Programme

Financing Resilience: Unlocking Investment for Climate Adaptation and Regenerative Economies

Financing Thailand's Just Transition: Bridging Mitigation, Adaptation and Social Equity

The 2026 Thailand Climate Finance Tracker records THB 2 trillion in cumulative mitigation finance, with THB 416 billion added in the past year alone. Around 67 percent of that capital is now private, led by corporations and commercial banks. The direction of travel is clear. The question this session puts on the table is who carries the risk that comes with it. Workers in fossil fuel and energy-adjacent industries face shrinking opportunities that new jobs and reskilling have not yet offset. On the adaptation side, too little care is taken to avoid maladaptation or to protect climate-vulnerable groups. Bank transition finance frameworks mention just transition, but disclosure is thin, and safeguards tend to stop at direct employees rather than reaching surrounding communities, informal workers and migrant populations. Asia Research and Engagement and Climate Finance Network Thailand bring together practitioners from banking, development finance, project development, civil society and policy to work through two themes: social safeguards in mitigation finance, and inclusive adaptation finance. The discussion draws on real case studies, including renewable energy project finance and coal phase-out transactions, with an honest assessment of where the gaps remain. Just transition is named constantly in Asian climate finance discussions and rarely operationalised. This session is built for people who need more than principles. Free to attend and open to all. Conducted in English. Speakers will be announced closer to the date.

Financing Urban Resilience in Southeast Asia: The Do’s, Don’ts and Possibilities

Bangkok floods. Ho Chi Minh City's monsoons arrive earlier each year. Manila and Jakarta race to outbuild rising seas. Across Southeast Asia, the capital to protect these cities exists — green bonds, blended finance, resilience funds are all growing markets — yet it consistently fails to reach the municipal projects and vulnerable communities that need it most. Why does the money stall between ambition and asphalt? Most conversations on climate finance start from the investment side and work backwards. This session starts from the science — how climate risk is measured and where it will hit hardest — and works forward to what that means for bankable, inclusive projects. Led jointly by Dr. Chow, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Dr. Cojoianu from Asia's leading green finance research centre, it puts that question to financiers, city officials, and researchers, and doesn't stop at diagnosis: it names what actually works (the Do's), what quietly kills good projects before they're funded (the Don'ts), and where the next wave of scalable, inclusive financing is heading (the Possibilities) — an ongoing SMU research dialogue with ASEAN universities, institutes, and regional lenders and investors. Join our speakers in an interactive discussion where climate science is made to answer to the balance sheet. Speakers: Dr. Winston Chow Lee Kong Chian Professor of Urban Climate Pillar Lead, Urban Systems Co-Chair, Working Group II, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Singapore Management University Dr. Theodor Cojoianu Associate Professor of Sustainable Finance Urban Fellow (Urban Growth) Academic Director, Singapore Green Finance Centre Singapore Management University

First Global Capacity-building Dialogues Building the capacities for accessing and scaling up climate finance

By invite only, but participants can reach out to pccb@unfccc.int if interested to attend. Background information: Capacity-building is a critical enabler of effective implementation of the Convention and the Paris Agreement. Recognizing the evolving and increasingly complex needs of Parties, particularly developing countries, the Paris Committee on Capacity-building (PCCB) has been mandated to identify capacity gaps and needs and ways to address them, as well as to enhance the coherence and coordination of capacity-building efforts related to climate change. Under its 2025–2029 workplan, the PCCB will facilitate annual capacity-building dialogues to identify solutions and successful approaches for strengthening the responsiveness, effectiveness, and impact of capacity-building support at the international and regional level. The workplan foresees this as the first in a series of regular dialogues, in which the first dialogue establishes a model that subsequent editions, including virtual roundtables, can follow. This first dialogue, held in collaboration with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), is deliberately framed as an expert conversation among capacity-building providers, implementation partners and recipients. The intention is to foster coherence in a fragmented landscape, giving these actors a shared space to learn from one another and reduce duplication of effort. Its purpose is to surface, from their perspective, what is and is not working in the delivery of capacity-building support, and to translate that directly into two concrete outputs: the first State of Capacity-building report, and the PCCB's input into the second global stocktake (GST II). Concept and design: The dialogue is structured as a sequence of three curated panels, in order to give as many organizations as possible a genuine speaking role while keeping each intervention focused, with the aim of generating actionable insights on learning from each other, how best to align available support for building and retaining capacities in developing countries. The first panel focuses on how implementing partners design and deliver direct on-the-ground capacity-building support to developing countries, to pave the way for accessing climate finance. Panelists will be drawn from these organizations, and may also include recipients of their support, reflecting together on lessons learned in translating national priorities into actionable capacity support the challenges of ensuring impact and of retaining institutional capacity and knowledge in the long term. The second panel shifts focus on the scaling up of climate finance access through capacity-building provided by multilateral development banks and the operating entities of the financial mechanism of the UNFCCC. This panel will examine how capacity-building is integrated into financing instruments at scale, drawing out lessons learned on what changes could improve alignment between funding modalities and the long-term capacity needs of recipient countries. The third panel turns to the role of learning and knowledge exchange in sustaining capacity over time, featuring knowledge platforms and knowledge brokers. This panel will explore lessons learned on how knowledge sharing, peer learning, and technical brokering can help capacities take root and endure beyond the lifespan of individual projects or funding cycles.

