Launching the UAE and Brazil co-chaired Group of Friends for Culture-based Climate Action at the UNFCCC, this Ministerial Dialogue aims to make a paradigm shift in how climate change is understood: it is not just an environmental, financial, and scientific challenge but a cultural one as well. With the goal of consolidating international consensus on the need to put culture from arts to heritage at the heart of climate action, we seek to define key values and best practices for culture-based climate action, propose enhanced North-South and South-South exchange and Indigenous knowledge systems, establish impact measurement strategies, and share views on how the UNFCCC process can be accelerated to meet the urgent need for scaled up global adaptation.