Auckland Climate Festival Wraps Up Having Delivered 75+ Events To Thousands Of Aucklanders

The inaugural Auckland Climate Festival has come to an end, and organisers say this year’s festival has exceeded all expectations in terms of participation and quality of events.

Auckland Climate Festival’s three-week programme of more than 75 virtual events engaged thousands of participants from Auckland and around the world, and organisers have been blown away.

“I can’t thank supporters, participants and event organisers enough for getting behind this festival. It’s been a challenging time for Auckland, and the fact that organisers and participants took these challenges in their stride, and adapted to host virtual events just goes to show how important climate action is to our people,” Festival Founder Michelle Kennedy says.

Week Three was the busiest of the festival, with more than 40 events taking place. A highlight was ‘Live from COP26 with Rod Oram (preview)’, brought to us by the Sustainable Business Network.

“Humanity is starting to make a fair few better decisions than we have in the past, so we can take the headline political disappointment and go ‘yes that’s a reality but that’s not the whole reality. I can go out and do my bit for the real reality’,” Oram said to close his presentation.

Another highlight was ‘Building a Climate Tech Venture to Save the World’, with Derek Handley of Aera VC, Imche Fourie of Outset Ventures, Max Olsen of Seachange, Cathay Clennett of Hiringa Energy and Anthony Bitossi of Stevenson Concrete. The session touched on how to build the next generation of companies from New Zealand to help solve the world’s climate crisis, at scale. Panelists shared real-world advice for entrepreneurs starting out.

Other highlights for week three included: 'Just and Tika Transitions For Tāmaki Makaurau' by AUT University; ‘Climate action through design: architects and engineers panel discussion by Warren and Mahoney and Cosgroves;‘Get over it: bikes, bridges and simple solutions to climate change’ by Bike Auckland; ‘Parenting in a Climate Crisis’ by Parents for Climate Aotearoa and ‘Balance (not burnout): yoga for sustainable climate action’ by Co-Benefits and the Space.

Recorded sessions are available on our website. Dates for the 2022 festival will be released in Q1 of 2022.

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