This opening plenary sets the scene for Development & Climate Days 2025: a unique opportunity to unite, collaborate, and amplify the urgent needs of those on the climate frontlines.

After an introduction to D&C Days and welcoming remarks we invite all participants to settle in to an exercise where we will explore how to turn ambition into action.

Following this, in a series of engaging relay-style interviews, representatives from D&C Days themes and sessions will make the case for why their topics matter and why their sessions should be a priority for participants to attend.

We'll close with a visual journey through the day ahead, mapping the connections between sessions and showing how the pieces fit together.

This session is hosted by Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Explore how countries are driving locally led action by devolving decision-making and channelling funds to the local level. Together, we’ll dive into real-world examples from national governments across a range of development contexts to learn how national actors are creating opportunities, tackling context-specific challenges, and building platforms to scale funding flows. Participants will work together to co-develop key messages on what’s needed to scale up LLA.

This session is hosted by LIFE-AR and the World Bank.

Discover what it really takes to make interagency collaboration work. This session shares candid insights, practical advice, and lessons learned from both success stories and stumbles along the way. Hear how teams have built trust across mandates, overcome silos, and found creative ways to deliver more together than alone. Walk away with fresh ideas—and a few cautionary tales—for your next winning collaboration for resilience.

This session is hosted by Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC).

With dramatic changes in the global finance landscape, funders need to think innovatively about how they deliver support for adaptation. We need more strategic cooperation and coordination between funders that leverages the unique role each plays in navigating the increasingly scattered and inaccessible landscape of adaptation finance.

This session will host a fireside chat between different kinds of funders (bilateral, multilateral, philanthropic, private sector) to explore better ways of working together going forward.

This session is hosted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

A critical examination of how adaptation finance can be made more efficient, effective, and accountable to local actors, this session will explore practical cases of how key financing models (Decentralized Climate Finance, Community-Led Approaches, and Enhanced Direct Access) perform in practice.

Drawing on the lived experiences of communities and practitioners, we will surface insights into what it takes to finance resilience in ways that strengthen local systems and leadership. To advance this agenda at COP30, the session will invite participants to co-create advocacy messages that shift the focus from the amount of finance delivered to its effectiveness.

This session is hosted by DanChurchAid.

For those just waking up to join D&C Days or wanting a recap on where we have got to so far, this energising, interactive plenary will bring the morning’s ideas to life. We’ll open with a live visual storytelling recap from our graphic artist, capturing the key insights and inspirations shared so far.

From there, a diverse panel—spanning grassroots leaders, the Climate Champions Team, and the COP30 Presidency—will dive into what’s working, what’s missing, and what must guide us on the road to Belém. Together, we’ll explore how to:

• Strengthen the voice and influence of non-state actors,

• Bridge local realities with global negotiations, and

• Advance adaptation that’s just, inclusive, and rooted in community experience.

Through a live poll and real-time reflections, participants will also shape the conversation by identifying the collective priorities for driving resilience and climate justice ahead of COP30. Come ready to listen, reflect, and help co-create the path forward.

This session is hosted by the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP).

What can we learn from trust-based giving to help us take more risks and scale up locally led climate action at the grassroots level?

While "trust-based" grant giving may seem more of a theoretical concept, grassroots organisations around the world have long-standing relationships and mechanisms for grant giving built around the concept. Together, we’ll explore real-world examples and lessons from organisations across the globe that are already using these approaches.

This session is hosted by the Comuá Network and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

This interactive session examines how philanthropy can effectively enable, and scale locally led adaptation (LLA). ClimateWorks, Comic Relief, Avina, and SDI will share concise strategies, while grassroots actors provide real-time feedback to ensure discussions are grounded in reality. Using the Principles for LLA as a framework, participants will collectively identify the 2–3 principles where philanthropy has the most critical role to play, explore how this support can be strengthened, and reflect on what needs to change for these strategies to align with local priorities. The session aims to surface candid insights and practical next steps for philanthropic action.

This session is hosted by Avina.

Accountability efforts are happening everywhere, but the conversations don’t always connect at different levels. Global climate accountability systems often overlook local mechanisms. How can we bridge those gaps?

As the Global Goal on Adaptation discussions shift from design to delivery, connecting local MEL and accountability practices will be vital for success. This session explores how to ground the GGA within national and community frameworks, identifying key actions for Parties at COP30 and beyond. Participants will discuss how international, national, and local actors can collaborate to ensure adaptation monitoring delivers meaningful results for those most affected.

This session is hosted by Wellcome Trust and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

This event will explore different types of private sector actors and their role in financing nature and locally led action. We will hear directly from a spectrum of private sector actors and local representatives - from global funds to local enterprises - to examine real-world strategies, challenges, and successes. Join us for this dynamic and interactive session. There will be no slides or lengthy presentations - come ready to learn, challenge and debate!

This session is hosted by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Green Economy Coalition (GEC).

The closing plenary is a chance to share honest reflections at the end of the day on what matters most. This is where today's conversations crystallise into the messages and demands we'll carry into the climate negotiations at COP30.

Our theme leads will share what emerged from their sessions sharing what challenging ideas are on the horizon, what we should be calling for right now and what messages must reach COP30 negotiators. We’ll capture the day’s breakthroughs and revisit the visual story of our day through the graphic note-taking that captured the new ideas, outcomes, and unexpected connections that emerged across sessions.

We will also take a moment to look ahead to Belém, in coversation with a representative from the COP30 Presidency, identifying the most contentious issues we'll face in negotiations—and crucially, the areas where our community can genuinely influence outcomes. Through live Mentimeter polls, we'll hear from everyone in the room about what stood out most from the sessions, what action should be prioritised and what's the one thing needed for profound change?

The session is hosted by Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).