Lab XL: Care, Burnout, Access & Inclusion in the Cultural Sector

Cultural workers across the UK and Thailand are navigating burnout, overwork, and the pressure of juggling multiple jobs and roles, often without the infrastructure or recognition to sustain them. Too often, care is treated as optional rather than structural. Join us for an embodied, conversational session that starts with a short yoga practice before opening into dialogue. Raidene Carter (Artsadmin) presents on care, burnout, access and inclusion using case studies from the Thai cultural and community sector — followed by open discussion and Q&A with Susannah Tantemsapya (Creative Migration), facilitators Nawarat "Nammon" Welployngam and Tharinee "Palm" Ratanasatien. 📅 Friday, 9 October 🕑 14:00–17:00 📍 Bangkok 1899, Activity Room 🎟️ Free, open to the public Part of Lab XL, a collaboration between Creative Migration/Bangkok 1899 and Artsadmin, supported by the British Council's Connections Through Culture program. Register at this link to secure your spot: https://luma.com/lwp6lh1p

MAIN STAGE | Day 6 | ‘Your Government is here to help’

Governments have a crucial and irreplaceable role in enabling other actors and marshaling resources towards growing a better economy. To fulfill that role requires visionary leadership; a capable public sector; well-designed policies, regulations and procurement; and ecological fiscal reform. A spotlight talk restates the rationale for public action, underscoring the need for political responsibility, public sector leadership and smart governmental intervention to address climate change and related crises. A panel will then consider: - Government’s role as ‘market-shaper’ - Green Industrial policy - Public procurement as a transformative lever - Subnational governments Each evening on the main stage, we feature the following: 🎭 Art & Culture Performance (15 min) A showcase celebrating Thailand's Climate Story — 7 Regions, 1 Action. Embracing local wisdom and modern creativity. 📋 BKKCAW recap of the day (15 min) Key highlights, moments and takeaways from today's BKKCAW sessions across the city. 💬 Q&A (10 min) Your questions answered by today's speakers and programme team. 🌀 Theme Wrap-Up (10 min) Reflecting on today's panel discussions and a preview of what's coming tomorrow. 🎵 Climate Concert (1 Hour) Music, art and community energy to close the evening, where sound and culture meet climate action.

Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE): Localising ASEAN’s Energy Transition

ASEAN has an opportunity to proactively shape policies and market frameworks that ensure the benefits of DRE are shared broadly and equitably. As distributed solar deployment accelerates across the region, policymakers must consider how to modernize grids, integrate battery storage, and develop inclusive financing and regulatory mechanisms that enable all consumers and communities to participate in and benefit from the energy transition. By leveraging the region's abundant renewable resources, including solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass, and combining them with battery storage and other enabling technologies, DRE can provide ASEAN with a practical pathway toward achieving its targets while strengthening energy security, resilience, and inclusive economic development. The workshop aims to: • Explore Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) as a practical pathway for ASEAN Member States to achieve energy security and resilience in the midst of increasing energy demand in the region. • Raise awareness of distributed renewables and battery energy storage as strategic non-wired solutions that can deliver reliable, affordable, and resilient energy, particularly for underserved and climate-vulnerable communities. • Highlight the role of batteries and energy storage systems in enabling higher penetration of distributed renewables, improving grid flexibility, and strengthening resilience against supply disruptions and climate-related events. • Showcase opportunities to leverage the diverse renewable energy resources of ASEAN Member States through distributed and decentralized energy systems tailored to local context, different economic sectors, and energy needs. • Facilitate dialogue and collaborative problem-solving on policy, regulatory, financing, and market mechanisms needed to accelerate the deployment of inclusive and resilient distributed renewable energy systems across ASEAN.

