Who are we?

Wiltshire Climate Alliance ('WCA') is an umbrella organisation for groups and individuals working together in Wiltshire and Swindon to tackle the Climate and Ecological Emergencies. Our vision, set in 2020, is for a climate and nature friendly, net zero carbon and ecologically sustainable Wiltshire by 2030. This year marks the halfway point - the perfect time to review and inspire significant action over the coming years. Read more about our objectives and strategy here. The small team working on the summit is drawn from our steering group, our member groups and individual volunteers, with some part time paid specialist help. 

Wiltshire Climate Summit will run over two days:

• Friday 20th June - Business Day for organisations large and small to share best practice and wanting to do business with those reducing their carbon emissions.

• Saturday 21st June - Community Day for councils, eco-churches, eco-schools, community environmental groups and others wanting to tackle climate change issues.

The mission of Wiltshire Climate and Environment Summit is to accelerate progress to a thriving, net zero Wiltshire by 2030. It will take place at County Hall, Trowbridge and will drive positive action and ambition for the historic County of Wiltshire, including Swindon, to become a leader in the UK climate agenda. We have been inspired by Dorset COP, which will hold its third event in 2025. 

The Summit is put together by Wiltshire Council, Swindon Borough Council and Wiltshire Climate Alliance, working in partnership on a not-for-profit basis. The 2025 event will be a precursor to a series of annual events designed to precipitate action on climate change through commitment, collaboration and transparency.

Business Day 20th June 2025

The Wiltshire Climate Summit Business Day will bring together 50 – 100 businesses from across the county to inspire, equip and challenge each other, to find and implement measures to accelerate individual and combined progress towards a net zero carbon, climate resilient Wiltshire. 

This initial event, through talks, workshops and an exhibitors’ fair, will facilitate the sharing of ideas, examples and success stories from large, medium and small businesses in Wiltshire. 

An example of  WCA's useful work to date was in 2023 when our Business Engagement team conducted a survey of 50 Wiltshire firms to assess how well companies across the region are changing their policy and operations to address the challenges of climate change. The main finding of work was that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and micro-firms are the least likely to have implemented decarbonisation changes into their daily business activities. This is why our 20th June Business Day is focusing on SMEs in 2025. 

Communities Day 21st June 2025

The vision is to bring together local communities, empowering them to share resources and approaches to enable progress towards Net Zero, to facilitate the sharing of ideas, examples and success stories from communities and to seek the commitment of participants to develop a collaborative community approach to carbon emission reduction.  

For Saturday’s event, the target audience will be community organisations who are already engaged in helping their neighbourhoods on the net zero journey e.g. town and parish councils, school and colleges, local eco churches, climate groups, community energy groups, environmental groups, public sector organisations.

Already we have coordinated two annual Green Open Homes weeks, when people can visit householders who have successfully decarbonised with solar panels, heat pumps, batteries, insulation, draugh-tproofing and so on.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Donating to support WCA’s role in the 2025 Wiltshire Climate and Environment Summit will show that you care about the planet. The event will inspire and educate businesses and communities to do more for the environment via two days of networking, talks, workshops and exhibitions. Together we are stronger and can achieve more.

The event is to be hosted at County Hall, Trowbridge, and we are working in partnership with Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council, but we are receiving no funding from them. We aim to involve 100-200 people in person across the 2 days.

How we’ll spend the money raised

WCA has no regular funding, public or private. It is run by volunteers. We will spend the money raised on: 

• Specialist part-time help with project management

• Social media expertise and marketing costs

• Some subsidising of refreshments for Community Day attendees.