Our Manifesto
Connecting people, ideas, and solutions to accelerate climate action in Munich
Climate change is reshaping how we live, work, build, produce, invest and care for each other. It is transforming our economies, health systems, food systems, cities and communities.
The question is not only how we respond to these changes, but how we shape them into a future that is stronger, healthier and more resilient. Munich has set the ambition to become climate neutral by 2035. Climate action cannot wait until then. The decisions we make today shape the city we live in tomorrow.
We believe climate action is not only about reducing risk. It is one of the greatest opportunities of our generation, to build stronger economies, healthier communities, more resilient cities, more innovative businesses, and a better quality of life for everyone.
Across Munich, people are already building these solutions, in labs and startups, in city hall and in neighbourhoods. Too often, that work stays in silos, disconnected from each other.
Munich Climate Week exists to bring it together.
What we believe
Climate is the foundation of the present and the future
It is not only an environmental topic. It shapes the economy, health, agriculture, infrastructure, innovation, resilience and competitiveness. This is what makes climate action relevant to everyone, not a niche concern for a few.
Climate is a systems challenge
There is no single solution, no single sector, no single technology that solves it alone. Energy is connected to mobility. Mobility is connected to health. Agriculture is connected to biodiversity. Finance shapes what gets built and what doesn't. Strong climate action means understanding these connections, and building solutions that work across the whole system, not just within one part of it.
Every stakeholder has a role.
Businesses, governments, academia, startups, finance, civil society, artists, educators and communities each bring different responsibilities, resources, knowledge, influence and lived experience. No single actor holds all of it. Inclusion here is not about lowering our expectations. It is about mobilising every actor with something to contribute, because the transition only moves as fast as the slowest part of the system we leave out of the room.
Action creates ambition.
Implementation is not the end of the process, it is where the process begins. Every time people collaborate and act, they discover what is actually possible, and that discovery becomes the confidence and ambition for what comes next. Progress does not wait for certainty. It builds it.
What we stand for
Honesty over perfection We do not ask organisations to be perfect before they belong here. We ask them to be honest about where they stand, what they are doing, and what more they could do.
Inclusion without endorsement. Being in the room is not an endorsement of anyone's record. It is a shared commitment to scrutiny, dialogue and accountability, nothing more. Strategic partners help make this possible financially or programmatically, and hold no more editorial power over the programme than anyone else.
Independence. Every organisation shapes its own event, on its own terms. No funder, partner or sponsor buys control over what gets said here.
Civil society is not one voice among many. It is one of the reasons climate remains on the political agenda at all, and its independence is something we protect, not manage.
Accountability over exclusion. We do not shut organisations out for being imperfect or still transforming. The only actors we exclude are the ones whose core activity cannot be transformed or blocked transfomation—like fossil fuel extraction and production. Everyone doing the harder work of changing what they do belongs here, and once they're in the room, they answer to the same standard as everyone else.
The four questions
Every organisation that takes part answers the same four questions, on stage, on a slide, or on their event page.
What is in your control, and what is your climate impact?
What have you done, what are you doing, and what's next?
What haven't you done yet—and why? What more could you do?
Who can join you, and how, to reach your climate targets?
A small, founder-led initiative, an environmental NGO, and a multinational corporation answer to the exact same four questions. That is the whole standard. Nothing about your size, your funding or your sector changes what is asked of you.
Why Munich needs a platform like this
Munich already has many of the ingredients needed for climate action: leading universities and research institutions, global companies, a strong startup ecosystem, and a growing climate innovation community. Major climate solutions are already emerging here.
But solving complex challenges takes more than individual excellence. It takes connection. Munich Climate Week exists to bridge these worlds and build the shared platform where knowledge, innovation and action come together.
Join us
Host an event. Collaborate with our diverse partners. Come learn what solutions are already in motion, what's on the horizon, and how we can work together to keep climate on our agendas, across issue areas, demographics, industries, interests, and hobbies. We can, and must, take action in our own ways, while pushing those with the most power and the most impact on climate to do the same.