Amid Record Heat and $320B in Disaster Losses, Leading Cities Opens QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2025

Environment

Communities are facing the sharpest rise in climate-driven emergencies in modern records: 2024 was confirmed as the warmest year on record (≈1.55°C above pre-industrial), global disaster losses reached ~$368 billion, and the UN projects the world could face ~560 disasters per year by 2030—with a persistent protection gap leaving most losses uninsured. These trends are overwhelming local systems and pushing cities, NGOs, and utilities to look for solutions that work in the field, not just on paper. In response, Leading Cities is opening applications for the QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge 2025, a global call to equip frontline communities with ethical, scalable technology that helps people prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate-driven events.

The QBE AcceliCITY Humanitarian Challenge is a unique cross-sector collaboration between Australian Red Cross, QBE Foundation and Leading Cities, focused on scaling community-led solutions for climate resilience. Selected innovators will co-design with frontline users, receive targeted mentoring through the Humanitech innovation curriculum and AcceliCITY programming, and pilot in real-world settings with the support of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement—pilots valued at up to AUD $100,000 to adapt and test where it matters most. The program’s architecture is designed to tackle the practical barriers that typically stall promising ideas—procurement, compliance and safeguarding, systems integration, and community trust—so pilots can convert into durable services.

“This isn’t another showcase—it’s a pathway,” said Michael Lake, President & CEO of Leading Cities. “Communities are adapting in real time, often without the tools they deserve. Our goal is to connect ethical, field-ready tech with the partners and resources that move solutions from concept to deployment—and from pilots to sustained local impact.”

This year’s call focuses on solutions that turn complex climate risk data into clear local insights so people can act early; simplify how residents access recovery support without retelling their story or navigating a maze of services; and help communities self-organize as conditions change—seeing who needs what, where, and when. Solutions don’t need to be perfect; they need to be grounded in real needs, backed by capable teams, and ready to grow.

To strengthen the bridge from pilot to scale, the 2025 cycle emphasizes ethical-by-design guardrails (data protection, privacy, do-no-harm), localization and implementation support alongside pilots, and evidence and measurement that cities and funders recognize—so outcomes like avoided losses, cost savings, and equity impacts are documented in a way that accelerates adoption.

The model builds on demonstrated results. Since 2018, the QBE AcceliCITY partnership has vetted thousands of solutions and supported startups from more than 70 countries, helping them raise over $2.2 billion in private capital and more than $1 billion in revenue while engaging cities and national partners. In 2024, the Humanitarian Challenge winner was WEO, based in Luxembourg, who piloted digital-twin mapping in Dargo, Australia—a town repeatedly hit by fires and floods—and is now exploring opportunities to scale across other high-risk communities.