Climate Week Began in Medellin, Focus of the Global Debate on Climate Change
Climate Week, a global platform that connects actors, ideas and solutions to accelerate climate action, began this Monday, September 28, in Medellin, after having been present in cities such as New York, London and San Francisco.
This platform has established itself as a space to promote innovation, investment and collaboration with global impact. For the first time, it arrives in Medellin and Latin America, and for several days there will be conferences, innovation laboratories, cultural activations and events led by different organizations.
It brings together 13,200 attendees from 30 countries
It will be a week in which the city also known as the city of eternal spring becomes a meeting point, conversation and climate action, where governments, companies, academia, organizations, communities and citizens interact to promote conversations, alliances and solutions to climate challenges.
From September 28 to October 10, 2026, Medellin will have an agenda that combines a central event and more than 200 events, meetings and experiences in different spaces throughout the city. Climate Week Medellin seeks to connect local capacities with a global conversation and open new opportunities for collaboration and action.
The event, which was launched this Monday, brings together 13,200 attendees from 30 countries, including mayors, ministers and global leaders, to discuss solutions to the environmental crisis.
In the different settings where it will take place, it will address issues such as nature, water, and AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land uses); energy and transition; sustainable cities and resilience; climate finance; circular economy; and carbon markets.
Medellin was chosen to host the event because, in the organizers’ view, the city “has learned to reinvent itself, has become a Latin American benchmark for urban innovation, territorial transformation and connection.”
“Sharing experiences will help us learn from others”
They also believe that the capital of Antioquia brings together the capabilities, talent and alliances necessary to lead a regional climate conversation with global impact. Climate Week in Medellin was born from this capacity to connect diverse actors to build collective solutions.
The mayor of Medellin, Federico Gutierrez, opened the event, which brings together other mayors, ministers, diplomats, high-level representatives of multilateral organizations, development banks and leaders from around the world.
“I have seen the importance that Climate Week has in other countries, and when we managed to bring it here, it is because of the commitment of the entities, but also of governments, to take action against climate change. Seeing Medellin today as the host really does make us very proud, and the challenge is great,” he said.
He mentioned exemplary cases in his city such as replacing hard surfaces with permeable ones in urban areas and main corridors, planting trees and smaller species, reducing temperatures by between 2 and 4 degrees Celsius in those areas, and sustainable urban drainage systems, which function like a sponge so that water does not flow directly into rivers and streams, in order to prevent flooding.
“Sharing experiences will help us learn from others. There are many who dedicate themselves to talking about defending the environment and do nothing. Others of us talk little and do a lot, that is the great difference in what we are doing in Medellin,” the local official said.
Some of the guests include the mayors of Cali, Alejandro Eder; Valledupar, Ernesto Orozco; and Bucaramanga, Cristian Portilla. Also attending are the mayor of Miami, Eileen Higgins; the British ambassador to Colombia, Louise de Sousa; the executive secretary of Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) for South America, Rodrigo Perpetuo; and representatives of international organizations.