In an interview with the UN's Africa Renewal site, UNEP's Rose Mwebaza talks about how countries can strengthen climate resilience, protect natural resources and unlock green opportunities for the continent's growing population.

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The city of Bangkok joined UNEP’s global #NowForClimate movement with an open-air climate dance challenge at Lumphini Park.

People from across the city came together for a limbo-themed aerobics sessions, turning one of Bangkok’s most iconic green spaces into a stage for World Environment Day 2026. In the spirit of Pride Month, drag performers regaled the crowd, underscoring that climate action is for everyone.

From soccer stars to supermodels, and actors to everyday people, social media denizens around the world are reveling in UNEP’s Global Limbo Dance Challenge. 

The campaign asks people do the classic dance move to Deep Down by Brazilian musician Alok, a freshly minted UNEP Goodwill Ambassador. The push is designed to raise awareness about climate change and the need to keep global temperatures as low as possible. 

World Environment Day might be coming to a close in some places, but there's still time for you to join the fun!

Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand is used to thinking several moves ahead. That’s something the world needs more of as it faces a surge in extreme heat, he said in a video message marking World Environment Day.

“Trees, shade and green spaces can bring temperatures down – and help us think, live and work better,” he said.

To mark World Environment Day Toronto launched a report highlighting its progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. From building retrofits and low-emissions transportation to renewable energy and circular solutions, the city says it is taking action to strengthen resilience, create economic opportunities and support a healthy environment for its residents. Toronto was the North American host city for last year’s World Environment Day.

World Environment Day 2026 focuses on climate, using dance to put energy back into the conversation. At the heart of the campaign is a simple, universal idea: using the classic limbo dance as a symbol for how we can all put in the effort to bring temperatures and risks back down. In a short segment on UN News, UNEP’s Head of Multimedia Miranda Grant explains the thought behind the Climate Limbo Dance Challenge campaign and what it seeks to achieve. “How do we combine dance with a celebration of the progress we have been making for climate action?” she asks. “This World Environment Day, we’re asking, ‘How low can we go?’ How low can we reduce global warming together? 

The Director of UNEP’s Ecosystems Division Susan Gardner, and Philip Lymbery, who serves as CEO of Compassion in World Farming, president of Eurogroup for Animals and a member of the UN Food Systems Advisory Board, together took the opportunity of World Environment Day to publish an opinion piece in TIME about soil. Healthy soil, they argue, is one of the most powerful tools for climate resilience, given its critical abilities to store carbon, retain water, support biodiversity and underpin strong food systems. As climate change intensifies droughts, floods, extreme weather and other environmental challenges, restoring degraded soils and managing land sustainably can help communities adapt while also helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In summary, the article makes the case that investing in soil health is often overlooked as a climate solution, despite being right beneath our feet. 

Staff at the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre got down – low down – for the World Environment Day Limbo Dance Challenge, a globe-spanning push to raise awareness about planetary warming and climate change. 

Join the challenge yourself!

Following his special performance at the World Environment Day celebrations in Baku, K-pop icon Mark Lee joined the Climate Limbo Dance Challenge. By sharing the limbo with his millions of followers and calling them to join him by dancing on their own channels, Lee helped raise awareness about lowering global temperatures while inspiring his fans to help protect the planet.