JULY 20-22, 2026 · Chicago, Illinois

UChicago at Aspen Ideas: Climate 2026

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth serves as the official academic thought partner for Aspen Ideas: Climate.

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth returned as the official academic thought partner for Aspen Ideas: Climate (AIC) for its second year, taking place in Chicago on July 20-22, 2026.

The collaboration involved key elements of Aspen Ideas: Climate Chicago’s programming, integrating the University of Chicago’s global expertise and cutting-edge research into the agenda. Together, we co-curated sessions on critical topics such as electricity markets, geoengineering, and battery technologies, among others.

About Aspen Ideas: Climate

Aspen Ideas: Climate is designed to offer the public a chance to interact, learn, and collaborate with thinkers and do-ers whose actions are critical to addressing our collective future around the realities of a changing climate. This event will assemble global, regional, and local policy makers, scientists, business and NGO leaders, energy experts, artists, young leaders, members of the public, and others for dialogues aimed at educating, inspiring, and provoking action to combat climate change and adapt to a changing planet.

UChicago at Aspen Ideas: Climate

Learn More

Grace Gu

College '29

“I think it’s been quite exciting and also a pretty valuable learning experience. It’s very encouraging to see so many people caring about climate, especially people from private corporations. I’ve learned a lot, and it’s certainly interesting to see how people from different fields and industries have overlapping concerns.”

Laura Bornhoevd

College '28

“This summer I’ve been working as a clean energy marketing and communications intern for R&D B2B Marketing, and seeing the topics that R&D’s clients are working on being discussed at Aspen Ideas has been really interesting. I’ve gotten to see up close how important the clean tech that these clients are developing is in the conversations that are happening here.”

Zoe Lipschultz

College '28

“It’s inspiring to see professionals across industries come together to promote environmental sustainability. The key ingredient to meet ambitious sustainability goals is the development and deployment of new technologies. It’s a great feeling to know that the work I’m doing in computational chemistry this summer is part of advancing these goals.”