Water for Climate Action: World Water Week 2025 opens in Stockholm and online
On 25 August, World Water Week 2025 will open its doors in Stockholm and online, welcoming participants from across the globe to explore this year’s theme: Water for Climate Action. The Opening Ceremony, held on Centre Stage, will set the tone for a week dedicated to accelerating transformative solutions that place water at the heart of climate strategies.
Water is a key enabler of climate mitigation, resilient management, and security. In line with the first Global Stocktake, this year’s programme emphasizes how water intersects with health, resilience, development, and the environment — highlighting the urgency of cross-sectoral collaboration, innovative financing, and multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
The Opening Ceremony will feature welcoming remarks from Helena Thybell, Executive Director of SIWI, and Susanne Halling Duffy, Director of World Water Week, together with Tom Panella, Chair of SIWI’s Board, and Åsa Lindhagen, Vice Mayor, Stockholm. A keynote address by H.E. Retno L.P. Marsudi, UN Special Envoy on Water, will set the policy scene by reflecting on progress since COP29 and the UN 2023 Water Conference.
Two high-level panels will then explore how to drive climate action through water. The first will connect global policy with practice, with perspectives from Jessika Roswall, European Commission, Dianna Kopansky, UNEP, and Tom Slaymaker, UNICEF. The second will focus on implementation and action on the ground, with insights from Bapon Fakhruddin, Green Climate Fund, Joana Barata Correia, Global Head of Strategic Sustainability Topics, IKEA, and Taylor Galvin Ozaawi Mashkode-Bizhiki, Brokenhead Ojibwe Nation in Treaty One Territory in Manitoba.
The ceremony will also showcase innovative city-level solutions through CitiesWithWater, present reflections on preparations for the UN 2026 Water Conference and look ahead to how the COP30 Presidency will advance the water-climate agenda.
Closing remarks will be offered by Helena Thybell, reinforcing SIWI’s commitment to mobilizing collective action for a peaceful, sustainable, and climate-resilient future.
As every year, the Opening Ceremony brings together governments, business leaders, academia, youth, and civil society to set the agenda for a transformative week. By fostering dialogue and co-developing solutions, World Water Week continues to serve as a global platform to turn water knowledge into action.
