Welcome to Cleveland Climate Week!!!
Cleveland Climate Week is an annual week of awareness and aligned events across Northeast Ohio, highlighting climate leadership already happening in our communities.
This dedicated week creates a visible moment of focus and connection, bringing together institutions, neighborhoods, and individuals who are advancing solutions every day.
Climate leadership does not begin in conference rooms. It begins in neighborhoods, classrooms, places of worship, small businesses, and community spaces where people experience environmental change in their daily lives. Cleveland Climate Week was created to help elevate these voices and connect them with the broader systems shaping our region’s future.
Beyond this week, the broader vision is year-round alignment: strengthening collaboration, reducing duplicated efforts, increasing visibility, and connecting climate-related work across Cleveland and throughout Ohio so that collective impact becomes measurable and sustained.
From the to the Global Stage
A City That Sparked Environmental Reform, and Is Designing What Comes Next
In 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire. It was not the largest fire in its history, but it occurred at a moment when the nation was ready to confront what unchecked pollution had cost its communities.
Mayor Carl Stokes stood at the river’s edge and ensured the story reached beyond Cleveland. What followed helped accelerate momentum toward the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Water Act, defining pillars of modern environmental governance.
His brother, Congressman Louis Stokes, supported strong federal oversight and helped secure funding for environmental protection during this transformative era.
That period demanded accountability for pollution.
Today demands accountability for climate transition, as extreme weather, infrastructure strain, economic disruption, and public health impacts become increasingly visible.
Cleveland Climate Week builds on that legacy.
Not as a reaction to crisis, but as a deliberate effort to coordinate the region’s climate leadership across sectors.
We are building toward 2027, honoring catalytic history while shaping structured regional alignment for the future.
Why Climate Week Matters Now
Climate work is accelerating across Northeast Ohio.
Businesses are rethinking energy systems.
Hospitals are addressing climate-related health impacts.
Youth are demanding accountability.
Faith institutions and artists are shaping cultural response.
Neighborhood organizations are advancing local resilience.
Many of these efforts began as grassroots initiatives led by residents, students, and community organizations responding directly to the environmental realities around them.
Climate Week creates shared visibility.
Shared visibility builds shared momentum
March 9–15, 2026
During Cleveland Climate Week, regional convenings align under a shared banner, demonstrating the depth and diversity of climate leadership across Northeast Ohio.
8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Greater Cleveland Partnership Corporate Sustainability Summit (Member Event, Registration Required)
Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland, 300 Lakeside Avenue
Join GCP’s Corporate Sustainability Summit: Driving Impact: Corporate Sustainability in Action to explore cutting-edge sustainable business practices, uncover new opportunities, and connect with industry leaders.
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Building Education Series: The Future of Solar (Free, Registration Required)
Cleveland 2030 District 1111 Superior Avenue, 4th Floor Conference Room
An honest discussion on the future of solar amid declining funding, including battery storage and innovation.
8:30 AM – 4:00 PM
North East Ohio Summit on High Performance Buildings (Registration Required)
The NORTHEAST OHIO SUMMIT ON HIGH PERFORMANCE BUILDINGS offers expert insights into how to design and build infrastructure that provides greater value, improved resiliency, more reliable operations, and sustainable energy systems.
900 AM – 2:00 PM
The Northeast Ohio Youth Climate Summit (SOLD OUT)
Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland, 300 Lakeside Avenue
A collaboration and educational conference that brings together people from the region to address pressing environmental challenges.
9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
2026 Cuyahoga River AOC Symposium (Registration Required)
Slovenian National Home in Cleveland, 6417 St. Clair Avenue
A biennial event covering watershed work, Area of Concern updates, and local conservation efforts.
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Lakewood EV101 (Free, No Registration Required)
Lakewood Public Library, 15425 Detroit Avenue
Clean Fuels Ohio and Drive Electric Northeast Ohio invites you to an interactive and informative educational workshop on all things EV ownership.
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Sherwick Tree Steward Training (Free, Registration Required)
Famicos Foundation, 1325 Ansel Road
Reforest Our City offers The Sherwick Tree Steward Training to the residents of Cleveland to learn more about trees and how they have the power to transform a city.
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority: Mechanics Hiring Event (Registration Required)
Greater Cleveland Works, 1910 Carnegie Avenue
On site information session, application assistance, and mechanic testing.
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Urban Forestry Commission: Budget Committee Meeting Meeting (Virtual Meeting)
The Urban Forestry Commission (UFC) is scheduled to host a Budget Committee Meeting. The public is welcome to observe virtually.