Pint of Science Thailand: Under the Weather - Climate Change, Health, and Ethics

Under the Weather: Climate Change, Health and Ethics brings Pint of Science Thailand to Bangkok Climate Action Week 2026 for an afternoon of lively talks and conversation exploring how our changing climate affects our health. Researchers and practitioners will unpack the connections between climate change, infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, air pollution and environmental health, while asking how we can better understand, communicate and respond to these challenges in our communities. Join us at Marshall Livehouse for accessible science, audience discussion, interactive activities and a chance to continue the conversation over a pint.

The burning question in Asia: A working session on crop residue burning in rice systems

Across Asia, the rice harvest is followed almost immediately by fire. Farmers burn crop residue to clear fields before the next planting window opens. It is fast, cheap, and effective for that purpose. It is also one of the most significant sources of agricultural black carbon in the region, producing seasonal haze events that affect hundreds of millions of people and contribute to measurable health burdens across South and Southeast Asia. Most ASEAN countries have regulations prohibiting open burning of agricultural residues. Outside Southeast Asia, India has introduced satellite monitoring and financial penalties for farmers who burn, and China has combined enforcement with subsidies for residue-return machinery. Yet satellite data consistently shows burning persisting at scale. In Punjab, in the Mekong Delta, in Central Luzon, the practice continues because the economics have not changed: burning remains the fastest and cheapest way to solve a logistical problem within a tight planting schedule. Some, rightly alarmed by the scale of the public health burden, push for stronger enforcement and stricter bans. However, agriculture specialists, air quality advocates and farmer organisations point out that bans without viable alternatives simply transfer costs onto farmers, and that no-burn alternatives are only adopted where they match burning on speed and cost, or where a functioning market for the residue exists. Technologies that exist often lack viability at smallholder level. The burning question is: what combination of technologies, incentives, markets and enforcement can actually change the calculation for farmers?

The Climate Resilient Neighbourhood Challenge

Calling all Bangkok citizens, youth, climate advocates, and changemakers! Are you ready to shape a cooler, greener, and more resilient city & neighbourhood for future generations? Join us to bring your boldest ideas to life through a climate lens! Doh Eain (“Our Home”) is a participatory urban design practice founded in Myanmar in 2017. At a time of rapid urbanization, we work to ensure cities remain places of identity, dignity, and belonging: liveable, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable for the people who call them home. Doh Eain evolved gradually to champion and drive participatory urban design and development. We believe lasting urban change starts with people. That is the reason we build trusted grassroots or neighbourhood and youth networks, offer sparks of inspiration and practical learning, and co-design and build alongside local leaders and communities. This interactive workshop immerses participants in a fast-paced design sprint to explore real-world climate adaptation challenges and collaboratively build inclusive, community-led resilience solutions. Love your city, people and care about its climate future? This session is for you! If you're ready to make a real difference for your neighborhood, join our hands-on workshop to: 🔹 Navigate real urban disaster scenarios firsthand 🔹 Co-design inclusive, human-centered climate solutions 🔹 Lead practical resilience projects that empower local communities Join us to spark climate action, take on the challenge, and turn creative ideas into collective impact for our neighbourhoods and city!

Tree Walk at Dusit Arun Park

An engaging half-day learning experience that brings participants closer to the trees that helps make our city healthier, cooler, and more resilient. Led by a landscape architect and professional arborists, the program combines design insights, tree care knowledge, and climate awareness through an interactive guided walk.

