7 JUNE – 21 JUNE 2025
Two weeks of events and activities to inspire a climate-friendly Reading
Let’s ‘reimagine Reading’ as a healthier, happier, climate-friendly town. What will it look and feel like? And what role can each of us play in helping us get there? Reading Climate Festival is a chance for everyone in Reading to feel part of this big, collective action.
This year our festival programme will consist of two parts:
- A core festival programme: Events and activities hosted by Reading Climate Change Partnership (RCCP), the steering group of ReadingCAN
- A fringe programme: Over to you, the wider climate action network and the people of Reading! Host your own event to inspire, celebrate or support Reading’s journey to net zero, under the banner of the 2-week festival.
THE CORE PROGRAMME WILL INCLUDE EVENTS & ACTIVITIES FOR…
Creatives
- Join the #ReimagineReading Climate Innovation Challenge for Creatives!
- Some of Reading’s climate challenges are dependent on better communications. We will outline some of these challenges and invite local comms and creatives teams to develop and then pitch solutions.
- You will receive a number of background briefings on the challenge to help you develop your ideas.
- We hope to raise sponsorship for a cash prize to support the winning ideas to be developed. Stay tuned as we develop this idea, or get in touch if you’d like to sponsor!
Schools
- Schools will receive a briefing, tools and resources to help them reduce their impacts to net zero, including via their buildings, procurement, curriculum and outreach.
- Event partners include the University of Reading’s Climate Ambassadors for Schools programme, the local organisation Design Nature, and several others.
SMEs and other organisations
- Local organisations will have a chance to join a Reading Climate Pledge for Organisations and hear about resources, support and local groups to help them monitor and reduce their impacts across a number of metrics.
- We will also look at opportunities to enhance your positive impacts on the town’s quest to become a healthier, happier net-zero place to live, work, study and play.
Households and the people who live, love, care and create in them
- Hear about the Reading Climate Pledge for Individuals and get a steer on how to reduce your household’s negative impacts on the climate, including through energy use, travel, diet and waste.
- We’ll also explore your influence as a parent, friend, consumer, child, voter, activist, cyclist, artist, community leader, etc. We all wear so many hats and there are opportunities to support Reading’s journey to net zero through all of them!
- Join a Big Lunch in Forbury Gardens to experience a sociable, climate-friendly day in the park. Try some seriously delicious climate-friendly food, enjoy some time outdoors with friends, listen to live music, get some free seedlings and advice on growing your own, and more…
Corporations
- Help us act now! We can’t afford to wait for markets to catch up with the science.
- We are calling on local corporations to join our climate action community.
- Many important local climate actions do not have a business model to bring them to scale – including draughtbusting, climate literacy, sustainable food systems and recycling. Why? Because climate change is a market failure.
- Despite this, scores of organisations in Reading have developed scalable initiatives to tackle some of the causes and effects of climate change.
- Join an event aimed at corporations based in Reading to hear about opportunities to support grassroots emissions reduction initiatives.
Reading Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plans 2025 – 2030
- During the Festival fortnight RCCP will launch the FIRST DRAFT Climate Emergency Strategy for 2026 – 2030 to kick off a formal consultation.
- Come along to hear proposed climate action priorities for 2026 – 2030.
- These priorities were identified during Reading’s Year of Climate Engagement in 2024, a year-long co-creation and public participation process.
- If you live, work or study in Reading, this is a great chance for you to understand our local climate change challenge and find your place in it. There are so many and varied opportunities to be part of the solution!
NEXT STEPS…COMING SOON…
- We will publish a Call for Expressions of Interest in participating in Reading Climate Festival 2025 in the week commencing 17 March 2025.
- This Call will outline opportunities to contribute to the Festival, either as a partner for one of our core programme events or as host of a Fringe event.
- If you would like to register your interest in receiving this Call direct to your inbox, please email us today.
