In Washington, ICCI shares lessons from Brazil at the Climate Solutions Forum 2026

In a year of political constraint and fragmented consensus on climate, one of the challenges is to understand what can still be built and how to sustain cooperation so that climate action can move forward. In this context, last week ICCI participated in the Climate Solutions Forum 2026, convened by the F20 Foundations Platform, in Washington, D.C.

The Forum brought together local philanthropy, civil society, business, and subnational leaders driving climate action and the SDGs on the ground, bringing different perspectives to similar challenges and to the conditions needed to move from commitments to real-world action.

During the World Cafe Table, Marco Kelson Kertzman, ICCI’s Executive Director, and Américo Sampaio, Partnerships Director, highlighted the importance of philanthropy and civil society acting strategically and framed strategic communication as an essential “upstream” tool for building the enabling conditions for climate action.

The conversation also addressed what it takes to move climate action from elite consensus to broad-based public support.

Drawing on lessons from the Brazilian context and ICCI's work at the intersection of culture, communication, and public opinion, Marco and Américo reinforced that climate policy rarely stalls for lack of technical solutions alone. It stalls for lack of durable public support, trusted narratives, and organized constituencies willing to defend it politically.

The Climate Solutions Forum also reinforced the idea that we already have the science, the technology, and the targets. What we must construct now is the “invisible infrastructure” — relational, social, and logistical — needed to translate high-level commitments into real-world action. Actively building and sustaining this support is an essential part of that process, helping climate policies endure and strengthening their ability to deliver lasting results.