Twin Transformation: Net Zero Roadmap Through dMRV System

Many organisations have set Net Zero targets. The harder question is how they can demonstrate credible progress when carbon data remains scattered across spreadsheets, disconnected systems and multiple teams. “Twin Transformation: Net Zero Roadmap Through dMRV” explores how digital and sustainability transformation can advance together. The session introduces Digital Monitoring, Reporting and Verification, or dMRV, and examines how organisations can move from manual, periodic MRV processes towards carbon data that is more continuous, transparent, traceable and ready for verification. Through use cases spanning cities, renewable energy, EV fleets, agriculture and carbon markets, together with an interactive Low Carbon City activity, participants will explore how technologies such as IoT, AI, satellite data and data platforms can support practical climate action. The discussion goes beyond dashboards and annual reporting to show how digital infrastructure can help organisations monitor performance, link results to supporting evidence and make better-informed sustainability decisions. This session is designed for business leaders, sustainability and ESG professionals, IT and data teams, carbon project developers, and anyone interested in turning Net Zero commitments into measurable action. No advanced technical background is required. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of where dMRV fits within a Net Zero journey and the data, processes and capabilities organisations need to begin.

Understanding Public Momentum for the Climate Transition in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia’s climate and energy transition is entering a critical phase. Across the region, the imperative is increasingly clear: climate ambition must be translated into progressive implementation. The success will depend not only on technology and finance, but also on public understanding, trust and support. How do Southeast Asian people perceive the climate and energy transition? What trade-offs are they willing to accept, and what do they expect from governments, businesses and other stakeholders? Organised by the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, this roundtable will present key findings from the Southeast Asia Climate Outlook 2026 Survey. The findings will provide a starting point for assessing public momentum for the transition and exploring how policymakers and other stakeholders can harness public support to drive meaningful change across key sectors. Experts from different fields will reflect on the findings and consider their implications for the region’s climate and energy transition. Presenter: Elbinsar Purba, Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute Moderator: Sharon Seah, Principal Fellow and Coordinator, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute Discussants: - Dr Prapimphan Chiengkul, Associate Professor, Thammasat University - Mr Jackson Board, Senior Correspondent, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) - Mr Agus Praditya Tampubolon, Program Director, Climate and Just Energy Transition Program, Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) - Ms Kiara Mulia, Climate Program Manager, Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI)

Urban Living Labs: Co-creating heat resilience and equitable cooling in cities

Join us for an interactive, hands-on workshop that moves beyond big climate commitments to explore what it takes to create change in the places where people actually live, work and move. Working in small groups, participants will explore how extreme heat is experienced across different aspects of everyday urban life, from buildings and mobility to energy, water and public spaces. Together, you will identify local heat-related challenges, co-create practical solutions, test what it would take to make them work, and explore the roles of governments, communities, businesses and other stakeholders in creating cooler, more resilient cities. Through collaborative exercises and knowledge exchange, the workshop will explore how grassroots ideas and local experiments can move beyond the pilot stage and become part of city systems, climate action plans and urban policy. Come ready to imagine, debate, create and rethink how cities can turn climate ambition into action that works for people.

Water is Love

Water doesn't separate us, it connects us - to land, to community, to climate itself. Water is Love is an award-winning documentary, filmed at Tamera Ecovillage in Portugal as part of the There's No Planet B series. It follows water retention projects in India, Kenya and Portugal, where communities have brought degraded landscapes back to life, not by fighting nature, but by working with it. This isn't just an ecology film. It's a reminder that we're not separate from the water cycle, we're part of it. The film asks how far we've drifted from living in balance with natural rhythms, and shows that the solutions we need already exist, tested, working, and ready to be scaled. See the trailer at waterislove.org. Join us after the film to hear from Thai Agri-Nature work on a watershed restoration project in Nan. Come for the film. Stay for the conversation about what it means to live like we belong to the water, not the other way around.

Young Children at the Heart of Climate Action: A Youth-Led Asia-Pacific Dialogue

Young children are among those most vulnerable to climate change, yet their everyday experiences are often absent from climate decision making. Led by an ARNEC's Climate–ECD Youth Champions, this interactive session will share visual stories and intergenerational perspectives from the initiative Climate Change Through the Eyes of Children in Their Youngest Years. Through a screening of the youth advocacy film, a presentation of the project’s Photovoice coffee-table book, and a facilitated dialogue, participants will explore how heat, extreme weather, pollution, and environmental disruption affect young children’s health, wellbeing, learning, safety, and daily lives. Participants will then identify challenges, opportunities, and practical actions for placing young children and families at the heart of local and regional climate action. The session will foreground youth leadership and contribute to a shared vision for climate-resilient early childhood across the Asia-Pacific.

