The UIAA Climate Change Summit (CCS) 2025, held alongside the General Assembly (GA) in Peja, Kosovo, represented the latest step in the federation’s long-term effort to turn climate ambition into climate action. Starting in Banff in 2022, this was the fourth edition of the CCS, again incorporated within the programme of a GA.
As a logical step following the earlier Summits, this year’s programme shifted its principal focus from awareness-raising toward supporting and promoting practical, member-driven commitments. From a generic but abstract framework for climate action to genuine, concrete actions, each tailored to the capacity and context of individual member associations.
Just as in 2024, the 2025 Summit took place under the slogan “UIAA Climate Action: commit, move, together, now!” , a nod to the central message that the UIAA and its member federations must take collective steps, however small, but consistently and in a coordinated manner. The Climate Change & Sustainability Action List, presented in a poster format, discussed and enriched by the Summits´ participants, now outlines realistic options for member federations at different stages of their climate journey whether beginner, on-the-way, and advanced. It focused on the UIAA’s four pillars: Commit, Mitigate, Adapt and Advocate/Educate.
Overview of Climate Change Summit 2025
The Summit opened with presentations of three flagship federation projects (from France, South Africa and Argentina) that embody the aforementioned pillars, each demonstrating how federations can turn the climate principles promoted by the UIAA into applied practice. Paul Kwakkenbos, President of the Mountain Protection Commission, recapped the UIAA commitment to the Sports for Climate Action 2050 goals, progress related to the UIAA’s internal Climate Action Plan and introduced the Commitment Statement for Member Federations, a mechanism through which the UIAA wishes to translate collective agreement into measurable progress, using more structured frameworks and clearer expectations.
This year for the first time, a workflow has been created for collecting concrete federation commitments between December 2025 and September 2026. This workflow involves distributing a clarified list of possible climate actions, asking federations to choose at least three before the end of March 2026, and sharing back the results at the 2026 General Assembly.
This process shows a marked progression from past Summits: the CCS is no longer merely a discussion forum but has become a structured tool for supporting, gathering, and celebrating meaningful climate actions.
Climate Change & Sustainability Action List poster. Photo credit: UIAA/Maesta Film
Supporting Federations towards concrete action
A core aim of the CCS is to help federations feel encouraged and not pressured to take action. Throughout the design of the Summit and its follow up process, the UIAA adopts an incremental approach: federations are invited to choose only what fits their context, but they are also asked to choose something, and to repeat their efforts consistently over time. The actions are presented as options, not mandatory requirements, and should reflect each federation’s resources, constraints, and ambitions.
The breakout sessions embodied this approach. Each participant was invited to mark the Climate Change & Sustainability Action List poster indicating the stage their federation was at across certain themes of ‘Commit, Mitigate, Adapt, and Advocate/Educate’. Designated breakout session experts then led discussions on feasibility, clarity, and interpretation of some of these topics. This process was intentionally designed to create a dialogue and allow the UIAA to refine the Action List based on feedback.
Results: What federations are doing already
The results of the workshop, compiled after the meeting, show that many member organisations already undertake meaningful climate-aligned activities. The top five “Already Doing” actions were:
- Promoting ride-sharing, public transport, or slow travel (10%)
- Promoting “leave no trace” and trail clean-ups (9%)
- Updating huts with climate-friendly solutions (7%)
- Setting simple climate goals and sharing with members (5%)
- Collecting and sharing members’ good practice (5%)
Also tied: ecosystem restoration and participation in national clean-up days (5% each).
These results reflect a healthy diversity although also show much progress is still required. Some federations prioritise mobility mitigation, others focus on ‘on-the-ground’ environmental care, while others choose to focus firstly on communication and member engagement. Together, they underscore that the global mountaineering community is already mobilising climate awareness in practical ways.
Results: What federations are ready to commit to
The top five “Committed to Do” actions illustrate a similar pattern of steady ambition:
- Planning for climate-neutral or climate-positive federation activities (10%)
- Publishing and reporting on a climate action roadmap (7%)
- Setting simple climate goals and sharing them with members (6%)
- Agreeing on 2–3 practical actions for the coming year(s) (6%)
- Creating youth programmes connecting mountaineering skills with climate education (5%)
These results signal that federations are willing to take structured and transparent steps as well as a commitment to to engage younger generations as partners and leaders.
Ideas from participants
Participants also proposed numerous additional ideas, especially in the Adapt pillar, including:
- Climate-related accident statistics and case studies,
- Rockfall and climate-risk awareness measures,
- Digital tools for seasonal and hazard-based trail color-coding,
- Cooperation with state agencies and NGOs for waste collection, and
- Volunteer efforts to repair damaged access paths.
- One federation proposed that the UIAA formally join World Clean Up Day.
UIAA Mountain Protection Commission President Paul Kwakkenbos during the 2025 UIAA Climate Change Summit. Photo credit: UIAA/Maesta Film
UIAA Carbon Footprint Reports & Public Commitments
The UIAA recently released its 2024 Carbon Footprint Report, its seventh in total, and first issued under a new biennial reporting cycle. This update, positioned between the full calculations for the years 2023 and 2025 (to come), reflects a strategic shift towards a lighter methodology and more focused monitoring of the federation’s highest-impact activities.
The UIAA’s Carbon Footprint Reports and its publicly declared emission-reduction commitments form the backbone of the federation’s climate efforts. Although these reports were not the central topic of the CCS, they were referenced in the introductory speeches and in the explanation of the Commitment Statement.
The subject of reporting made for an interesting debate. Some member federations are less enthusiastic about carbon accounting; others consider CO₂ metrics politically sensitive or not directly relevant to their priorities. The Action List and the Summit structure explicitly acknowledge this diversity. They offer different entry points, some carbon-focused, others focused on waste, adaptation, education, or biodiversity, so that all federations can contribute meaningfully without feeling forced into actions they find uncomfortable or unrealistic.
Conclusion
The 2025 Climate Change Summit demonstrated that the world’s climbing and mountaineering federations are ready to move from general endorsement of climate responsibility toward concrete, measurable actions. The Summit did not push federations with rigid demands rather it cultivated a space where federations could discover their own realistic commitments, exchange experiences, and contribute to a shared Action List that genuinely reflects both global ambition and local context.
The Summit also introduced a clear, year-long workflow that will carry these commitments to the 2026 General Assembly in Kathmandu, Nepal, deepening accountability while preserving autonomy. The objective of the Summit, “UIAA Climate Action: commit, move, together, now!”, was successfully met.