A recap of Delaware’s first-ever statewide climate week —
building momentum for a resilient, net-zero future.
Feb 15 – 21, 2026
Chase Center on the Riverfront
Affiliate Events
Across Delaware
Climate Week Delaware is a statewide initiative that brought together government leaders, businesses, academic institutions, non-profits, and community members to accelerate climate action through collaboration, innovation, and education.
The inaugural 2026 edition — held February 15–21 — marked a landmark moment for the First State, establishing Delaware as an active participant in the national and global movement toward a sustainable, resilient future. The week-long series spotlighted Delaware’s climate challenges, celebrated meaningful progress, and inspired lasting commitments from across the public and private sectors.
Events ranged from policy roundtables and green tech showcases to youth-led workshops and community conservation activities — all anchored by a high-energy Opening Ceremony at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.
On Tuesday, February 17, 2026, Climate Week Delaware opened its doors at the Chase Center on the Riverfront — one of Wilmington’s premier event venues. Running from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, the ceremony drew together a remarkable cross-section of Delaware’s civic, business, and community leaders for what attendees called an energizing, purpose-driven morning.
Hosted by Tynetta T. Brown of Thumbprint Strategies, the ceremony set the tone for the entire week: bold thinking, genuine collaboration, and concrete commitment to climate action at every level.
The Opening Ceremony convened a distinguished roster of speakers spanning government, Fortune 500 industry, energy, architecture, agriculture, and community leadership — representing the full breadth of stakeholders needed to advance Delaware’s climate agenda.
Delaware’s Climate Action Plan will require collaboration across sectors and sustained investment from both private and public leadership. Panelists affirmed that the plan is actionable and meaningfully aligned with their organizations’ existing climate and sustainability goals. Three priorities emerged from discussion:
Following the Opening Ceremony, participants shared candid reflections that captured both the excitement of the moment and the honest work still ahead. Their words reflect a community that is engaged, self-aware, and ready to move together.
There are great things happening in the corporate world and in local government to work towards the goal of achieving net zero. It is clear that we are all working towards these goals in our own silos and are largely unaware of what others are doing. This can be viewed as an opportunity to initiate better collaboration.
When we work together, we can achieve bigger and better progress. The City of Wilmington is looking forward to increasing our partnership with Delmarva Power in the future.
We have big energy and resource challenges in Delaware. We are one of, if not, the lowest lying state in the country so climate change is & will continue to hit us hard. However, we are also a very innovative & transformational state, small enough to work with agility & speed when pushed to do so.
We are seeing that climate change has arrived and while we’ve already seen impacts, we also know that it’s not too late for us to meet this moment and to turn this crisis into opportunity.
Beyond the Opening Ceremony, Climate Week Delaware activated communities throughout the state with 10 independently organized affiliate events — from tree-planting volunteering and bilingual nature trails to expert energy panels, youth summits, ecological garden design workshops, and advocacy training sessions. Together they ensured that Climate Week reached Delawareans of every age, background, and geography.
Climate Week Delaware 2026 demonstrated that the ingredients for transformative climate action are already present in the First State: dedicated leaders, ambitious organizations, engaged young people, and a growing public commitment to change. What this inaugural week made clear, however, is that progress accelerates when silos break down.
As participants noted, much of Delaware’s best work on climate is happening in parallel — often unbeknownst to the very people working toward the same goals across different sectors. Climate Week Delaware exists to change that. By creating a shared stage for cross-sector dialogue, the event is building the connective tissue that turns individual ambition into collective impact.
The goal is simple: return each year with more partners, more data, more stories of progress — and a stronger, more unified movement behind Delaware’s path to net-zero.
