On a warm September morning in Delhi University, a small group of students gathered on the lawns of Hindu College for a baithak (informal circle). Some held their notepads a little tightly, unsure of what the conversation might bring. Others spoke softly about conflict and climate change, trying to understand how the two shape each other. Not far away, in a government school, children were rehearsing a simulation on water-sharing. Their voices wavered, but their enthusiasm filled the room.

At the same time, a comedy club in Bengaluru was getting ready for something unusual. Eight comedians were preparing sets written entirely around climate change. In Goa, a repair café welcomed people carrying broken appliances, ready to learn how to fix what they once thought they had to throw away. And in the tribal hamlets of Masinagudi in the Nilgiris, young children took part in painting sessions, rallies, and conversations with forest officers about forests, livelihoods, and climate impacts.

Across the country, a shared energy was taking root. In just seven days, 94 gatherings unfolded across 16 states and many different kinds of spaces.

This was Climate Week India, held from 7 to 14 September 2025. It was shaped by two anchors, Jacob Cherian and Divya Narayana, along with dozens of partners. They built something that felt less like a formal programme and more like a living, breathing conversation happening across India at the same time.

Jacob often says he wanted the week to feel like India speaking to itself about climate change with honesty, curiosity, and hope. To understand how that week came to life, you have to go back a few years.

The gatherings that week reached places as far apart as Maharashtra, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, and the Andaman Islands, but the idea itself began much earlier. Years before Climate Week India took shape, Jacob was part of a smaller experiment in 2019 called Bangalore Climate Week. It stayed with him because of a question that refused to leave.

“In 2019, we asked: what if climate action didn’t become a silo? What if people from different sectors came together and saw that they were all, in some way, part of climate action?” he recalls.

That question planted a seed and continued to appear in conversations with the early supporters. In April 2025, when the first circle of core partners came together to co-create the Community Agreements, the work began to grow.........

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