Students Power Stanford’s Second Climate Week

Stanford students have long shaped the future of the university, and their commitment to climate action is no exception. Their drive to build a more sustainable campus and world helped launch one of the largest student-run sustainability efforts on campus: Stanford Climate Week.

In April 2024, Stanford students organized the first-ever Stanford Climate Week, marking the university’s inaugural student-led celebration focused on climate action, innovation, research, and cross-disciplinary problem-solving. The week featured more than 40 events, all designed around the same takeaway: sustainability is most powerful when it’s integrated across disciplines, not treated as its own silo.

A Growing Movement

This October, Climate Week returned with even greater momentum! With more organizers and events, more partners, and deeper integration across campus, the second annual Climate Week drew more than 1,000 participants and hosted over 60 events. Highlights included a opening remarks from President Jon Levin and a keynote with former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, showing strong institutional support for student-led engagement around climate issues and advancing sustainability.

“It’s nice to pause my day-to-day and learn about something entirely new I don’t normally think about,” said Julia Segal, a student majoring in design

Events throughout the week brought sustainability topics to the forefront of campus conversations through exciting guest speakers, panels, student presentations, and opportunities to commune and network. The Stanford x Climate AI Hackathon brought together student teams from across the country for 24 hours of problem-solving at the intersection of artificial intelligence and climate action, with projects ranging from extreme weather forecasting to energy-efficient computing systems — topics that affect Stanford’s daily sustainability operations. One notable guest speaker was Bessma Aljarbou, Head of Strategy for Environment & Supply Chain Innovation at Apple, who provided insights on mission-driven work, culture change, and climate leadership.

A Community Built Through Action

Students and organizers described Climate Week as both energizing and grounding, and impactful in building community. One of the student organizers, Esha Gupta, ’26, said one of her favorite parts of planning was the process and connecting with people who reached out to organizers with ideas and excitement. Reflecting on Stanford Climate Week’s impact on the student community, Mary Lee, ’26, Director of Climate Week, offered a reminder of the week’s purpose: “Know that you have a family and a place on campus. We want to work with you. We want to support you.” 

Walking the Talk in Sustainable Operations

Just as the conversations highlighted the need for sustainability within organizations, Climate Week also underscored the importance of integrating sustainability into the operations of Stanford’s campus, not just as an academic or advocacy topic, but as a living and ongoing institutional practice. This year’s organizers worked to model best practices, demonstrating that student-led initiatives can easily incorporate operational sustainability. Key contributions included zero waste event planning, with student teams applying Stanford’s waste sorting and composting guidelines across dozens of events, and cross-campus partnership with operations teams for event services and building management, as well as creating platforms for solution-oriented dialogue that aligns with the university’s long-term sustainability goals. Overall, Climate Week showed what is possible when passionate students come together to collaborate and envision a more sustainable future.