Opening Ceremony
The challenge of climate change requires everyone to act. The Welsh Government is hosting Wales Climate Week to bring people across Wales together to tackle climate change. The theme for Wales Climate Week 2023 is fairness, and how solutions for tackling and building greater resilience to climate change must be driven by the guiding principle of leaving no-one behind. This year’s event will examine the disproportionate impacts of climate change on different people, groups and places, and address how we can ensure that benefits associated with climate policies are distributed fairly across society.
Contributors will explore the links between solutions for tackling climate change and the cost-of-living crisis. The aim will be to deepen our collective understanding of the barriers faced by industry and business, regions, communities and households across Wales, action already being undertaken to address them, and other solutions needed in the future.
This year’s programme of events will coincide with a Welsh Government consultation on a new Just Transition Framework to ensure we are hearing views from as many people as possible, representing diverse viewpoints and involving those voices that might otherwise be unheard.
This session will set the context for Wales Climate Week. Just as leaders are coming together for Wales Climate Week, world leaders are coming together at COP28, to focus on the global stock take of progress in delivering the Paris Agreement. The session will focus on the importance of ensuring fairness in in the Net Zero transition at both a Wales and global level.
A just transition recognises that economic shifts are necessary for addressing challenges like climate change. A shift towards a more sustainable and low-carbon economy involves addressing the impact on jobs and skills as we move away from an economy heavily reliant on certain industries, often high-carbon or environmentally damaging, to one that is more sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially responsible.
The economic transition can have significant impacts on workers, communities and the broader economy. Retraining and upskilling workers; creating employment opportunities in areas such as renewable energy and green technologies; and ensuring the benefits of the transition are distributed fairly are ways to achieve a just transition.
Purpose and suggested outcomes:
- This session will explore the challenges we are facing due to the climate and nature emergencies and how these can be tackled in a just and fair way, with a focus on jobs and skills.
- We will discuss examples of good practice and progress – and identify common challenges and opportunities.
- International panelists will be able to share good practice examples with a Welsh audience.
- We will share learnings from this workshop with Welsh public bodies.
- In addition, we will aim to support relationships between sub-state governments to identify the potential for future exchanges and collaborations.
Audience
The session is aimed at Welsh public bodies and organisations to build their understanding of what other countries and international organisations are doing to advocate for, and implement, a just transition for jobs and skills.
The culture and heritage sectors in Wales are bringing creative responses to the challenges of climate change. This session will consider the impact of climate change on culture, show how creative people are responding to problems, and demonstrate how our sectors are communicating the stories of climate change.
Audience
This session is aimed at anyone interested in culture in Wales; for those who want to understand the current and future impact of climate change on these sectors, for those who are interested in cultural well-being, and for those who are committed to understanding and delivering the Well-being of Future Generations Act’s goal of a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language.
Education can encourage people to change their attitudes and behaviour and can help make informed decisions.
Education can empower and motive people to take climate action, but sometimes it’s difficult to know what can be done and how to take that action forward.
With Climate Week focusing on fairness it’s essential that young people have their say and are provided with opportunities to understand the issues surrounding the climate crisis and what they can do to take action.
This session will provide children and young people with an opportunity to hear about what is happening in Wales and have their voices heard, along with understanding actions we can take within our school/communities
- how we move (eg cycle instead of drive)
- how we eat (eg locally sourced, in season, plant-based)
- how we consume (eg repair over buy, and buy second hand over new)
- how we speak (eg ask for recycling bins in our playground if not present)
A session exploring public sector climate change leadership in action: ‘Not the usual suspects’ - Innovative and exploratory work that’s happening right now across Wales.
Audience
The session is aimed at those interested in Welsh public sector decarbonisation and the innovative action being taken in this sector across Wales.
Join the Chair and members of the Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group to explore the work they are undertaking and how they plan to address a just transition for Wales.
The Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group was established in January 2023 to deliver on a specific commitment in the formal Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru Cooperation Agreement (2021) committed to “commission independent advice to examine potential pathways to net zero by 2035 – the current target date is 2050. This will look at the impact on society and sectors of our economy and how any adverse effects may be mitigated, including how the costs and benefits are shared fairly”.
Contact us: