First-Ever Johannesburg Climate Week Concludes, Planting Seeds for a Just Future
Highlights from Johannesburg Climate Week 2025
Johannesburg Climate Week participants smiling with a signed copy of the landmark Cancel Coal court case victory — the first-ever, youth-led climate change court case against the South African government.
The first-ever Johannesburg Climate Week, hosted by African Climate Alliance, successfully concluded last week. This inaugural week brought together nearly 200 children, activists, community leaders, students, and citizens who moved across the city to explore how climate change and social injustice connect — and how they can be a part of the change.
Across three events in Braamfontein, Soweto, and Observatory, we skipped speeches, statistics, and conference halls. Instead, we focused on debates, screenings, planting, song, dance, and workshops that turned theory into action. Climate change is often discussed only in science, but we merged it with lived experience to spark a personal sense of responsibility.
Young people and children led the week from start to finish. Their closing request was simple: create more spaces where their voices are heard. The first Johannesburg Climate Week is only the beginning of a city- and continent-wide movement that challenges systems of power and catalyses change.
Here are a few of the highlights:
Day 1: Energy Justice Imbizo + Screening
On Day 1 of Johannesburg Climate Week, at Ubuntu Hub in Braamfontein, we came together to celebrate the Cancel Coal court case victory, South Africa’s first-ever youth-led climate case.
The room was filled with children from Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng, legal experts, campaigners, and community leaders – and the energy was electric. We used film, art, song, and dialogue to show that creativity is a powerful tool for building a movement for energy justice.
From the Politically Aweh screening reflecting on the long history of youth-led climate action that we are continuing, to a fiery debate-style teach-in about who has the duty to protect the rights of youth in our country’s energy planning, to a make-along and circular economy fashion show by Kliptown Skills Development, the message rang out clear: there is no energy justice without youth participation.
Day 2: Planting Soweto’s First Miyawaki Forest
On Day 2, we got our hands in the soil for Heritage Day and planted 700 trees forming the first-ever Miyawaki forest in Soweto. In South Africa, spatial inequality means that marginalised areas — areas that have been ignored, excluded, or pushed aside for decades by systems that valued profit over people, and power over justice — have very little access to green spaces. Green spaces not only help with cooling in a warming world, but also provide spaces for healing and grounding. Soweto is an example of spatial injustice.
So, this event was a living demonstration of spatial justice, transforming school grounds into a thriving Miyawaki pocket forest and a sacred space for healing and learning with benches for an outdoor classroom.
The initiative is led by Mzanzi Organics and the Etsoseng Foundation (through its Ithubelisha girls' programme), who conceived this vision of unity. It is generously funded by SUGi, a global leader in community-led rewilding. The name "Ithuba" (Opportunity) was chosen by the girls of Ithubelisha, symbolising the new opportunities this forest represents.
This was more than tree planting; it is a radical act of community care. It reclaimed urban space, restored ecological dignity, and planted seeds of hope for a shared future. The day combined music by Sibusile Xaba, planting, and connection to our shared heritage, with one young participant sharing that the day inspired her to continue taking care of Mother Earth.
Day 3: Gender and Climate Justice in Africa
For the final event of the week, we gathered at Gender Links in Observatory for a full-day, youth-led workshop exploring the intersection of gender and climate justice in the African context.
The session opened with a storytelling circle grounded in real case studies and lived experiences, highlighting the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and girls. Conversations surfaced themes of power, positionality, and the structural forces of patriarchy, colonialism, and inequality that shape vulnerability to climate impacts.
A participatory “solutions lab” invited attendees to imagine how policy makers might respond if they were in the room, capturing key ideas on paper to share beyond the workshop. Two young representatives from Save the Children spoke about their excitement to learn and their plans to start an organisation focused on girls’ issues, embodying the youth-driven call to action at the heart of the event.
By the day’s end, participants left with a collective commitment to gender-responsive climate strategies and to amplifying diverse lived experiences in climate decision-making.
Key Takeaways
Climate justice is social justice: The week highlighted how climate change amplifies existing inequalities, making climate action inseparable from addressing South Africa’s social and spatial injustices.
Youth at the centre: Children and young people led every event, showing their power to drive climate solutions and demanding more spaces to shape decisions.
Creative action over talk: From films and music to debates and workshops, participants used art and storytelling to turn climate theory into collective action.
Community-led transformation: Planting Soweto’s first Miyawaki forest demonstrated how local initiatives can reclaim space, restore ecology, and create healing green areas in marginalised neighborhoods.
Gender-responsive solutions: The final workshop underscored how women and girls face the harshest climate impacts and how gender justice must guide policies and community responses.
Looking Forward
At the African Climate Alliance, we work with youth in Cape Town, South Africa, and across the continent to create active citizenry and inspire them to take climate action by connecting the dots between climate change and our many social crises. We want to show that the climate crisis is not just about changing weather patterns, but it’s a human rights crisis that amplifies existing inequalities and touches our lives when it comes to how we access food, water, energy, housing, transport around the city, and impacts gender inequity. After the success of the first-ever Johannesburg Climate Week, our commitment is firm – this is the beginning of a broader movement towards a more just and sustainable city.
Partner organisations included Save the Children South Africa, Politically Aweh, Center for Child Law, Khantsa Energy, Centre for Environmental Rights, Vukani Environmental Movement, groundWork, Mzanzi Organics, Ubuntu Hub, and Gender Links.
