas are taking fruit and will continue their implementation phase in the new year, amongst them a project on informal waste pickers in Barcelona and one Global Shapers led project on community-led storytelling around climate adaptation and justice in Venice.

In parallel, Climate Reality Leaders Bradlie Martz-Sigala, Bronwyn Hall McLoughlin, and Lodovica Cattani piloted Climate Justice Now: Presentation and Community Workshop in Helsinki and Ireland - testing a new tool to use along with others available to Climate Reality Leaders (Truth in 10 presentation, Climate TRACE platform), to share awareness on climate change, its impacts and ways of stabilising climate.

Local communities and tangible climate action

In 2025, we strengthened our focus on local climate action by launching the City Climate Action Assessment guidebook in collaboration with Climate Emergency UK. The guidebook has already been downloaded dozens of times and featured as a case study by our partners.

To support the learning process, we co-hosted a series of Cities & Climate webinars with Climate Emergency UK, Climate-KIC, and Beyond Fossil Fuels, reaching nearly 300 participants. Several Climate Hubs - including Istanbul, Milan, and Helsinki - have already expressed interest in using the guidebook to engage their municipalities. We’ll be watching and supporting this space carefully in 2026.

Advocating for fossil-free finance and ambitious climate policy

Throughout the year, we continued to expose and challenge fossil fuel financing - particularly European banks’ role in expansion projects abroad.

Highlights include:

• A multilingual webinar, “Who is financing fossil fuel expansion in Latin America?”, exploring how European companies are sponsoring fossil fuel projects in the region,

• The launch of a dedicated Fossil Free Finance web space, and

• Strategic coordination during UNFCCC Bonn meeting and COP30 with partners from Latin America, Europe, and beyond to explore joint campaigns targeting major fossil fuel financiers.

Climate Reality Leaders driving change in diverse ways

The true impact of Climate Reality’s work is reflected in the actions of Climate Leaders across Europe:

• Marie-Claire Graf, a Climate Reality Leader, recipient of this year’s Green Ring Award and a Co-Founder of the Youth Negotiators Academy, helped scale the Climate Youth Negotiator Programme to its largest impact yet, with 359 trained negotiators from 75 countries actively participating in COP30 negotiations, many from LDCs and SIDS, and several taking on leadership roles within national delegations.

• A Climate Reality Leader Santiago Lefebre together with his team hosted the 10th edition of the biggest impact event in Europe, the ChangeNOW conference. The event hosted 40,000 participants from 140 countries, along with 10,000 companies and thousands of solutions for positive social and environmental impact presented and debated on the ground of the Grand Palais in Paris.

• Marion Enzer, a Climate Reality Leader and former Volunteer Coordinator for France, working for Fermes d’Avenir was awarded with “Marianne du Climat” for her outstanding accomplishments and impact on the regenerative agriculture movement in France.

• A Climate Reality Leader from Poland and a young climate negotiator Zuzanna Borowska was selected as one of just 14 people worldwide to join the third cohort of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.

• In Manfredonia, Italy, Climate Leader and Milan Hub Leader Ilaria Quotta supported long-standing civic mobilization that led to the signing of a new epidemiological agreement addressing the impacts of the ENI petrochemical plant.

• Climate Leaders involved in the Ten to a Million initiative, led by Climate Reality Leader and London Hub Leader Versha Jones (UK), reached 4,246 people this year with climate education and engagement.

• A book written by Climate Reality Leader and Silesia Hub Leader Patryk Białas (Poland), “Roots of the Future” reached 5,000 people with diverse perspectives on the need for just transition in the coal region in Poland. Soon after, Katowice, the capital of the region, joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance.

And thousands of others. Looking forward to featuring YOU in our list next year!

What’s next?

2025 marked a turning point: from large-scale trainings to locally embedded leadership, from awareness to practical, justice-centered action. As we move into 2026, our focus will be on:

• Deepening the impact of Climate Hubs, including COP 31 in Turkiye,

• Supporting Climate Leaders to deliver concrete local outcomes, and

• Strengthening partnerships that connect grassroots action with policy and finance reform.

We are deeply grateful to our Climate Leaders, partners, mentors, and supporters for making this year possible - and we look forward to building on this momentum together.