European Climate Pact National Event Greece 2026
“Living the Change, Shaping the Future”
Thursday 2 April 2026 | Goethe-Institut Athen
The European Climate Pact National Event Greece 2026 is the annual national gathering of the Greek community of the European Climate Pact. The event is organised by INZEB, in its role as National Coordinator of the European Climate Pact in Greece, in collaboration with Climate Pact Ambassadors and Partners.
Now in its third edition, the National Event brings together representatives from European and national institutions, academia, local authorities, civil society, the private sector and youth. The event functions as a platform for dialogue on the societal, policy and sectoral dimensions of the climate transition. The programme of the 2026 edition is structured around five thematic pillars.
TEDx-style TALK: Climate Science & Reality
The session “Climate Science and Reality” sets the stage for the discussion, highlighting climate change as a present and already experienced reality that affects daily life, ecosystems, and the functioning of societies. The approach focuses on understanding the nature and immediacy of the phenomenon, contributing to the formation of a common understanding of it among all participants. Through Mr. Lagouvardos’s contribution, contemporary climate science is linked to the way in which the climate crisis is perceived and experienced in practice, serving as a point of reference for the dialogue unfolding in the individual sessions of the event.
TEDx-style Talk: Innovation, Technology & Artificial Intelligence
The session “Innovation, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence” highlights the role of technological advancements in shaping the climate transition, focusing on the shift from innovation as a concept to its practical application. It examines how tools such as artificial intelligence can contribute to policy design, resource management, and a better understanding of risks. At the same time, the talk places technology within a broader decision-making framework, highlighting issues of governance, transparency, and access. In this way, it underscores the need for technological progress to be linked to clear social and political priorities
Interactive Virtual Reality Experience
Within the framwork of the event, participants will have access to an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) experience on urban climate resilience. The VR application was developed within the European research project ARSINOE by the Athena Research Centre, in collaboration with the Athens University of Economics and Business. The experience, titled “From Dystopia to Eutopia: Transforming Urban Environments Through Collaborative Decision-Making in Arsinoe VR”, received the First Prize for Best 3D User Interface Demo at the IEEE VR 2025 conference.
The application focuses on the impacts of climate change on cities, and specifically on the urban heat island effect, through a virtual reality social environment. Participants will explore and compare different urban scenarios, ranging from a city severely impacted by the climate crisis to a sustainable and green alternative. Through role-playing, interactive storytelling, and digital simulation tools, they will have the opportunity to experiment with urban resilience and sustainable design interventions, fostering critical thinking and collective decision-making.
Climate and Cultural Heritage
This session addresses climate change as a cultural and societal question, examining the role of culture in shaping citizens’ relationship with the climate crisis and focusing on how cultural expression influences perceptions, attitudes, and collective behaviors. Culture is approached as an active field of intervention that can translate the climate challenge into an understandable and accessible experience. This section highlights the contribution of culture to shaping public dialogue and mobilizing society, positioning it as a critical factor in a more participatory and substantive approach to the climate transition.
Climate Change & Societal Cohesion
The session highlights the climate transition as a process with significant social implications, affecting different social groups and regions in varying ways. It focuses on the inequalities exacerbated by the climate crisis and on how climate policies are linked to issues of protection, access, and justice. The discussion places just transition at the center, highlighting the need for policies that strengthen cohesion and respond to the real needs of local communities, with institutions and civil society playing an active role.
Climate & Tourism
The session examines tourism as a sector that is both vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis and critical to shaping the transition. It focuses on the pressures placed on destinations, infrastructure, and local economies, highlighting the need for adaptation and strengthening resilience. At the same time, it highlights the need to adapt the tourism model toward more sustainable practices, with an emphasis on public-private sector collaboration and the role of local communities in shaping more resilient and balanced approaches.
Climate Crisis & Public Health
The session highlights public health as one of the areas most directly affected by the climate crisis, where its impacts are already evident. It focuses on how phenomena such as heatwaves, extreme weather events, and environmental stressors affect daily life and create new challenges for health systems. The module links scientific knowledge with public policy and the social dimension, highlighting the need to strengthen prevention, preparedness, and coordination at all levels.
How A Bus “Speaks” About Climate Change
The presentation “How a Bus ‘Speaks’ About Climate Change” highlights a different approach to climate communication, shifting the conversation from institutional settings to the daily lives of citizens. By leveraging public transportation, climate information is integrated into a familiar and recurring environment. The initiative highlights the importance of communicating the climate crisis to communities that do not necessarily participate in organized actions, strengthening the connection between information and daily experience and contributing to the development of environmental awareness.
Urban Climate Pulse by INZEB
Results of the Nationwide Survey on Citizen’s Awarenes of Climate Change Issues
The presentation of the survey “Resilient Cities and Climate Change: Citizens’ Views and Attitudes” places citizens’ voices front and center, highlighting how they perceive and experience the climate crisis in their cities. The research findings reflect citizens’ level of awareness, sense of preparedness, and degree of participation in the transition. The presentation serves as a tool for understanding and documentation, highlighting critical parameters for designing policies that respond to the real needs of local communities.
Youth Climate Diplomacy Forum
The final session of the programme is dedicated to the Youth Climate Diplomacy Forum. The discussion highlights the institutional and policy engagement of young people in climate action at national and European levels. Younger generations are viewed as active shapers, playing a role in policy-making and in connecting with European and international initiatives. This section presents specific experiences and actions, emphasizing continuity, coordination, and the strengthening of youth participation within the framework of the European Climate Pact.
Strengthening the Climate Pact Community
The European Climate Pact National Event Greece 2026 aims to strengthen collaboration within the Greek Climate Pact community and to reinforce continuity of action beyond the event itself. The meeting supports the exchange of perspectives between institutions, researchers, practitioners and civil society, contributing to the development of partnerships and collective action in the context of the climate transition.
Watch some highlights from the 2026 National Event in the following video:
Below is a glimpse of the key-dimensions of the climate transition that where explored in the event:
Missed the 2025 National Event? Watch the key highlights in the following short video.