Climate Summit 2025
Join climate leaders from across sectors and across the region. We will celebrate good work, measure progress and recommit ourselves to the work that remains. This fourth CAKC Summit in 2025 presented by Black & Veatch marks a fresh milestone toward our regional goals leading to a Net Zero region by 2050. There is no time more pressing than now to capitalize on local momentum, and line out new strategies for greater collaboration and efficiency.
The Summit is a chance to build resolve, to learn from one another, and to set our collective sights on future progress. Join us!
Contact emily@climateactionkc.com with questions or inquiries
Saturday, April 5, 2025
1:00pm - 5:00pm CDT
Unity Temple on the Plaza | Kansas City, MO
Thank you to all who attended our Climate Action Summit in 2022…
See you again soon!
Climate Action KC welcomes you back to take a look at the goals we have achieved together since our inaugural summit in 2019. The challenges of COVID-19 provided unexpected insights into community behavior, and also what is possible through teamwork. Attendees will learn about the ripple effect that regional climate action can have on worldwide COP26 emission mitigation goals, and hear what national policy-makers who represent our region are doing to help!
This year’s event, focused on the theme “What Connects Us,” is presented in partnership with the European Union and the International Urban and Regional Cooperation program, and will offer presentations and conversations with members of Congress, mayors, scientists and other critical voices in climate adaptation and resilience. Participants from 19 regions throughout Europe and North America are expected to attend.
Discussions will highlight global climate topics, and local climate action efforts, including the award-winning KC Regional Climate Action Plan, a model framework that municipalities can adopt for guidance on planning with a more sustainable lens (with a regional Net Zero emissions target goal of 2050).
The day’s events will begin at 10:00 a.m. with interactive exhibits at our free indoor and outdoor Climate Action Expo, and close with a VIP reception immediately following the event. VIP reception will be at the Regnier Center Atrium and Capitol Federal Conference Center. Display your ticket received during check-in to the door attendants to enter the reception. Sustainability tours that include LEED-certified buildings will also be offered. Food truck lunches will be available for purchase at the Eat Local + Organic Expo — also being held that day at the JCCC Fieldhouse!
Climate Action Indoor & Outdoor Expo and LEED & Sustainability Tours
- 4H Blender Bike
- A Meal that Counts
- Drone demonstration
- Food Cycle KC
- Kansas City Area Transportation Authority
- KC Farm School at Gibbs Road
- KC Stem Alliance
- Mind Drive demonstration of student-built electric cars
- Metropolitan Energy Center
- Musician AY Young’s Entrepreneurial and Sustainability projects (see “Musical Guests” below for more info)
- Ripple Glass
- Studio 804 Mobile Demonstration of LEED-certified tiny homes from the Lawrence Community Shelter
- U.S Green Building Council – Central Plains
- Black and Veatch
- Building a Sustainable Earth
- Building Energy Exchange
- Climate + Energy Project
- Groundwork NR
- Heartland Conservation Alliance
- IBEW L.U. 124
- League of Women Voters Johnson County
- Mid-America Regional Council Environmental Programs
- Missouri Organics
- The Nature Conservancy
- NextEra Energy
- Rep Sharice Davids Constituent Services
- The Resilient Activist
- Sierra Club
- Willdan
- Tour A: Campus LEED-certified buildings*
- Tour B: Campus land use and ecology*
- Tour C: Campus farm and composting system**
*Tours are free and require pre-registration through this link, and will depart at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. from the Summit Expo (east parking lot by Yardley Hall). Tour registrations are filled on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited to 25 participants per tour.
**Open tour, will meet and depart from the Eat Local + Organic Expo (Campus Fieldhouse – map provided at Expo)
Musical Guests & Performing Artists
AY
Casi Joy
The Marching Cobras
Quixotic
Emcee
Hartzell Gray
More about our Keynote Speaker Molly Kawahata
Molly Kawahata is an award-winning speaker, strategist, advocate, and former Climate Advisor to the Obama White House. Her unique expertise in climate communications combines rigorous scientific knowledge with astute psychological insights, enabling her to craft messages that resonate deeply and drive action. Whether it’s engaging with policymakers, businesses, or the public, Molly focuses on how to transform complex climate issues into compelling narratives that motivate change within broader audiences. She is the Founder of Systemic Impact Strategies, a consultancy that leverages evidence-based strategies in organizational development and corporate strategy, combined with a unique focus on the Science of Hope, to help organizations increase performance and empower transformative change. Her life story, depicted in the Patagonia film, THE SCALE OF HOPE (2022), intimately explores her pursuit of climbing steep ice faces in Alaska, her personal journey with mental health, and her work to transform societal narratives by infusing them with hope and empowerment. Her story has inspired a global audience, amassing over one million views on YouTube, streaming on Delta Airlines, and being inducted into the permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Molly’s expertise has been sought by organizations such as Amazon, Nike, Google, Netflix, Harvard University, and the U.S. Congress. She is an Advisory Board Member to the Environmental Voter Project. In her free time, Molly is an avid ice climber, with a particular passion for climbing Montana and the Central Alaska Range. An introduction to Molly can be viewed here.
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Presenting Sponsor:
Special Event Sponsors – Panasonic; SMART Sheet Metal Local Union No. 2; U.S. Engineering
Guardian Sponsors – Victor L. and Helen B. Regnier Fund
Champion Sponsors – Bayer; City of Mission; Clayco / Lamar Johnson Collaborative; Ashok Gupta; Treanor; UMB Financial Corporation
Defender Sponsors – Sierra Club Kansas and Missouri Chapters
Partner Sponsors – BNIM; City of Kansas City, MO; City of Roeland Park; Curtin Property Co.; Henderson Companies; LISC Greater Kansas City; Renew Missouri; Resurrection, A United Methodist Church; Ripple Glass; Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; USGBC Central Plains; WSP
Advocate Sponsors – City of Leawood; City of Merriam; City of Overland Park; City of Prairie Village; City of Westwood; Entegrity Partners; FlowEnergy; Heartland Conservation Alliance; Hoefer Welker; Kansas City Royals; Kiewit; Lights On Kansas City; Marshall Sustainability; McDonough-Slayton Foundation; Jeanette & Randy Metzler; Show Me PACE
Friend Sponsors – AdventHealth; Barkley; Branding Stop; Climate + Energy Project; Renee Dinsmore; Endeavor Home Performance; Foulston Siefkin, LLP; Mike and Elizabeth Kelly; Jeremy and Sarah Knoll; K-State Olathe; Independence Power and Light; Olsson; Julie and Scott Sayers; Hillary and Max Thomas; Union Station KC; Veritas Architecture + Design; WaterOne; Hannes Zacharias; Zimmerman Strategic Consulting
Nonprofit Action Sponsors – Citizens Climate Lobby; Cultivate KC; Deep Roots; Flourish Furniture Bank; Missouri Coalition for the Environment; Platte Land Trust; Re.Use.Full; Scraps KC; The Resilient Activist Inc.; Urban Produce Push (UPP)
In-Kind Sponsors – KC Can Compost
Scholarship Sponsor – Mid-America Regional Council
Thank you to our Summit Planning Committee!
Lindsey Constance, Megan England, Jen Hill, Betsey Hughes, Jeremy Knoll, Camille Lauer, Julie Peterson, Michael Poppa, Emily Randel, Hillary Thomas, Hannes Zacharias