Since COP26, the role of culture in addressing climate change has gained unprecedented visibility within global policy and practice. What was once primarily understood as a sector affected by environmental change is now increasingly recognised as an active contributor to climate action supporting mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and societal transformation. This shift reflects a growing understanding that climate change is not only a technical or economic challenge, but also a cultural one: it is shaped by values, behaviours, knowledge systems, and collective imagination.

Within this evolving landscape, cultural practices, heritage systems, creative expression, and Indigenous and local knowledge are playing a growing role in how societies understand climate risks and respond to them. Culture contributes to climate action in multiple ways: by fostering public engagement and awareness, by safeguarding heritage and knowledge systems under threat, by supporting community-led adaptation, by enabling international collaboration, and by reshaping the Environmental sustainability of the cultural and creative sectors themselves.

This report, commissioned by The British Council, presents a global mapping and analysis of Culture-Based Climate Action (CBCA) across the period from COP26 (2021) to COP30 (2025), with the aim of consolidating emerging evidence, identifying key trends, and highlighting opportunities for future development. Rather than providing an exhaustive inventory, the study focuses on the dominant mechanisms through which culture contributes to climate action and the conditions under which these contributions are most effective.

The analysis is structured around six core intervention typologies, which capture the main ways in which culture is mobilised within climate action:

• Creative climate action, engagement and imagination
• Heritage protection, adaptation and climate resilience
• Indigenous knowledge and community-based adaptation
• Networks, partnerships and cultural relations
• Environmental sustainability of the cultural and creative sectors
• Evidence systems, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL)

Within each typology, the report explores global trends, illustrates concrete examples, and provides insights into how cultural approaches are being implemented in different contexts. It also highlights emerging outcomes across cognitive, affective, behavioural, relational, and structural dimensions, showing how culture contributes to climate action not only through direct interventions but also through shaping the enabling conditions for change.

By bringing together these elements, the report aims to contribute to a growing body of knowledge that positions culture as an integral component of climate action. It provides a foundation for dialogue, collaboration, and future development, supporting the continued integration of cultural perspectives into global climate strategies and practice.