UN Climate Week 3 (CW3) took place in April 2026 in Yeosu, Republic of Korea, with a strong focus on showcasing practical climate solutions grounded in diverse lived experiences and knowledge systems, so they can be replicated and scaled up where appropriate.
CW3 brought together a broad range of stakeholders including national delegations, climate practitioners, businesses, city leaders, knowledge holders and practitioners from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, community groups, and international partners with one purpose: to turn global climate ambition into solutions that work on the grounds. The total number of onsite participants was close to 1,000, with nearly 460 joining virtually. Engagement by Parties was strong, accounting for nearly 300 onsite delegates representing 82 countries.
Moving from ambition to action
CW 3 delivered a clear message: the era of climate implementation is here. Across dozens of sessions, participants showed that our collective challenge has shifted – from agreeing on what needs to be done to figuring out how to do it, starting now. In Yeosu, this meant practical problem-solving in every domain of climate action: building investable project pipelines from national climate plans, designing the financing and policy frameworks to unlock those projects, and sharing concrete solutions that cut emissions, build climate resilience and protect communities.
CW3 was about making existing commitments deliver
Countries across the globe shared how they are moving from planning to execution. They exchanged ideas on real-economy transitions in energy, industry, transport, agriculture, and urban development. They explored ways to get more finance flowing to where it’s needed, like adaptation for vulnerable communities and in responding to losses faced by those in the frontline of climate change. They tested digital tools and considered how to combat barriers like misinformation.
Cross-cutting insights: what CW3 revealed
1. National climate plans are becoming actionable pipelines
CW3 spotlighted how national climate plans – from nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to national adaptation plans (NAPs) – are being translated into sector-specific, country-owned action plans. Participants from multiple regions shared roadmaps for breaking large goals into investable projects and programs. Sessions like the first Peer Exchange on NDC Implementation (PEW) convened in the context of the Global Mutirão Decision underscored that turning climate commitments into finance-ready action demands institutional coordination, strategic sequencing, and the ability to structure priorities into projects and programmes — including by bundling smaller actions into larger, more investable packages that partners and financiers can engage with to mobilize finance at scale.
2. From announcements to finance: closing the “readiness” gap
On climate finance, identifying ways to address persistent readiness and access challenges was a key area of focus Many discussions underscored that while global climate funds and private investors are keen to support projects, countries often struggle with the early stages – developing robust project concepts, fulfilling complex requirements, or managing risk. For instance, during the PEW, participants shared examples about how bundling NDC previously isolated projects into portfolios is simultaneously a strategy for scale, narrative coherence, and risk distribution. At CW3, several solutions addressed this “readiness” gap: country-led investment platforms that match projects to funding sources; expanded readiness support from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), GEF and FLRD and bilaterial donors such as Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and others to help bridge the gap and prepare viable proposals; and initiatives like the Climate Capital Marketplace, which during the week convened small island developing states and conflict-affected nations with major climate funders and technical experts. Through hands-on “deal rooms”, countries in the Marketplace such as Papua New Guinea, Chad and South Sudan left Yeosu with practical steps to further secure the funding needed for priority projects and readiness proposals – a tangible step forward in connecting NDCs, NAPs and national climate plans with finance.
3. Implementation guided by diversity of worldviews and knowledge systems
Knowledge holders and practitioners from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, through the work of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, participated in activities across the CW3. They shared stories of their lived climate realities, including intensifying cyclones, unprecedented wildfires, the loss or disappearance of flora and fauna. These new realities adversely affect not only their livelihoods, but also the continuity of their cultural heritage, languages, practices and knowledge systems. At the same time, they shared practices grounded in diverse values, worldviews and intergenerational knowledge systems, demonstrating the important roles of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the implementation of climate action. The contributions from the knowledge holders and practitioners from Indigenous Peoples and local communities at CW3 deepen the understanding that Indigenous Peoples and local communities are not only among those experiencing the most immediate and acute climate impacts. They are also knowledge holders, practitioners and leaders of effective, inclusive, context-specific implementation of climate action.
