CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
Taking the climate fight to the highest levels worldwide
Uniting many campaigns and rotating leaders of high-level UN climate action under one credible, unifying identity.
Services
Nomenclature System
Visual Identity
Graphic Guidelines
Nomenclature System
Visual Identity
Graphic Guidelines
Ultravirgo project team
Marina Csomor
Patrick Durgin-Bruce
Cynthia Escalante
Marina Csomor
Patrick Durgin-Bruce
Cynthia Escalante
Every year, the UN organizes the global COP conference, bringing together world leaders to make commitments to fight climate change and track progress on them. To connect the climate action of non-state actors—cities, regions, businesses, and civil society—with national governments, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions are designated under a formal mandate to bridge these groups, leading a team of experts in the year-round collaboration required to implement the international climate agenda.
CHALLENGE
Fractured efforts in a complex ecosystem
While the High-Level Champions themselves are highly visible, the 100-person team they lead lacked the identity or assets to sustain communications as Champions rotate in and out each year. A series of individual campaigns had found success, but each developed its own identity, leaving little connection to the organization sustaining the efforts. Those campaign brands—bright and activist in tone—also didn't suit the official, high-level settings the Champions often work in. Operating across a complex, multi-stakeholder environment, the organization itself had functioned without a clear name.
THE BIG IDEA
Give the engine of high-level climate action a unifying name and identity.
Unifying under “Climate Champions”
We created "Climate Champions" as the umbrella identity uniting the High Level Champions themselves with the broader organization—providing a unifying identity that can then apply to individual campaigns. Because the Champions operate independently of the UN, UNFCCC, and COP presidencies, the system had to signal credibility and claim its own identity without borrowing symbols from parent organizations.
A palette that spans diplomacy and drive
The identity had to bridge two audiences that rarely share a design language: high-level government officials and the private-sector and civil-society actors the Champions exist to mobilize. We anchored it in a restrained, editorial palette of greys, energized by a vibrant Climate Champions blue and a signature "daybreak gradient"—a sunrise-like glow that adds optimism while holding an official tone. The typography system also spans a range, with Roboto Serif bringing an authoritative voice; and the bold Cinderblock face adds impact for campaigns.
A high level vantage point
Imagery leads with sweeping aerial views—a nod to the Champions' unique high-level vantage across the whole climate agenda—backed by photojournalistic images of real people and real progress.
IMPACT
A unified brand, launched on the world's biggest climate stage
The new identity launched at COP28 in Dubai—the highest-visibility moment in the global climate calendar—giving the team a cohesive, professional presence. Where a rotating cast of Champions and a 100-person team had worked without a shared identity, materials now speak with one voice, from social posts to publications.
To make the system work across a 100-person team and its many partners and vendors, we delivered a full toolkit: social templates, newsletter headers, slide themes, digital stationery, sample publications and infographics, and practical guidelines to keep every output consistent.
