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Exeter Climate Forum 2026

Research to inform the road to COP31

Monday 29 June - Wednesday 1 July 2026

Streatham Campus, University of Exeter

Before the next wave of climate decisions, the thinking happens here.

The Exeter Climate Forum brings together world-leading researchers, policymakers, business leaders and civil society to engage with the latest climate science, and what it means in practice. More than a conference, it is a space to explore the cutting edge of emerging research that is reshaping our understanding of the world, and to translate that insight into real-world action.

Held between London Climate Action Week and COP, the Forum offers a rare moment to step back, reflect, and connect across sectors. From global economic shifts to breakthroughs in climate science, it provides a unique window into what the future may hold, and how decisions made now will shape it.

Set on our beautiful Streatham Campus, with opportunities to explore pioneering nature-based projects across Devon, the Forum is designed not just for discussion, but for deeper engagement, fresh thinking, and meaningful connection.

“The [2026] Exeter Climate Forum demonstrated genuine vision: not simply creating another conference, but creating a space where ideas, relationships and collaborations can flourish. I left feeling both optimistic and energised, and I hope the Forum continues to grow in influence.”

Ian McFadzen – CEO, Ocean Conservation Trust

During the 2026 Forum, sessions explored four cross-cutting themes shaping global climate strategy:

  • The Carbon Cycle
  • Positive Tipping Points
  • Climate and Health
  • Extreme Weather and Modelling

Alongside these four themes, dedicated focus days took place for Financial Services and Agriculture, Food and Farming.

Across an immersive programme of over 60 talks, workshops and networking events, around 400 researchers, business leaders and policymakers gathered to share, test and challenge ideas. The three core conference days, which played host to around 160 expert speakers, were followed by a focused collaboration day, where invited groups worked directly with partner governments and others on specific challenges: from priorities for COP31 and COP17 to the consequences of missing net zero targets, capacity building in Global South economies, and the future of tipping points.

The Forum concluded with a dedicated live youth session. Attended by over 1,100 school students from 24 institutions across the UK, India, Thailand and the Netherlands, session brought the next generation into the conversation to look ahead to what comes next.

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View the Programme Conveners and Speakers

Conference Themes

The purpose of this session is to highlight some of the major challenges of communicating climate change issues between different audiences, including scientists and the public, and how communication facilitates sustainable behaviour change. It will outline the latest understanding and knowledge gaps around communication, policy and climate services and will suggest how we might improve this in future. The session will also describe and debate a series of questions gathered from policy makers, which we will aim to revisit and address throughout the remainder of the Exeter Climate Forum.

Charting a planned and sustainable route towards meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement requires understanding how the Earth System responds to the emissions – primarily of CO2 – which we put into the atmosphere. This session will chart the measurement and quantification of the global carbon cycle, how the land and oceans respond and the processes that modulate the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. It will then discuss how this knowledge guides policy decisions around Net Zero and emissions pathways and their consequences in the future.

This session will examine the latest science on current and future changes in the likelihood, frequency and severity of weather and climate extremes and their impacts, in the UK and worldwide, including the possibility for rapid transitions due to the interplay between natural climate variability and the underlying trend of anthropogenic climate change. We will discuss the implications for adaptation, including the need to address the challenges posed by uncertainty in future projections. Crucially, we will also ask whether some of the potential future changes may extend beyond what can be adapted to, and indeed how “adaptation” is defined in this context

With around 75% of global emissions coming from the energy sector, accelerating decarbonisation of energy is essential to meet global climate goals. This session will provide the current status of the global energy transition, including issues of finance key to COP30, with a transdisciplinary view of challenges that must be overcome as well as insights that will help us map a path to success.

Decarbonisation, at pace, must be our priority. But this is unlikely to be enough to meet the goals of the Paris agreement. What options do we therefore have for engineering our climate through carbon dioxide removal or direct climate intervention? What are the risks and opportunities these approaches present? What robust societal and ethical guardrails can we put in place to ensure responsible research and where appropriate deployment that serves the public interest now and into the future.

Why attend?

The impacts of human-driven climate change have never been clearer, with global warming reaching record levels in 2023 and 2024. Global warming and sea level rise are accelerating, and we are seeing rapid changes in weather and climate extremes which are causing unprecedented impacts all over the world.

Humanity can still steer a path to a liveable future that avoids the worst impacts of climate change, but this requires widespread rapid action at an uncertain time in global politics.

There has never been a more important time to come together, to summarize what we know, and to discuss what we need to do together to resolve the climate crisis. The Exeter Climate Research Conference will present cutting-edge research related to climate change and its impacts, and discuss possible solutions.

Conference Themes

  • Communicating with the public, policy makers, and climate service providers
  • The carbon cycle and future climate pathways
  • Climate extremes, impacts, and adaptation
  • Understanding energy transitions to accelerate decarbonisation
  • Geoengineering and the concept of responsible climate intervention
  • And a special evening event, including a drinks reception and an engaging debate: “What is the role of scientists in the 1.5°C, ‘post-truth’ era?”
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