What is the Highlands & Islands Climate festival?

The Festival originated in 2022 after excited discussions between the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub and Highland Adapts. This sparked the creation of the Highland Climate Festival which took place in June 2022 and the Orkney Climate Festival which took place in September 2022 alongside the Orkney International Science Festival. Both were incredibly well received and achieved the goal of celebrating community climate action and showcasing communities incredible efforts. 

From active travel, repair cafes, growing open days, film screenings and even a tree hugging competition! Events were varied with something to suit a huge range of interests.

Following this success, the Highlands & Islands Climate Hub worked with community organisations throughout the region to collaborate on one inclusive Highlands & Islands Climate Festival. Our first official month-long Climate Festival took place in September 2023, with a particular focus on localism. Each corner of the Highlands & Islands, and everywhere in between, celebrated their community by hosting exciting events. Throughout September, the Festival encompassed a total of 120 events, and coincided with the Scottish Government’s Climate Week.

It’s nearly time for our communities to come together again for special climate action celebrations! Join us for the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival 2024, coming September 2024.

If you’re a community or an individual passionate about protecting the environment while having great fun, or an organisation eager to engage with their community, we encourage you to get involved with the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival.

Participation allows you to gather community members to take climate action and celebrate one another. You can join the Festival by adapting your own pre-existing events/projects occuring in September or create a brand-new event to host specifically for the occasion! Check out the opportunities for funding to see if we can support you to participate.

The Festival and its events give us the chance to meet like-minded people, share experiences and knowledge so that we are better placed to make climate friendly changes both independently and as part of a wider collective.

The benefits of participation are wider than climate action too, hosting an event in your community can raise awareness of your organisation and it's goals.

GET INVOLVED

The Festival is a celebration of localism; ‘Think Local, Be Local’.

‘Thinking local’ means low carbon, sustainable choices and celebrating what can be done within our vibrant local communities.