Event Production: The Global Energy & Electrification Summit (GETES)
Producing E3G's side of a summit co-organised with the Global Renewables Alliance, the We Mean Business Coalition and HM Government, delivering a closed-door ministerial and CEO dialogue, an accredited press briefing and a 584-strong plenary in a single afternoon, with the UN Secretary General, President Whipps of Palau, Ed Miliband then Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the COP30 and COP31 presidencies.
The Context
GETES was built to accelerate electrification and the transition away from fossil fuels, and to launch the #ElectrifyNow campaign at a moment when climate cooperation was under real strain. It ran on the afternoon of 23 June 2026 at Mansion House as part of London Climate Action Week, and was co-organised by E3G, the Global Renewables Alliance, the We Mean Business Coalition and HM Government.
No single organisation owned the event. The programme, guest list, protocol, press and branding were all decided across the four, and each partner brought their own stakeholders and institutional relationships to the table. The afternoon ran in three formats: a closed-door high-level ministerial and CEO dialogue, an accredited press briefing, and a public plenary followed by an evening reception.
The Challenge
A four-way co-organiser model creates an extraordinary guest list but no single chain of command. Every decision on the programme, protocol and press had to be made across four organisations rather than inside one team.
E3G needed more than a producer. It needed someone who could sit in the co-organiser room as E3G, hold its position on the day-to-day calls, commit on its behalf and bring decisions back, all while its own people were carrying four other London Climate Action Week flagship events in the same period.
And the protocol bar was the highest DisCom has produced: a serving head of state, the UN Secretary General and a Secretary of State in one building, on one afternoon, with three formats, a press briefing and a public plenary of nearly 600 people running in parallel, sandwiched between the morning’s State of Climate Politics, and an evening reception sponsored by LinkedIn.
The Work
DisCom acted as a direct E3G resource within the team. Resposnibilities included:
Representing E3G in the co-organiser group across four organisations, sitting on the weekly calls as E3G's voice on production and protocol, and acting as one of the key POCs for the project.
Working directly with the UN Secretary General's team, and with the DESNZ team including the Secretary of State's security detail, on access, timings, arrivals and room requirements for the principals.
Building the delegation liaison officer model with the co-organisers, connecting each country and organisation with their named DLO before the day rather than on arrival. Protocol and high-level participant management came back as the strongest-rated area of the whole summit.
Supporting the programme and run of show across three formats in one afternoon, managing the transitions between the closed-door dialogue, the press briefing and the plenary, and the room specification across the Egyptian Hall, the Old Ballroom, the North Drawing Room press briefing and a dedicated speaker room.
Managing the £100,000 budget and making the case for spend where it mattered. In a co-organised summit with shared costs, the first things cut are the ones guests actually feel. DisCom pushed for tech-based registration over the cheaper option, with London Climate Action Week branding outside the building.
Crowd control across the building, managing arrival and registration flow, badge and access control across the VIP room, the press briefing and the plenary, and the movement between floors, so the closed rooms stayed closed and the public rooms kept moving.
Setting the operating rhythm for E3G including weekly project management meetings with structured update emails, a clear shared drive and function-specific WhatsApp groups, so decisions moved in hours rather than days.
A structured feedback survey across all four co-organisers covering project management, stakeholder management, programme, invitations and RSVPs, protocol, comms and press, and logistics, written up and taken into a co-organiser debrief on 16 July.
GETES in numbers
927 registrations, 584 in the plenary, 105 in the High-Level Dialogue, 20 Tier 1 press.
26 plenary speakers across the afternoon.
20 high-level delegations including the UN Secretary General, a serving head of state, a UK Secretary of State and more than 20 ministers and senior country representatives.
50+ CEOs: 25 from business and 15 C-level leaders from industry bodies and international financial institutions.
The room split NGO 34%, business and industry 30%, government 21%.
Co-organisers scored the summit 9.78 out of 10 against its objectives, 8.56 on delivery and 8.56 on collaboration and project management.
