The line up for the latest Wales Climate Week programme this will include virtual conference sessions led by BT, FareShare Cymru, Innovate UK, Natural Resources Wales, Public Health Wales, trade union UNISON and climate action body WRAP, as well as academic experts from Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan and Swansea Universities.
Speakers and panellists from a range of public and private sector organisations have committed to the programme, which will focus on debating and answering a key question; How can we tackle climate change in a fair way? To view the current programme, visit climateweek.gov.wales.
The 2023 event will be the fifth annual Wales Climate Week and combines a 5-day virtual conference with a series of Climate Conversations, hosted by various partner organisations across the country, including Climate Action Newtown, the Global Gardens Project in Cardiff, Resource Denbighshire, Rhondda Housing Association, Llangattock Green Valleys near Crickhowell and All Saints School in Wrexham.
The virtual conference will be opened by the Welsh Minister for Climate Change, Julie James MS, who will re-enforce the Welsh Government’s commitment to developing a just transition framework, ensuring that nobody in society gets left behind as Wales moves towards a greener, more sustainable economy that isn’t reliant on fossil fuels.
Joining the Minister on the opening day will be Chris Stark, CEO of the Climate Change Committee, who will join live from the COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai, as well as representatives from the Welsh Local Government Association and the offices of the Future Generations Commissioner and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
The theme for day two will be transport, infrastructure and housing, including sessions on embedding fairness within future sustainable transport systems, touching on areas like electric vehicles, active travel and hydrogen transport. The impact of climate change on housing in Wales and how to effectively engage with stakeholders when planning decarbonisation projects, will also be on the day two agenda.
The focus turns to business and work on day three, with sessions on supporting SMEs on the journey to net zero, how to harness new technology and help develop green skills across a range of industry sectors. Day four is all about communities, with sessions on tackling food waste, addressing inequalities in public health and exploring evidence of racism in climate change action. Day four also features a session from “Incredible Edible”, a UK-wide group promoting local food growing and sharing; and a campaign to make Monmouth the first “deforestation-free” town in Wales.
The final day of the virtual conference will be devoted to organisations sharing best practice and inspirational case studies, in a series of pre-recorded sessions designed to explore key issues and inspire others to take action.
Some of the more unusual sessions across the week include “Holistic Hoarding”, on encouraging people with classic hoarding behaviours to be part of the circular economy and how “seaweed farming” in coastal communities can help in the fight against climate change.
Wales Climate Week encourages a national conversation on climate change and provides an opportunity for a wide range of stakeholders to network and engage in important discussions on how Wales can play its part in tackling climate change. The main audience is public sector organisations, businesses and industry bodies, trade unions, voluntary groups, environmental organisations, charities, academia, youth groups, equality networks amongst others. However, this is an open-invitation programme and everyone is welcome to take part.
Anyone who visits climateweek.gov.wales can view the virtual conference programme and register to attend for free, as well as accessing a range of other information and resources, including a promotional toolkit that enables organisations to share details about Wales Climate Week within their own networks.