Bangkok Bytes: A Sustainable Food Systems Hackathon

​Are you ready to use your coding and design skills to change our food systems for good? 🍃💻 Bangkok Bytes brings together coders, designers, and builders of all skill levels for a one-day hackathon tackling real challenges in Southeast Asia's food systems. Working from 15+ challenge briefs sourced from local food companies, advocacy organizations, and funders, teams will build open-source AI prototypes across six themes: ​🗑️ Food Waste Reduction 🌱 Protein Transition 💰 Policy & Funding 🔍 Food Systems Transparency 🐾 Animal Welfare 🧠 Consumer Behavioural Nudges ​Whether you're a seasoned engineer or have never written a line of code there's a place for you on a team. No technical background required to contribute. ✨ ​Format In-person hybrid: build alongside 30–40 people in Bangkok, with a similar number joining remotely. Teams start prepping the day before (Friday), then build, iterate, and present live on Saturday. ​What to expect ✅ 15+ real-world challenge briefs across 6 food-system themes ✅ Coders, designers & builders all skill levels welcome ✅ In-person in Bangkok, open to remote builders too ✅ Live final presentations to close out the day ​📅 Saturday, October 10, 2026 | 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM 📍 Bangkok, Thailand 🌏 Officially part of Bangkok Climate Action Week (BKKCAW) 🥗 We've got you fed - vegan meals all day, on us ​Organized by Electric Sheep × Good Growth 🤝 Venue sponsor: AVA (Animal & Vegan Advocacy International) -- We are also sourcing real-world problem statements from food companies and organizations for this Hackathon! If your team has an operational pain point or efficiency bottleneck, or see gaps that AI can solve in the sustainable food systems space, submit a problem statement (<5 min), and our Hackathon designers/engineers will build open-source AI prototypes specifically around your needs during the event. Submit here: https://tally.so/r/eqVKXo

Climate Playground: Round 2 — Overlooked Ecosystems, In the Middle of Bangkok

What if a mangrove forest could exist in the middle of Bangkok — for one night? Climate Playground: Round 2 is a youth-led community gathering that brings overlooked ecosystems into the city through immersive experience, live music, art, and play. Organized by BioReverb as part of Bangkok Climate Action Week, the evening is designed for anyone who wants to engage with nature, climate, and community in a way that feels social, fun, and genuinely alive. Expect the Chailaen board game — a science-based mangrove restoration game developed with Thai coastal communities — Human Bingo to connect people across sectors and backgrounds, a silent disco immersion in recorded mangrove soundscapes, live musicians and DJs each paired with a visual artist creating biodiversity-themed live projection art as their backdrop, and an art installation on insects and urban ecosystems in collaboration with Wanghin Lab. This is Climate Playground's second edition. The first drew 125 attendees with 97.2% satisfaction and a 75% collaboration rate. This year, the climate theme isn't the backdrop. It's the whole point. 10 October 2026 | Sundown till late | House Lagom, Bangkok

Foodtrans Lecture&Playground

FoodTrans & Playground is a creative learning space exploring food, climate change, food systems, and food culture, using plant protein as a starting point. Through lectures, workshops, exhibitions, art, plant-based food, and community markets, the event invites people to discover how what we eat connects with people, society, the environment, and the future of our food system. More info FB and IG: Thaiclimatejusticeforall

Heal Your Home: Body & Earth

Your body is your first home. The Earth is our shared home. 🌏 Take a mindful pause from the rush of everyday life — with tea, seasonal food, meaningful conversations, and reflections on how the way we nourish ourselves can also nourish our planet. 🍵 Mindful Afternoon Tea 🥭 Seasonal Tasting 💬 Community Conversation 🥣 Build Your Healing Yogurt Bowl 🌱 Climate & Food Reflection Come discover how caring for ourselves can be a starting point for caring for the Earth. Slow down for an afternoon. Nourish yourself. Reconnect with the Earth.