Wales Climate Week is set to return this November (21st – 25th) for its fourth annual programme, with a three-day virtual conference supported by a week-long series of fringe events held across Wales.
The focus of this year’s event will be on supporting the general public to play their part in tackling climate change and co-benefits this will bring to the way we all live our lives now and in the future. Discussion will also centre on the need for ensuring fairness and protecting the most vulnerable in our society in the way the public engagement programme is delivered.
The three-day virtual conference will be officially opened by Julie James MS, Wales’s Minister for Climate Change, who will chair a panel session on Monday 21st November, three days after the COP27 conference in Egypt. Speakers from national and local government, business and industry, academia, as well as charities and community organisations, will discuss the urgent action needed to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change that we are already experiencing in communities across Wales.
The virtual programme will be free to view live or ‘on demand’ via this year’s new event website – climateweek.gov.wales. More information on individual speakers and sessions will be released later this month.
A new addition for 2022 is the Wales Climate Week fringe event programme, where organisations can bid to host community-based events, designed to encourage local groups to come together and discuss the important issues facing our society as Wales continues to strive for a greener future and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Funding is being made available for applicants who can meet the relevant fringe event criteria.
“Wales Climate Week was established in response to feedback from our Team Wales partners that talking about climate change is important”, said Julie James. “Lots of great work has already been done in Wales to help reduce our emissions and meet our climate obligations, but we will only succeed if a national effort is made across the public sector, industry and by the general public.
“On Thursday (20 October) we published a draft ‘Strategy for Public Engagement & Action on Climate Change 2022-2026’ for consultation and which will provide a framework around how we will work with our Team Wales partners to support the general public in taking action on climate change. The virtual conference will provide an opportunity for Team Wales partners to discuss the draft Strategy and explore how we will deliver it together. I welcome the addition of the new fringe events programme this year, as it will provide a new opportunity for harder to reach and seldom heard communities and individuals to engage in the conversation on climate change. This is a chance for people across Wales to have their say on the future policies that are going to be needed to support our transition to a greener and fairer society – and I am determined we will continue this dialogue in the important weeks and months ahead.”
The Welsh Government has also sponsored Youth COP 2022 (8th & 10th November in Cardiff), an idea that originated in Glasgow last year after a delegation of young people from Wales travelled to Scotland to participate in the local climate change summit. Youth COP will enable more than a hundred school pupils from across Wales to question politicians on their climate change policies and meet a range of organisations involved in climate change initiatives, at home and abroad.
In 2021, more than 3,400 people registered for Wales Climate Week. The 2022 programme will seek to build on the success of last year and the growing appetite amongst organisations and the public in Wales for rebalancing the way in which we live, to protect our environment for future generations.
Visit the website for more information on Wales Climate Week 2022.
