The 2026 Shetland Climate Festival programme has been launched – with a repair café, cookery demonstrations, and a variety of exhibitors and workshops.
Now in its fourth year, the festival will be held on Saturday 5th September at the Clickimin Bowls Hall from 10am to 4pm. About 400 people attended in 2025, and this year sees more than 30 exhibitors across four key areas. These are:
- What is Climate Change from a Shetland Perspective?
- What can I do in my community to help?
- What can I do at home?
- What business and employment opportunities are available?
The climate festival is a chance to celebrate the work being done in Shetland to mitigate our emissions and adapt to our changing climate. As well as exhibitors, it gives the public the chance to speak to Council staff about the Council’s work relating to climate change, energy use and biodiversity.
Those taking part this year include Police Scotland, the RSPB, NHS Shetland, Shetland Amenity Trust, COPE, Nordri, Malakoff and Scottish Sea Farms.
Among the talks on the day will be a Q&A session with Home Energy Scotland on things like heat pumps, insulation and energy saving tips. There will also be a discussion on the connection between climate change and Shetland’s food security, and a workshop from the Sandwick Social and Economic Development Company on exploring community energy options.
The new Performance Zone will feature a cookery demonstration by husband and wife Akshay Jamwal and Osla Jamwal Fraser, championing local produce and encouraging people to lower their food miles. Three award-winning Shetland-based poets, Siùn Carden, Peter Ratter and Jen Hadfield will share their work, inspired by Shetland’s nature and the environment, and this year is the second School Climate Roadshows event, with P5-7 children across the isles creating climate promise trees to display on the day.
Anne Maver is a Senior Climate Change Officer with the Council’s Climate Change Strategy Team. She says: “The Shetland Climate Festival is a brilliant way of sharing all the great work happening here - both raising awareness around climate change and taking climate action.
“We feel this a really varied programme and we’re grateful to all the exhibitors taking part. We really hope people can come away with lots of information and ideas and there will be lots of crafts, games and fun for bairns too.”
The full programme can be found at www.shetland.gov.uk/climatefestival