London Climate Action Week 2026 arrived with an unscripted and sobering backdrop. As delegates, innovators, and policymakers gathered across the capital to discuss the future of the clean energy transition, the UK was simultaneously experiencing its most intense June heatwave on record.
Temperatures reached a provisional 36.1°C, breaking a record that had stood since 1976. The Met Office issued a Red Extreme Heat Warning. Earlier in the week, over 400 fire engines were called out across London responding to flash flooding.
The climate emergency was not just a theme of the week. It was actually happening in real time.
Against that backdrop, Envision Racing was at the heart of two of the week’s most significant events: the Global Renewables Alliance at Mansion House, and Reset Connect at ExCel London.
Both gatherings reinforced the same truth – the tools to respond to the crisis we are already living through exist, are increasingly affordable, and are proven. What is needed now is the will, the infrastructure, and the speed.
Mansion House and the Global Renewables Alliance
On Tuesday, Envision Racing joined the Global Renewables Alliance at Mansion House, where our race car was positioned outside the venue as UK Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband and UN Secretary-General António Guterres addressed delegates inside. The juxtaposition was fitting: a machine representing the cutting edge of electric performance, parked outside a building where world leaders were making the case for a global clean energy age.
Both speakers anchored their remarks in a shared conviction: the transition is already underway, and the economics are settled. Miliband pointed to £100 billion in private green energy investment committed in the UK alone, and $2.2 trillion invested globally in clean energy this year. Guterres reinforced the multilateral case – that global electrification and falling renewable costs benefit everyone, and that international solidarity is both a moral and a practical imperative.
The statistics the speakers shared painted a very clear picture. Renewables are now the cheapest, fastest, and most scalable source of new energy on the planet. Clean energy investment has doubled fossil fuel investment. Energy storage is set to exceed $100 billion in 2026. And yet fossil fuels still account for roughly 80% of global energy use, with three quarters of the world dependent on imported supplies at prices beyond their control. As temperatures outside broke June records not seen in nearly 50 years, the gap between what is possible and what is deployed was apparent.
The call from the stage was not just for ambition but for the infrastructure to match it – grids, storage systems, and 21st-century energy networks capable of delivering on the full promise of renewables. Particular urgency was placed on investment equity: Africa holds 60% of the world’s solar resources but receives just 2% of global green energy investment. The energy transition, to be meaningful, must be a global one.
Reset Connect
On Thursday, Envision Racing brought our two-seater car to Reset Connect at ExCel London, where our Managing Director and CTO Sylvain Filippi joined a panel on the future of electric mobility, moderated by Dominic Phinn, Head of Transport at the Climate Group. He was joined by Abby Chicken, Head of Sustainability at Openreach; Oliver Boots, Chief Commercial Officer at Octopus Electric Vehicles; and Neil Whittaker, Associate at Eigen Ventures.
Sylvain opened with the arc of Formula E itself – a story that mirrors the broader EV revolution. When the series launched in 2014, cars ran for just 25 minutes before drivers had to swap vehicles. By Gen2, a single car could complete the full race. Gen3 brought the weight and pace of a Formula 1 car, battery included. The Gen4 car, which Envision Racing begins testing imminently, reaches 335kph, does 0–60 in 1.8 seconds, produces 600kW of power and 700kW of regeneration, and operates at 97% efficiency. That standard is already shaping road car development; the 800-volt platforms now common in premium EVs were directly inspired by Formula E.
The panel reflected on a real-world adoption story that has quietly surpassed many expectations. Oliver Boots described Octopus Electric Vehicles growing to a position where the company now accounts for 7% of all new UK EV registrations. Running costs of 2–3 pence per mile, and the fact that 93% of their customers say they would never return to a combustion engine, speak to something beyond environmental conviction. Electric vehicles, in the experience of the people driving them, are simply better.
Abby Chicken offered a complementary perspective from fleet operations. Openreach, committed to zero emissions by March 2031, has found that the most effective internal case for EVs is a product one – better vehicles, lower running costs, a nicer driving experience – rather than a carbon obligation. That reframing, from duty to preference, is increasingly how large-scale fleet transition happens in practice, and it echoes what Envision Racing has always believed: that demonstrating performance is the most powerful argument for electric technology.
Neil Whittaker raised the systemic challenges that remain: 70% of UK households lack access to off-road parking; public charging confidence outside urban centres remains fragile; and grid investment will be essential as vehicle-to-grid technology – already live with Octopus, BYD, and a growing pipeline of OEM partners – moves from pilot to mainstream. The data opportunity is significant too, with carbon-intensity-optimised charging just one example of the innovation still to be unlocked.
Racing in the right direction
Envision Racing left London Climate Action Week with a renewed sense of both the urgency and the opportunity. The record-breaking heat that framed the week was not just a backdrop, it was a lived experience for millions of people across the UK, and a signal that the timeline for action is not theoretical. But the conversations at Mansion House and ExCel were a reminder that the solutions are not theoretical either. They are here, they are working, and they are improving fast.
From a car pushing the boundaries of what electric performance can achieve, to fleet managers switching because the vehicles are better, to policymakers committing billions to the infrastructure the transition requires – the direction is clear. The work now is to move faster.