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (Ticket Required)
11610 Euclid Avenue
Thank You for the Rain
Kisilu, a Kenyan farmer, uses his camera to capture the life of his family village and the damages of climate change. When a storm destroys his house, Kisilu works to building a community movement of farmers fighting the impacts of extreme weather.
Cleveland Climate Week highlights pivotal convenings that bring together business leaders, youth, policymakers, researchers, healthcare systems, artists, and community members to address critical climate challenges and foster sustainable, equitable solutions.
These events reflect the interconnected pillars of climate work:
- Economic transition
- Workforce development
- Infrastructure modernization
- Public health resilience
- Environmental restoration
- Cultural storytelling
Climate progress requires each of them.
Greater Cleveland Partnership’s Sustainability Summit
Northeast Ohio Youth Climate Summit
CIA Cinematheque Screening
A Legacy of Leadership
Honoring the Stokes' Vision
Cleveland Climate Week 2026 proudly honors the Stokes legacy, recognizing their pivotal role in advocating for environmental justice. We reflect on the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire and celebrate the ongoing pursuit of Justice in the Water, inspiring future generations to champion sustainability.
Join Us for Community-Driven Climate Actions
Climate leadership is not confined to conference halls.
Engage with Cleveland Climate Week through urban forestry initiatives, clean energy dialogues, electric vehicle education, workforce pathways, faith-based engagement, hospital sustainability efforts, and neighborhood-led solutions.
When boardrooms, classrooms, congregations, healthcare systems, artists, and neighborhood leaders move in coordination, climate progress accelerates.
Participation strengthens durable regional capacity.
Urban Forestry Meetings
2030 District: The Future of Solar
Lakewood EV101
Honoring Legacy
Honoring Carl Stokes’ Vision
The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire became a catalytic moment in modern environmental history, not because it was unprecedented, but because it reframed environmental neglect as a matter of public trust.
Mayor Carl Stokes’ leadership insisted that air and water quality were inseparable from housing, food security,
and economic stability.
“I am fearful that the priorities on air and water pollution may be at the expense of what the priorities of the country ought to be: proper housing, adequate food and clothing.”
— Mayor Carl Stokes, June 23, 1969
His brother, Congressman Louis Stokes, reinforced that accountability through federal oversight and investment.
Together, their legacy reminds us:
Environmental stewardship is not separate from justice.
It is foundational to it.
Cleveland Climate Week carries that understanding forward.
A forthcoming documentary, Stokes’ Dilemma, explores this leadership and its relevance for today’s conversations about equity, governance, and public trust.
Learn more at www.carlstokesfilm.com
Building Momentum for a Sustainable Future by 2027
2026 establishes alignment.
2027 advances integration.
Through partnership with the Environmental Professionals Network, Cleveland Climate Week connects into a network of more than 700 environmental and sustainability professionals representing:
- Corporate sustainability departments
- Small and mid-sized businesses
- Engineering and consulting firms
- Academic and research institutions
- Utilities and public agencies
- Grassroots organizations
- Faith institutions
- Healthcare systems
- Cultural leaders and artists
This cross-sector representation ensures that climate work spans policy, practice, innovation, and lived experience.
Alignment means:
- Clearer collaboration
- Stronger regional visibility
- Shared calendar infrastructure
- Reduced fragmentation
- Greater measurable impact
For participants, this means easier access to events, clearer pathways to partnership, and stronger visibility for local climate leadership.
By 2027, Cleveland Climate Week will serve as:
- A year-round regional climate calendar integration hub
- A visible cross-sector collaboration platform
- A youth-to-workforce climate pathway connector
- A replicable coordination model for mid-sized industrial cities navigating climate transition
This is infrastructure for sustained regional impact.
Stewardship
Cleveland Climate Week is guided by a small group of organizers who believe meaningful climate progress
begins in communities.
The initiative grew out of grassroots conversations among educators, sustainability practitioners, youth advocates, and community organizers who recognized that many people already doing climate work across Northeast Ohio were working in isolation from one another.
Rather than creating a new organization, Cleveland Climate Week was designed as a shared platform, one that connects existing efforts, elevates local leadership, and creates space for voices that are often left out of environmental conversations.
At its core, Cleveland Climate Week is intentionally community-aligned. It is not owned by a single institution or organization. Instead, it helps bring visibility to the many individuals, neighborhood groups, students, artists, faith leaders, and small organizations already advancing climate solutions across the region.
Grassroots organizing remains central to this work.
Cleveland Climate Week is intentionally structured as a shared civic platform rather than a program owned by a single institution. Its strength comes from the participation of many organizations, residents, and partners working together.
This approach helps ensure that the initiative remains rooted in community leadership
while welcoming collaboration across sectors.
The goal is simple:
Make it easier for people working on climate solutions to find one another, collaborate, and strengthen collective impact.