The Midwest Climate Summit is hosted by the Midwest Climate Collaborative, a multi-sector network spanning 12 states working for a carbon neutral, climate resilient, interconnected Midwest region. This event prioritizes multi-disciplinary approaches that connect leaders across sectors and communities for greater collective action on climate.
ATTENTION MEMBERS: All members are invited to an in-person member meeting 12:30 – 2:20 on Wednesday, April 30 with lunch served at noon at the UW Memorial Union.
Keynote Speaker
We are excited to announce that the founder and President of Forward Together Wisconsin will kick off the 2025 Midwest Climate Summit in Madison! Mandela Barnes helped launch the Midwest Climate Collaborative in 2022 and we are honored to welcome him back as both, the MCC and his efforts in Wisconsin, continue to grow. He will share inspiring stories of how partners, working together across sectors, have leveraged federal dollars to advance equitable climate work in Wisconsin.
Workshops – On and off site!
The Summit features 20 workshops on topics relevant to climate change practitioners in the Midwest. These workshops are led by Midwest leaders in higher education, local and state government, nonprofits, and business. A detailed list of workshops will be shared soon. To see last year’s workshops, click here. Attendees also attend one off-site mobile workshop to take in local climate initiatives up close. When registering, select the mobile workshop of your choice and we will confirm your selection as it gets closer to the Summit, based on availability.
2025 Summit Agenda
Tuesday, April 29
8:30 am-4:30 pm – Grant Training Workshops (Separate registration required)
Wednesday April 30
12-2:30 pm – MCC Member Lunch & Meeting
2-3:00 pm – Student Gathering
2:30-5:00 pm – Registration
2:30-4:00 pm – Campus Sustainability Tour
4:00-6:00 pm – Welcome Reception & Keynote Speaker
Thursday May 1
8:00-9:00 am – Breakfast & Briefings
9:00-10:30 am – Workshops
10:30-11:00 am – Coffee Break & Poster Session
11:00 am-12:0 0pm Workshops
12:00 – 12:45 pm – Lunch/Networking
1:00-5:00 pm – Mobile Workshops
5:00-6:00 pm – Reception
Friday May 2
8:00-9:00 am – Breakfast & Briefings
9:00-10:30 am – Workshops
10:30-11:00 am – Coffee Break
11:00-12:00 pm – Workshops
12:15-1:00 pm – Closing Session with Luncheon Speaker Panel
2025 Summit Workshops
This is a brief overview of the 20 workshops happening at this year’s Summit. Stay tuned for more information, as well as the full agenda.
| 1. Making Solar Work for Community – Resilience hubs, community solar, and more |
| 2. Climate Action Planning |
| 3. Building New Partnerships for Frontline Community Climate Resilience and Equity in the Heartland |
| 4. Transforming Research into Action: Universities, Government, and Communities |
| 5. Local Climate Action in Wisconsin: Collaborative County Initiatives for Resilience and Conservation |
| 6. Midwest Business Response to Climate Regulation |
| 7. Communicating with Data Driven Value Based Messaging |
| 8. Climate Education in Action |
| 9. Green Bank Financing in the Midwest |
| 10. Demystifying Community Benefits Plans |
| 11. Land Use and Resilience |
| 12. Utilizing Natural Assets to Transform the Mississippi River |
| 13. Whole community resilience – Resilience Planning for and with nature |
| 14. Working Towards Building Decarbonization and Carbon Neutrality |
| 15. A global hotspot for future foods? Exploring the Midwest’s role in climate-smart protein production |
| 16. Rural Community Resilience, Outreach, and Action |
| 17. Public Health Response to Climate Change |
| 18. Cultivating Mental Health Resilience In The Face Of Climate Change |
| 19. Data Centers: How to make data centers more environmentally sustainable |
| 20. Catalyzing Community Driven Climate Planning |
NEW in 2025! Summit Mentorship Program
At the time of registration you will be asked if you want to participate in the mentorship program. You may opt in at that time as a mentee or a mentor.
For mentees, it’s simple, you are in school, or early in your career, or changing careers to a climate-focused one and you opt in to the program and find a match for your career interests. It’s all on you: You choose the mentor, you do the initial outreach, you arrange your first meeting (phone, Zoom, whatever you prefer), then, if you want, you meet this mentor at the conference for further discussion.
For mentors, there are no specific qualifications other than you’ve been in the climate sector in some capacity for a while, and you have a mission to support people new to the sector. Your time commitment is flexible. You will have at least one and probably two or even three short conversations. So, just a couple hours of commitment! However, you may find you want to assist this mentee on their path even after the conference, and if that’s the case, then you probably aren’t counting the hours any more.