4. Grounding loss and damage responses in local realities
The loss and damage sessions at CW3 highlighted both the growing complexity of impacts and the practical pathways needed to respond. Discussions emphasized that progress hinges on stronger country ownership of data and tools, improved institutional coordination, and better access to resources. At the same time, key dimensions, especially non‑economic losses such as culture, identity and ecosystems, remain under‑recognized and require more robust methodologies. A consistent message was that solutions are most effective when grounded in local realities: examples such as Bhutan’s identification of its own loss and damage “signature,” alongside community-level experiences from small island and mountain contexts, illustrated how context-specific, country-driven assessments can better capture lived realities and priorities. The importance of integrating community-based knowledge and practical, on-the-ground insights through inclusive consultation processes was stressed repeatedly. The sessions reinforced that people-centered, context-responsive and better-coordinated approaches are essential to shaping more actionable and equitable responses to loss and damage.
5. Adaptation is becoming increasingly implementation-focused and locally grounded
CW3 demonstrated that adaptation action is entering a more operational and implementation-focused phase, with growing emphasis on strengthening resilience outcomes, improving decision-relevant data systems, and supporting evidence-informed implementation. Discussions across the Regional NAP Expo highlighted the importance of bridging the persistent gap between adaptation plans and financed implementation. There was broad recognition that the updated NAP Technical Guidelines provide a stronger basis for this shift, placing greater weight on implementation strategies, financing, and the organization of adaptation priorities into actionable programmes and projects. A recurring message was that advancing the implementation of adaptation requires working through a full logical chain: moving from the UAE Framework’s GGA Targets and Indicators, through risk pathways that ground the rationale for action, essential solutions that package change, deployment architecture that finances implementation, and adaptation orchestration that ensures delivery reaches the last mile, with monitoring, evaluation and learning closing the loop.
Discussions relating to implementation of the UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience highlighted the importance of improving the usability of adaptation-related information and strengthening links between data, planning and decision-making processes.
Several sessions highlighted practical tools and approaches already being applied at country level, including risk mapping, climate impact pathways, vulnerability assessments, and locally led adaptation approaches. Participants also stressed that effective adaptation systems must remain flexible and iterative, enabling countries and communities to adjust actions over time as climate risks evolve and lessons emerge from implementation.
Finally, participants emphasized that monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) systems are increasingly being used not only to track activities, but also to inform policy, strengthen accountability, and improve the effectiveness of adaptation support.
Country examples illustrated how adaptation action is increasingly being translated into concrete resilience outcomes. In Bangladesh, integrated coastal resilience initiatives are combining livelihood diversification, water security and community capacity-building to reduce vulnerability in climate-exposed areas. In Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Basin, climate-smart agriculture initiatives are helping smallholder farmers respond to water stress while supporting ecosystem preservation and food security. In discussions focused on small island developing States and Africa, participants emphasized locally led adaptation, early-warning systems, and community-driven resilience initiatives as essential components of effective adaptation implementation.
6. Clean energy transitions need enabling systems
Accelerating renewable energy and clean technology was a central focus, but CW3 made it clear that technology alone is not enough. Enabling systems – from modern grids and energy storage to affordable financing, policy certainty, and skilled workforce – are critical to scale up clean energy. Participants discussed how small island states can overcome diesel dependency by investing not just in solar or wind farms, but in grid upgrades, storage solutions, and regulatory reforms to handle variable power. In one forum, energy experts noted that renewables have become more affordable than ever and already meet a growing share of global demand, but bottlenecks like slow permitting and lack of grid infrastructure are holding back progress. The discussion in Yeosu highlighted that tackling these systemic barriers – for example, by streamlining approvals, creating incentives for grid investment, and designing just transition pathways for workers – is essential to deliver on the full promise of clean energy for climate and development. It was highlighted that international and regional cooperation can accelerate the pace of these efforts through joint learning, capacity building, technology innovation and transfer, and the mobilization of finance and investment.
