Tackling the climate emergency: Why the stakes are high for anchor institutions

In this blog to mark London Climate Action Week (LCAW) 2026, we explore why the stakes are so high for London’s anchor institutions from the impacts of climate change.   

The climate emergency is now 

Climate change is often discussed in terms of melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and extreme weather events around the world. These can feel remote and abstract.  

But, as the mercury hits record breaking levels across the UK this week, it’s clear that serious consequences are already being felt by communities at home. Over 1,000 schools were forced to close because of the heat, some travel operators asked customers to only travel if absolutely necessary, and London Ambulance Service put 400 extra crews on the road to respond to increased calls about people fainting, struggling to breathe and becoming unwell in the heat. The irony of LCAW events being cancelled due to extreme heat is not lost on us... 

At the helm 

London’s anchor institutions – including universities, colleges, hospitals, emergency services and critical public service providers — are the lifeblood of the city. They keep us safe, healthy, educated and employed. Without them the city would grind to a halt and communities would suffer.  

But these institutions are increasingly at the sharp end of dealing with the impacts of climate change.  

Rising temperatures, more frequent heatwaves and increased flooding are presenting new challenges to service delivery, impacting on their physical and digital infrastructure, and affecting the health of the Londoners they serve.   

The London Climate Resilience Review published at the end of 2023 cited specific examples of the challenges London’s anchor institutions face from a rapidly changing climate - from the pressures on the London Fire Brigade of tackling wildfires during the heatwave of July 2022, to operations being cancelled at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals when IT servers failed in the heat. Similar struggles for the NHS were reported this week.  

Since then, work to assess and respond to climate risks has been gathering pace across the city, with adaptation measures being identified and put into place. The London Fire Brigade has invested in new equipment and training for firefighters and learnt from other countries about how to tackle wildfires and new forms of threat emerging from climate change. Thames Water, in partnership with gas network company SGN, operates major "gas-to-grid" facilities in London that recycle sewage sludge into renewable biomethane nicknamed ‘poo power’.  

Critically, work to mitigate the pace and severity of climate change has also continued, with actions to drive down carbon emissions across estates and operations. Collectively, this has resulted in London’s anchor institutions saving almost 386,000 tonnes of CO2e.  

There are so many brilliant examples across the city, from London Fire Brigade’s retrofits to create net zero fire stations, to Hillingdon Hospital Trust’s electric ambulance fleet; from solar panels on the roofs of London’s churches, to University of London’s new Living Lab that studies how to better support nature in urban environments; and from TfL meeting its target to create 520,000m² sqm of wildflower verges (equivalent to 72 football pitches), to getting 3,000 zero emission buses on the roads.  

London’s Anchors must lead the way 

Anchor institutions have long played a leadership role in addressing society’s greatest challenges – LAIN was first convened by the Mayor of London at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to help drive the city’s recovery. London’s anchors rose to the occasion then and 5 years on, the impact LAIN members are having is impressive. 

Today, climate change represents one of the most significant threats we have ever faced. 

That’s where anchor ways of working and collective action come in.  

No single organisation can address the scale of this alone. Governments, businesses, community leaders, and institutions must work together to reduce emissions, invest in adaptation and resilience, and prepare for a changing climate. The health, safety and prosperity of our communities depends on it. 

Investing in climate adaptation and mitigation can seem hard when resources are already stretched. But the costs of inaction can be even greater.