Starting on August 25, Pugh (51) plans to swim 10 to 15 kilometres across the Ilulissat Icefjord on the west coast of Greenland.  The route will not just be a straight line — Pugh will need to avoid large pieces of ice in the water. The swim is expected to take him two weeks, and he says it will be the first multi-day swim in the Earth's Polar Regions. "This swim will be the most challenging of my career," said Pugh, who spent 10 days training in Iceland before going to Greenland.  

Pugh does long-distance swims to raise awareness of climate change and other environmental problems. In January 2020, he became the first person to swim under the Antarctic ice sheet.  "Ice keeps our planet cool enough for us to live," Pugh said, adding that the world's melting ice is a danger to us all. "No ice, no life."

He will also be attending the 26th UN Climate Change Conference, which will be in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31 to November 12. There he plans to ask world leaders to immediately take action on climate change.

Pugh wants 30% of the world's oceans to be protected by 2030 to help stop climate change. 

According to America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, July 2021 was the world's hottest month ever recorded — almost 1 degree over the 20th century average of 15.8 degrees Celsius.