Together for good: Great Big Green Week 2026 in review
Great Big Green Week 2026 is a wrap - and the numbers, the stories and the sheer scale of what happened across nine days in June tell a powerful story of community, togetherness and action.
1.6 million people. 10,000 events. And a week of action that is bigger, broader and more deeply rooted in communities across the UK than ever before. Climate and nature action has officially hit the mainstream.
Thank you to every organiser, volunteer, attendee and supporter who made it happen. Here's a look back at what you created:
Watch the GBGW 2026 wrap video:
What the numbers tell us
The headline figures are extraordinary - but what they represent is even more so. 56% of people who came to a Great Big Green Week event this year told us they rarely or never normally attend climate or nature events. More participants said they came to take action in their community than to help nature and climate directly. This is mainstream Britain, coming Together for Good for their communities.
Nine in ten attendees learned new things they can do to act on climate and nature. Three in five changed how they think about a climate or nature topic. And nine in ten came away feeling more motivated to take action. The effect ripples outward too: most attendees said they are more likely to talk to friends, family or colleagues about climate and nature as a result.
One in four participants said that after attending they are more likely to sign a petition or write to their MP - a reminder that community action and political engagement are not separate, but deeply connected.
Read the full headline results here.
From every corner of the UK
Events were held from inner-city London to rural Lincolnshire, from Falmouth to Forth, from Belfast to Banbury. They were genuinely inclusive: people of all ages, backgrounds and incomes came together in every kind of community.
In Chichester, the Walk of the Dandelion day was a joyful, free celebration of sustainability woven into culture and community - an 8ft puppet roaming the streets, 150 Morris dancers, weaving workshops, recycled instruments, a community choir on the Cathedral Green, and partners including Chichester Festival Theatre, the Cathedral, Pallant House Gallery and local food waste charity UK Harvest. A reminder that in every kind of constituency, there is an appetite for this.
Credit: Walk of the Dandelions, Chichester - @culturesparkchi
Down in Falmouth, families packed onto Gyllyngvase Beach for a free Festival for the Ocean - snorkel safaris, a Basking Shark and Cuttlefish Procession, marine stranding demonstrations, cyanotype art and a community beach clean. A joyful celebration of a coastline worth protecting.
Credit: Falmouth Festival for the Ocean
In Radyr, Cardiff, Radyr Methodist Church threw open its doors for a community Eco Fair: plant swaps, no-waste living stalls, local honey, fair trade crafts and homemade cake. In Forth in Scotland, people gathered over a cuppa to paint garden gnomes and find out about community food growing and volunteering. In Redruth, children dropped into the library to sow sunflower seeds to take home. And from Dorset to Chesterfield, Lancing to Balham, communities took to their streets for litter picks.
In Belfast, City Hall was lit up green - a landmark moment and a powerful symbol of how far and wide Great Big Green Week now reaches.
Credit: Sara McCracken
In Aberdeenshire, the volunteer-led Grow Mearns project quietly distributed thousands of plants to local towns and villages. And in Penrith, a packed nine-day programme ran the gamut from e-bike trials and eco podcasting to poetry celebrations and a dawn bioblitz breakfast at a local nature reserve.
Credit: Grow Mearns
Connecting communities with decision-makers
Events during Great Big Green Week, many attended by councillors and members of parliament, gave decision-makers the chance to hear directly from the people they represent - and to carry those concerns further.
Richard Foord MP met with Climate Minister Katie White and relayed concerns expressed to him at Sidmouth's People's Emergency Briefing event. The Minister responded favourably to the idea of the Briefing being aired on TV.
As Cllr Ian Reissmann, Mayor of Henley, put it: "Great Big Green Week is a wonderful way to bring our community together - not just to understand the challenges we face, but to take positive action and celebrate everything that makes Henley such a special place to live."
A global classroom
In a special live lesson hosted by The Climate Coalition and Save the Children, pupils across the UK sat down for a real, live conversation with children in Malawi and Sierra Leone - hearing directly about how climate change is reshaping their schools, their families and their daily lives. Hosted by award-winning environmental educator Edd Moore, the session helped young people explore global fairness, solidarity and what collective action looks like across borders.
The coalition coming together
And across the coalition, members from all walks of life took part in Great Big Green Week, helping stories reach audiences far beyond our own. The breadth of who showed up tells its own story: faith communities including Faith for the Climate, Muslim Charities Forum and Green Christian; nature and conservation organisations including the National Trust, Woodland Trust and CPRE; health bodies including the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, representing 1.2 million healthcare professionals; grassroots networks including Mothers CAN, WinACC and EcoBerko; youth organisations including Young Climate Warriors, InterClimate Network and Protect Our Winters; and international development organisations including CAFOD and Islamic Relief. Together, they reached audiences that no single organisation could reach alone - and demonstrated that action for climate and nature is broader, more mainstream and more deeply rooted than it has ever been.
Sport showing up
Sport played a bigger role in Great Big Green Week than ever before. Birmingham City FC Foundation delivered four events during the week, reaching 700 participants - a Sport Birmingham event with 550 young female footballers, a park clean-up, a sustainability Dragons' Den with university students, and a school learning programme. By putting climate action at the heart of football and community, they showed how trusted local institutions can open doors that traditional campaigning cannot.
GoodGym ran, walked and cycled to environmental projects across more than 60 locations. Ulster GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) developed biodiversity gardens and hosted bio blitzes. And the Where Football Lives campaign brought people together for a world record keepy-uppie attempt, celebrating the green spaces where the game lives.
Credit: @birminghamcityfcfoundation and Final Third
Businesses and organisations coming together
Great Big Green Week also brought in organisations not traditionally linked to the climate world. In Lincoln's Ermine Estate - one of the city's largest social housing estates - the Ermine Living Well project brought community fun, food and skills-sharing together across three sites, showing how climate action can be rooted in everyday community life.
In Market Harborough, a town centre was brought to life with farmers, families and community energy projects side by side, exploring the links between biodiversity and food production, healthy soil and flood risk. The Salvation Army showcased sustainable choices across their UK-wide network of 450 shops. And Europa PLC brought their teams together to watch The People vs Climate Change - a simple idea that sparked real reflection on the role business can play.
What comes next
These are just a handful of the thousands of events that took place across the UK - each one different, each one rooted in a community, and together reaching 1.6 million people, shifting attitudes, building local networks and helping turn public concern into lasting action. Great Big Green Week does more than mark a moment. It builds community, shifts attitudes and turns public concern into lasting local action. The community kitchen in Kilburn that joined to build a network with other local community groups. The MP who relayed constituents' concerns to the Climate Minister. The nine in ten people who left feeling more motivated to act.
This is not a week that starts and stops. It is a week that opens doors.
We will be sharing more stories from organisers and communities in the weeks ahead - and we would love to hear yours. If you attended or organised an event, please take a few minutes to fill in our survey. Your feedback helps us measure our impact and make Great Big Green Week even better.
Share your feedback as a participant →
Share your feedback as an organiser →
And if you'd like to help power Great Big Green Week 2027, you can donate here. Every contribution helps us reach more communities, and make next year bigger, better and greener than ever before.
Great Big Green Week returns in June 2027. We cannot wait. 💚
Download the full GBGW 2026 Headline Results