31 Oct 2025
—
Eleven transformative, public-sector-led solutions showing how cities and regions can rapidly scale climate solutions are showcased in a new report from built environment consultancy Arup and supported by The Earthshot Prize, the world’s most prestigious and impactful environmental award.
Cities house over 55% of the global population – a share projected to reach 68% by 2050. They account for more than 70% of global CO₂ emissions and consume around three-quarters of global energy, making them both the greatest contributors to the climate emergency and the places where its impacts are most concentrated. Yet their density, innovation, and governance make them powerful engines for climate action, capable of driving systemic, inclusive, and scalable change.
The Champions of Change: How cities and regions are designing a low carbon, climate resilient future report provides a “greenprint” for replicating and scaling innovations that deliver measurable social, economic and environmental benefits.
Designed to move beyond inspiration and into implementation, this report offers a practical guide for mayors, planners and policymakers, ready to design a sustainable, resilient future.
From Bogotá’s mobility revolution to Oslo’s climate budget and Gujarat’s emissions trading system, see the cities and regions innovating at scale.
Around the world, urban leaders are already delivering climate innovations that are cutting emissions, protecting people and driving new economic opportunities; from Durban’s Transformative Riverine Management Programme that has removed nearly 58,000 tonnes of solid waste from rivers, to Bogotá’s Earthshot Prize winning mobility strategy which has cut travel times by 20% and reduced air pollution by 24% since 2018.
Cities and regions are already proving that bold climate leadership can deliver cleaner air, stronger resilience and real economic opportunity – but too often those successes stay local.
Champions of Change is designed to stop that: it sets out a practical ‘greenprint’ for turning ambitious policy into delivery, including the implementation architecture, financing and replication tools that help solutions move from pilots to systemic, city-wide impact.
By sharing what’s working, and how, we hope leaders everywhere can adapt these approaches and accelerate progress at scale.
For five years, together with Founding Partner Arup, we have been cultivating a network of cities and practitioners who share an unwavering belief that cities are uniquely positioned as both a major driver of the devastating impact of climate change, but also an integral part of the solution.
Our Champions for Change report brings this belief to life by showcasing some of the most pioneering initiatives in action today. Born out of dynamic perspectives and tangible solutions, the report is a manifesto for optimism and a handbook for those wanting to emulate powerful ideas to accelerate towards a more prosperous, sustainable future for us all.
Bogotá has undergone a remarkable transformation from a city once struggling with air pollution to one now leading one of the region’s most ambitious initiatives in clean air, sustainable mobility, and climate action. By 2028, we expect to avoid over 300,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year, the same as preserving a forest ten times the size of Manhattan or taking 65,000 cars off the road. Our ambition is to not only improve life for Bogotá’s residents but to offer a model that can be replicated in other cities across the globe.
By being featured in the Champions for Change report, created by leading cities experts from across the globe, we hope that we can shine a light on how coordinated action across active and safe mobility, freight management, and green infrastructure can drastically improve air quality.
To systematically identify, celebrate, and back the next generation of transformative urban solutions, The Earthshot Prize and Arup co-convened the Local Innovation Taskforce – a global working group of leading urban experts representing institutions such as C40 Cities, the World Bank, ICLEI, the African Centre for Cities, and MIT.
Comprising 16 influential practitioners with deep connections across cities worldwide, the group champions the replication of public-sector-led eco-solutions through purposeful collaboration between government, industry, academia and communities. This group was responsible for nominating initiatives for the 2025 Earthshot Prize, including The State of Gujarat and The City of Guangzhou – Finalists in the Clean Our Air category, as well as the Winner – The City of Bogotá.
The working group identified four key accelerators that support cities and regions to turn ambition into delivery: robust implementation architecture, innovative financing models, pathways to scale, and structured replication through playbooks and peer learning. Together, these pillars help cities move from pilots to systemic, city-wide climate action.
The Champions of Change report showcases solutions built on these pillars that have the potential to transform cities and regions worldwide.
From Bogotá’s mobility revolution to Oslo’s climate budget and Gujarat’s emissions trading system, see the cities and regions innovating at scale.
