The inaugural Auckland Climate Festival is underway, and organisers are amazed at the public’s response to the first week of virtual events.

Festival Founder Michelle Kennedy said she’s thrilled to see the festival go ahead with such vigor, and that climate action has not taken a back seat, despite the disruptions that Covid has caused.

“We’re taken aback by the participation of both Auckland residents, and by those from further afield. A silver lining of running a predominantly online festival is we’re able to welcome participants from around the world to both speak and take part,” Kennedy said.

Highlights from week one included a moving opening event, where Minister Hon James Shaw shared a message of hope ahead of his trip to COP26 later this month.

“Hope comes from the knowledge that we’re taking actions that make a difference. Not just my own individual actions or my family, my whānau, my community or my business... but the actions we’re taking collectively, which is why I think initiatives like Auckland Climate Festival are so important,” Shaw said.

Other highlights from week one included: childrens’ events for the school holidays such as ‘Climate Gases: Make a Fart Molecule’; high school events such as ‘Spark Change Solveathon 2021’ by UN Youth NZ; industry events such as ‘Natural Fibre Standards and Certification’ by Mindful Fashion in partnership with RawAssembly; and Climate Change Commission NZ’s ‘Clean Energy in the Transition to Net Zero’ with internationally renowned energy economist Michael Liebreich.

Week two programme includes:

• Auckland Conversations: Greening Our City hosted by Auckland Council
• Live Lightly: 7-day Sustainable Lifestyle Challenge by Future Fit, Live Lightly and Auckland Council
• Innovation as Climate Action by Ministry for the Environment and CreativeHQ
• Addressing the Climate Urgency led by Mātauranga Māori hosted by the Institute of Directors
• Climate action through legal drafting by Debra Dorrington, Webb Henderson and LCANZI
• #Litterless campaign - reduce environmental pollution by Keep NZ Beautiful
• Build to Rent, Sustainable, Low Carbon Communities by the NZGBC and Urban Design Forum
• Circular Economy: Opportunities and Risk in Product Value Chains hosted by Waste Management and thinkstep-anz

ABOUT AUCKLAND CLIMATE FESTIVAL

Auckland Climate Festival is an open platform for climate leaders to engage with communities, the private sector, government, youth and Māori across the Tāmaki region as a coordinated response to the climate emergency. The festival will take place 12 - 31 October 2021.

Running for the first time this year, Aucklanders will engage in climate action through attending a diverse range of more than 65 virtual events.

To browse the programme, click here. Interview opportunities with spokespeople and/ or speakers are available upon request.

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