7. Real-economy transformation is advancing sector by sector
A powerful insight from CW3 is that climate action is now deeply embedded in real economy sectors – and progress is being made through pragmatic, sector-specific solutions. For instance, in discussions on industry, countries highlighted that industrial decarbonization is not merely a means to achieving climate objectives, it is an opportunity to advance economic resilience and security and long-term sustainable development. Through discussions, countries reported the operationalization of a variety of innovative approaches - deploying digital tools, circular processes, and renewable energy to cut emissions without sacrificing growth. Heavy industries like steel and cement were discussed not in theoretical terms, but through early stage projects that illustrate a broader shift to cleaner production. Cities and subnational leaders, particularly from Africa and Asia, shared steps to develop integrated urban mobility systems with public transit improvements and electric vehicles, reducing congestion and pollution while cutting carbon. Sessions on health, water and forests stressed that tackling climate change can go hand-in-hand with better public health, water security, and sustainable livelihoods through integrated approaches such as climate-resilient health systems, watershed restoration and community forestry programs.
8. Partnerships and peer learning are key to unlocking action
Again and again, success stories highlighted at CW3 had one thing in common: collaboration. The week underscored that partnerships – between governments, private sector, financiers, cities, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and youth – are essential to get climate action moving at scale.
The Peer Exchange Workshop on NDC implementation allowed countries to learn from each other’s experiences implementing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and adaptation projects, avoiding “reinventing the wheel.” A roundtable with businesses and governments identified immediate policy actions to remove barriers to investment, illustrating the value of public-private problem-solving. Events focusing on leadership of local communities and Indigenous Peoples showcased how resilient solutions are stronger when they incorporate Indigenous knowledge systems and local knowledge systems and empower the local actors. Even in areas like climate finance and markets, new alliances were formed: the UNIDO-Climate Club Global Matchmaking Platform was announced as a living network to connect countries seeking industrial decarbonization support with investors and technology providers. Such initiatives exemplify the multi-stakeholder partnerships that will carry forward the momentum from Yeosu. Similarly, the loss and damage sessions highlighted that partnerships and peer learning are critical to turning knowledge into action. Bringing together countries, practitioners and the WIM’s thematic expert groups, the discussions underscored how sharing real-world experiences and solutions helps bridge persistent implementation gaps. In particular, collaboration across stakeholders and peer exchange were seen as essential for moving from understanding loss and damage challenges to delivering practical, locally grounded responses and scaling up technical support to countries through joint problem-solving.
9. Digital and data tools are emerging as climate action accelerators
Data and digital innovation emerged as key tools for implementation. In various sessions across different themes and topics, participants discussed how technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), satellite monitoring, and digital platforms are being deployed to speed up climate action – from AI-assisted reforestation using drones in Mongolia’s Altai region to digital twins, predictive analytics, machine learning models being actively used to improve efficiency of industrial assets. Hands-on training components, such as guided scenario analysis exercises using a complex economic modelling tool through a user-friendly interface, were widely highlighted as illustrating how digital tools are making advanced analytical capabilities more accessible, while strengthening participants’ capacity to apply these tools, understanding the impacts of response measures, and translating analytical outputs into insights that directly inform policy design and decision-making. These tools can boost efficiency, improve targeting (for example, focusing reforestation where it will have the most impact), and enhance transparency (like the revamped NAZCA global climate action portal to track non-state pledges). Participants also welcomed the Climate Data Hub, a centralized platform developed by UN Climate Change and partners that uses advanced analytics and AI to make official climate data from more than 190 countries easier to access, analyse and use in support of evidence-based climate action. At the same time, discussions highlighted that technology is not a silver bullet: digital solutions must be accessible and governed responsibly, with capacity-building to ensure that all countries, including Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), can benefit from innovations like AI without exacerbating inequalities.
