Johannesburg
Climate Week
21—25 September 2026
A week of city-wide climate action
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?
Johannesburg Climate Week is a city-wide pilot programme of events led by grassroots organisations tackling our most urgent crises: climate change, energy insecurity, food and water inequity, spatial injustice, and gender-based violence.
This isn’t another round of talks in boardrooms. Now in its second year, Johannesburg Climate Week will bring together activists, community leaders, students, and citizens who will share ideas, ride bikes, watch screenings, and move around the city – exploring how climate change is deeply connected to social justice in South Africa.
Participants will journey through different areas of the city and witness how climate change is a threat amplifier. When the floods come, it’s those worst affected by Apartheid spatial planning that lose their homes. When the droughts come, our food and water are at risk.
Citizens, and the youth, can’t wait for governments to waste time at conferences and talk shops – we can and should be bringing adaptation and resilience to our own communities, now.
WHAT IS THE AIM?
Sometimes, these problems feel too big to tackle. But, by learning about alternative forms of transport, housing, urban planning, energy systems, food growing, water resilience and gender-inclusive policy, overwhelm will be turned into collective grassroots action.
The aim is to create a sense of curious, active citizenry and prove that there are many ways to care for our planet, communities, and generations to come. Ultimately, taking climate action has positive social impacts.
2026 THEMES
ENERGY JUSTICE | WATER JUSTICE | FOOD JUSTICE | SPATIAL JUSTICE | GENDER JUSTICE | INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY
By exploring the 6 thematic areas, Johannesburg Climate Week 2026 aims to promote dialogue, collaboration and, fun, and dynamic action towards building a sustainable and just future in South Africa. This will be done through teach-ins, screenings, plantings, and workshops.
Download our Climate Week educational resource booklet below to learn more about each of these themes and how they are connected to climate justice.
2026 PROGRAMME
MONDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER
City In Motion: Tracing Space, Climate & Power Across Johannesburg
Join African Climate Alliance, Book Ibhoni and Gauteng City-Region Observatory for City In Motion: Tracing Space, Climate & Power Across Johannesburg. An immersive spatial justice experience exploring the connections between space, inequality and climate justice.
Travel with us from Johannesburg to Soweto by train and bicycle, engage with community stories and histories, and take part in conversations and creative activities imagining a more just, inclusive and climate-resilient city.
Come ready to move, listen, reflect, learn and reimagine the city together.
Time: 08:15–14:00
Meeting Point: Johannesburg Park Station
TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER
Climate and Energy
Accountability Cafe
Last year, we celebrated a landmark victory: the Cancel Coal ruling affirmed that children and young people have the right to be heard in decisions about their future.
This year, we move from celebration to action.
On 22 September, youth, legal experts, and civil society will launch a year-long initiative to co-develop a Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) tool that will mandate all future energy and climate decisions be assessed for their impact on children's health, development, and future.
Together with Open Secrets, Black Girls Rising , and the Centre for Child Law we will combine high-level policy dialogue with art-based engagement, making the demands of children visible and undeniable to decision-makers.
Time: 09:00 – 14:00
Location: Ubuntu Hub, Smit Street, Braamfontein
“We Can’t See the Sunset”
Screening + Panel
The energy crisis has a cost, and it isn't paid equally.
Join us for a screening of “We Can't See the Sunset”, followed by a panel discussion exploring energy justice, extraction, and community resistance. Together we'll reflect on the stories, struggles, and pathways for a just energy future.
About the film: This Open Secrets documentary reveals the climate costs borne by communities living at the margins. The film documents how South Africa's energy crisis, one built on extraction, power, and profit, carries the weight of both an unjust past and an uncertain future.
Time: 15:00 – 17:00
Location: Ubuntu Hub, Smit Street, Braamfontein
WEDNESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER
Every Drop Matters: Reclaiming Water Justice in a Changing Climate
Join us for a river clean-up, presentation, interactive activity and panel discussion, we will examine the connections between water insecurity, unequal access, pollution, flooding, climate change and community wellbeing, while creating space for shared knowledge, lived experiences and collective action.
The day will conclude with a Water Justice Commitment signature Banner, where participants will make a visible commitment to protecting our water resources and advancing a more equitable, water-secure and climate-resilient Johannesburg. Every drop matters. Every voice matters. Every climate justice commitment counts.
Time: 9:00 - 15:00
Location: Altrec Sports Centre And East Bank Juskei
THURSDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER
From Soil to Plate: Reclaiming Our Food Futures
What does it take to build a food system that is just, sustainable and resilient?
Join the African Climate Alliance, Plenty Green Africa and Eating with Marbz for an interactive Food Justice Day during Johannesburg Climate Week 2026. Participants will explore the journey from soil to plate, unpacking questions of land, seeds, food access, climate change, indigenous knowledge and who holds power in our food systems.
Expect food, storytelling, practical activities, participatory mapping, dialogue and collective visioning as we imagine what a just food future for Johannesburg could look like.
Time: 09:00–15:00
Location: No.5, 1st Avenue, Melville
FRIDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER
Beyond the Screen: Climate, Gender & Community Action
Join us for Beyond the Screen: Climate, Gender & Community Action, an interactive day of film, conversation and creative expression exploring the connections between climate change, gender, power and community action.
The day will begin with a screening of Burning Rebellion, followed by a conversation with artists, writers and gender activists on resistance, care, inequality and social change. Participants will then move beyond the screen into a creative zine-making workshop, using art and storytelling to reflect on lived experiences, share perspectives and imagine more just futures.
Time: 10:00–15:00
Location: The Bioscope, 44 Stanley Avenue,
READ ABOUT PAST CLIMATE WEEKS
2026 PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
