On July 21-22, 2025, Chicago will host the leading climate solutions event presented by the Aspen Institute in partnership with the Chicago Climate Corps.
Contact: Jon Purves
Media Relations Director
The Aspen Institute
[email protected]
Chicago, IL, February 12, 2025 – Organizers yesterday shared plans for Aspen Ideas: Climate Chicago (AICC). Set to take place this summer from July 21-22, the leading solutions-focused event will provide a platform to discuss climate solutions and foster collaboration, showcasing leadership and innovation across Chicago and the greater Midwest. Organized by the Aspen Institute in partnership with the Chicago Climate Corps, AICC will take place for at least the next two years.AICC will be open to the public, with passes to attend available here for purchase. Members of the media are invited to apply for a press credential here.At the announcement hosted yesterday at the HIRE360 Training and Business Development Center, Aspen Institute President and CEO Dan Porterfield hailed Aspen Ideas: Climate Chicago as an opportunity to “work together to address the problems and pursue the opportunities in front of us… There are jobs to create, there are startups to finance. There are communities to empower. There is water to protect, there are children to educate, there is a community to serve and to elevate. This work… is a lever for advancing our shared interests as a society.”Speaking at the same event, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said, “Our state is a proud leader in the Midwest, in the country, in fighting climate change, and Chicago is the perfect place to host such an important gathering. The Aspen Institute is a venerable organization unparalleled in its ability to drive productive dialog around the most important issues of our time, and its partnership with the Chicago Climate Corps will help deliver an outstanding multi day event, bringing these vital conversations here to Chicago.”AICC will take place at the Salt Shed and the Convene in Willis Tower, featuring main stage keynotes, breakout panel, workshop, and roundtable sessions, tours of local and historic resilience points of interest, as well as fashion, food, art, and music activities. The event is designed to offer the public a chance to interact, learn, and collaborate with thinkers and do-ers whose actions are critical to addressing our collective future around the realities of a changing climate.Programming will gather local, regional, and global policy, corporate, nonprofit, academic, technology, finance, and cultural leaders to share ideas and solutions that foster climate action and collaboration in Chicago, across the Midwest, and around the world. The event will feature Chicago and the greater Midwest, which are emerging as a pivotal climate innovation region, with significant contributions across clean energy, food and agriculture, water, manufacturing and industrial, transportation, the built environment, and finance.Organizers are seeking nominations for ideas and speakers who can speak to the opportunities that lie in the clean energy transition and environmental action. Those interested in nominating a speaker can submit their suggestions here, or can share their ideas for panels and topics to cover here. To deliver AICC, the Aspen Institute is partnering with the Chicago Climate Corps (C3), a network of climate leaders aged 25 to 40 working to accelerate regional climate action and establish Chicago and the Midwest as a global hub for climate innovation and leadership. Aspen Ideas: Climate is the premier climate solutions-focused event. From 2022-2024, it took place in Miami Beach, Florida, where it welcomed thousands of participants and speakers from around the world. Participants from 48 countries and 50 states represented the private sector, nonprofits, and the government. See highlights from 2024’s event here.At yesterday’s launch event hosted at the HIRE360 Training and Business Development Center, remarks came from Margot Pritzker, Chair of the Aspen Institute Board of Trustees; Dan Porterfield, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute; Kobi Weinberg and Rachel Star, Co-Founders of the Chicago Climate Corps; and Jay Rowell, CEO of HIRE360. To preview the caliber of conversations that will feature at AICC, a panel then addressed the workforce opportunities presented by the clean energy transition. CBS News Investigative Reporter Tara Molina interviewed Bria Scudder, Deputy Governor for Public Safety, Infrastructure, Environment, and Energy, Illinois; Gil Quiniones, CEO of ComEd; and Utopia Hill, CEO of Reactivate.
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The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. Chicago Climate Corps(C3) unites rising climate leaders aged 25-40 to accelerate regional climate action. C3 is helping to establish Chicago and the Midwest as a global hub for climate innovation and leadership.