10. Climate action must stay people-centered and locally relevant
Finally, CW3 underscored that putting people at the heart of climate action makes it more effective and equitable. Many participants stressed that climate policy should consider workforce implications, community well-being, and social justice – ensuring that climate action leaves no one behind and countries advance on their nationally determined just transition pathways.
For example, the fifth dialogue under the just transition work programme provided participants with the space to share experiences on just transition considerations in the context of food security, including with a focus on agriculture and ocean-based action. Discussions highlighted experiences relating to decent work, sustainable livelihoods, social protection systems, participatory approaches and skills development, including for smallholder farmers, artisanal fishers, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and workers in informal economies. Participants also exchanged views on gender-responsive and locally led approaches, traditional and Indigenous knowledge, and the role of finance, technology development and transfer, capacity-building and international cooperation in supporting equitable and resilient just transition pathways in the context of food security.
The loss and damage sessions underscored that keeping climate action locally grounded is essential for effectiveness. Country examples, such as Bhutan’s efforts to identify its own loss and damage “signature”, highlighted the importance of tailoring responses to national and local contexts, including the specific risks, vulnerabilities and socio-economic realities communities face. Across discussions, participants emphasized that solutions are most impactful when they build on local knowledge, reflect lived experiences, and are co-developed with those directly affected.
A dedicated dialogue on implementation of the Belém Gender Action Plan emphasized the importance of strengthening gender-responsive climate finance and improving access to funding for women-led organizations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Participants shared practical solutions, including available funding windows, alternative and innovative finance mechanisms aimed at expanding inclusive access to climate finance, strengthening locally led climate action and ensuring equitable outcomes.
Events dedicated to youth engagement and leadership of Indigenous Peoples and local communities reinforced that those most affected by climate change must have a voice in solutions. Through local success stories – like Nepal’s community forestry program (where 23,000 local groups have restored millions of hectares of forest) – the week illustrated that empowering communities can deliver big wins for both climate and livelihoods. In short, CW3 demonstrated that inclusive, bottom-up approaches are not just morally right, but are often the fastest route to lasting climate results.
11. A practical legacy
CW3 showed that climate action is becoming more practical, finance-ready, inclusive and locally relevant. By bringing negotiators into the same rooms as implementers, financiers, knowledge holders, communities and innovators, the week helped translate broad commitments into concrete pathways: bankable pipelines, country platforms, locally led adaptation, responding to loss and damage, integrated human mobility, resilient water and health systems, high-integrity carbon markets, digital public goods and people-centred solutions. It also highlighted the growing importance of strengthening implementation approaches for adaptation, including through improved monitoring, learning, locally led action and evidence-informed decision-making.
12. Turning Article 6 into Action: PACM Operational Progress at CW3
CW3 demonstrated that Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and in particular the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) under Article 6.4, is moving decisively from framework development toward operational implementation. Across the three events, Parties, project participants, financial institutions and technical experts highlighted the substantial progress achieved in establishing the rules, procedures and institutional arrangements necessary for participation in the mechanism. Discussions reflected how countries are increasingly advancing domestic readiness measures, including the appointment of designated national authorities (DNAs), submission of Host Party Participation Requirements, development of regulatory and institutional frameworks, and exploration of linkages between domestic carbon pricing instruments and international carbon markets. The events REDiCAP & Carbon Pricing - Integrating Article 6.4 Mechanism into national carbon pricing systems PACM Global Value Proposition and CDM Transition, Article 6.4 DNA forum and Article 6 & Strategic Market Dialogue, served as demonstration that the PACM is becoming operational in practice through the transition of eligible Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) activities that comply with the rules and requirements adopted by the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body. Collectively, the discussions highlighted growing confidence among Parties and stakeholders that the PACM is evolving into a functional mechanism capable of supporting NDC implementation, mobilizing climate finance, and enabling international cooperation under Article 6.