Climate Week 2013 was Britain’s biggest ever environmental occasion. Over 3,400 events were registered, attended by about half a million people. They involved every part of society and showed an enormous appetite across the UK for collective action on climate change.
The events ranged from the launch of the Greater Manchester Hydrogen Partnership to a conference on geoengineering at Oxford University, from climate trails at Birmingham Botanical Gardens to a sustainable business event in Belfast, from a bicycle-powered film screening in London to the world’s largest green construction trade show, Ecobuild. Hundreds of pubs and offices ran the Climate Week Pub Quiz.
More than 200,000 people in schools and workplaces took part in a team competition, the Climate Week Challenge, which this year was to design the ultimate eco-home. Pupils from Manchester schools did the challenge at Manchester United with the England football coach Gary Neville, and many from London schools took part at St Paul’s Cathedral hosted by the Bishop of London.
There was huge support for the Climate Week Declaration, which calls for government to do more on climate change, starting with decarbonisation targets in the Energy Bill. This was signed by over 200 organisations including the TUC, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the business-led Aldersgate Group and the British Medical Association. The Declaration was handed to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change during Climate Week.
Online promotion of Climate Week was enormous - for example Climate Week was at the top of Twitter’s UK trending table for most of the launch day.