Bangkok is launching a bold new platform for community-led climate action (Bangkok Climate Action Week: 28 September to 4 October 2025)

June 7, 2025 / News

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Bangkok’s new climate festival to catalyse Whole-of-Society action for a greener and more inclusive Southeast Asia.

Bangkok Climate Action Week (BKKCAW) will bring individuals, creatives, and changemakers together to shape inclusive, community-powered climate solutions.

Bangkok, Thailand – June 5, 2025 — Bangkok is launching a bold new platform for community-led climate action. The inaugural Bangkok Climate Action Week (BKKCAW) will take place from 28 September to 4 October 2025, turning the city into a vibrant space for climate imagination, local leadership, and regional solidarity.

Anchored at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) — with more venues to be announced soon — the festival invites people from all walks of life to come together to co-create climate solutions that are inclusive, grounded in lived realities, and driven by local knowledge.

More than a week-long event, BKKCAW is poised to become a vibrant platform for whole-of-society engagement, where citizens, communities, and institutions come together in new ways to build a greener, more inclusive future for all.

At its heart, Bangkok Climate Action Week is a celebration of collective action, imagination, and the strength of communities and locally-led solutions. Designed as a city-based festival of ideas and initiatives, it seeks to mobilise local communities, creatives, youth, scientists, policymakers, activists, and neighbours to co-create climate solutions that are inclusive, joyful, and resilient.

“Climate change impacts everyone, and calls on all of us to act; it must not be seen as the sole preserve of technical experts,” says Leo Horn-Phathanothai, convenor of BKKCAW. “Our purpose with Bangkok Climate Action Week is to activate and engage the public and strengthen their participation in the green transition. That means putting people at the centre, elevating local voices and solutions, and building spaces where Southeast Asian actors can shape the transition together.”

Overarching Theme 2025

This year’s theme — Living the Impacts, Leading the Change — puts people at the centre of the climate story.

Rather than abstract policies or distant futures, Bangkok Climate Action Week 2025 focuses on how people from all walks of life are responding, and can better respond, to the real, everyday challenges of climate change: from heatwaves and flooding to lost livelihoods and rising inequality.

The week will spotlight grassroots leadership, local solutions, and community resilience, showing how those living the impacts are also leading the change. It’s a call to recognise everyday climate champions and to elevate voices from the region in the global climate movement. Living the Impacts, Leading the Change calls for a shift in perspective: one that sees people not as passive victims, but as active agents of transformation. One that values the unique contribution to addressing climate change from this region.

A Platform to Drive Systemic Change through Collaboration

At its core, BKKCAW challenges top-down, expert-led models of climate action. Instead, it centres underrepresented voices, grassroots solutions, and the collective power of communities to reimagine climate action on their own terms.

Through public programs, workshops, exhibitions, performances, policy labs and community-led experiments, BKKCAW will foster opportunities for diverse groups to exchange ideas, build connections, learn collaboratively, and drive climate action across sectors.

Southeast Asia in Focus

As Southeast Asia faces increasing challenges from the region’s changing climate, from flooding and heatwaves to air pollution and resource stress, Bangkok Climate Action Week invites regional solidarity and exchange. It is a rallying call for cities and communities to learn from one another, to innovate, and to act together.

“If we can find like-minded companions on this journey, we can create a real and lasting impact. And if we set sail first, that’s even better — then now is the time to bring more people on the ride.” – Chadchart Sittipunt, governor of Bangkok.

“Having served as part of Thailand’s Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), I’ve seen firsthand the world’s extraordinary interest in Thailand and Southeast Asia — not only for our cultural role, but for the rich, place-based knowledge and climate resilience embedded in our local communities.” says Kamori Osthananda, Climate Youth Negotiator, Thailand Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties

“Bangkok Climate Action Week is a long-overdue recognition of local leadership. It’s a platform that amplifies grassroots solutions and fosters dialogue across age, region, and lived experience. Effective climate action starts not only in negotiation rooms, but in communities, farms, forests, and flood-prone neighbourhoods.” says Kamori Osthananda, Climate Youth Negotiator

What to expect

BKKCAW creates space for honest exchange, care-driven collaboration, and shared learning, and by doing so, the festival helps turn bold ideas into collective action — and collective action into real impact.

Program examples include Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), a cultural leader organising exhibitions and interactive programs that use the power of art to inspire public engagement with climate action. Meanwhile, the CASE team, a collaboration between German International Cooperation (GIZ) and Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), is developing an immersive experience aimed at making clean energy knowledge accessible to a broad audience, emphasising innovation and inclusion in Thailand’s energy transition.

“Bangkok Climate Action Week is more than a festival—it’s a platform for collective imagination. Being part of this event allows BACC to extend our impact beyond the gallery walls, connecting climate discourse with everyday life through the lens of art.” says Adulaya “Kim” Hoontrakul, Director of BACC.

How to get involved

Bangkok Climate Action Week (BKKCAW) welcomes events of all shapes and sizes — from in-person and virtual formats to public gatherings, private discussions, and everything in between. They might include everything from community markets and youth-led performances to school-based art projects, public mural-making, storytelling circles, or climate justice workshops. Small and spontaneous or large-scale and coordinated, all are welcome.

Whether you have an idea for a climate-related event or a space to host one, we encourage you to get involved. We especially encourage programmes that reflect the region’s diversity, centre everyday realities, and embody the theme Living the Impacts, Leading the Change.

To participate, simply visit the BKKCAWl website: https://www.bangkokclimateactionweek.org/get-involved. Scroll down to the sections titled “Submit an event” and “Offer a venue” to access the relevant application forms.

Please fill out the appropriate form with as much detail as possible. Organisers are responsible for their own logistics, but we’re here to support you along the way. Each event will be reviewed and approved by the BKKCAW team and its Steering Committee before it is published on the website. We will be in touch if we require any further information or clarification regarding your submission.

Applications are open until 30 June 2025.

About US

Bangkok Climate Action Week is organised by JUTI (Just Transitions Incubator) in partnership with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

JUTI (Just Transitions Incubator) is dedicated to building bridges toward a just, climate-safe future by uniting change agents, communities, and diverse partners in collaborative action. With a focus on empathy, innovation, and integrity, JUTI incubates breakthrough initiatives and solutions that shift expectations of what is possible, honors local wisdom, uplifts people and restores the Earth — ultimately creating pathways to more desirable futures for all.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is responsible for the city’s administration and plays a critical role in advancing sustainable urban development and climate resilience across the city. Through public space activation, inclusive programming, and infrastructure planning, BMA is a key partner in bringing Bangkok Climate Action Week to life.