Climathon Baltimore – Circular Solutions for All, June 25-26
RSVP at https://bit.ly/climathon2026
Climathon Baltimore will convene 40 environmental policy practitioners from NGOs, businesses, governments, universities, research institutes and students from the United States and Germany for two days to develop solutions for a circular economy.
The challenge is that in a world of complex interconnected problems, solutions often require the knowledge and expertise of people from diverse backgrounds and trades. The Climathon brings together people across disciplines from the United States and Germany, creating an ad-hoc think tank or ideation hub.
Participants will workshop solutions in small teams of four to six people, guided by a facilitator. The focus will be on ideas that combine circular economy approaches with greenhouse gas emissions reductions while creating new opportunities for business development, job creation and urban innovation.
The outcomes of the Climathon will be documented and shared online in various formats, including blog posts, social media, video and podcast.
Our goal is that the ideas developed during the Climathon will be picked up after the event and will foster resource efficiency and climate action.
Climathon Baltimore is sponsored by the German Foreign Office. Funding is available to sponsor a limited number of travel stipends. Participation in the program is free of charge.
Climathon Baltimore will be held in cooperation with the German Embassy in the United States and the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Bonus: On Thursday, you will be able to watch the World Cup game Ecuador-Germany.
For further information, email us at info@pocacito.org
RSVP at https://bit.ly/climathon2026
Thursday, June 25, 2026
9:30 Welcome to the 2026 Climathon Baltimore
Dr. Clemens Helbach, Counselor, Environmental Policy, Climate Action, Urban Development, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
9:45 Setting the scene - Circular Economy in Maryland
Rachel L Lamb, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary, Climate Policy & International Affairs, Office of the Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment
10:00 Building a circular economy in Germany
n.n., BMUKN
10:15 Climathon - introducing our process
water - built environment - textiles - plastics - food / biomass - electronics
for each topic, one facilitator will coordinate the process
participants will select one group to join
10:30 Workshop round 1 - problem identification
each group will agree on one problem to solve
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Workshop round 2 - exploring solutions
each group will develop one solution
2:30 Intermezzo - presenting interim results in the plenary and gathering feedback
collecting ideas
3:30 Walk to public viewing
4:00 World Cup public viewing Germany vs. Ecuador
6:00 Walk to dinner
6:30 Dinner
9:00 End day 1
Friday, June 26, 2026
9:00 Reviewing day 1 results
9:30 Workshop round 3 - design and prototyping
groups start implementing their ideas
12:30 Lunch
1:15 Showtime - each group presents their work
2:00 Climathon voting
2:15 Group photo
2:30 Climathon awards
3:00 Climathon - what next?
panel with Rachel Lamb, Clemens Helbach and n.n. (BMUKN)
parallel evaluation via slido
3:45 Closing of 2026 Climathon
4:00 Departures