Climate Change

Miami Beach’s biggest climate change conference will return in 2023 to talk solutions

Aspen Institute CEO Dan Porterfield, music producer Emilio Estefan, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber speak on a panel about climate change at Aspen Ideas Climate in Miami Beach on May 12, 2022.
Aspen Institute CEO Dan Porterfield, music producer Emilio Estefan, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber speak on a panel about climate change at Aspen Ideas Climate in Miami Beach on May 12, 2022. Aspen Institute

South Florida’s most glamorous climate conference is returning next year — with a greater focus on solutions.

The second iteration of Aspen Ideas: Climate is planned for March 6 through 9, 2023, in Miami Beach, and next year’s event will feature more free community events, more scholarships for young climate activists, a beach-side concert and a jobs fair.

Dan Porterfield, president of global nonprofit the Aspen Institute, told a crowd gathered Thursday for a panel on the dangers of extreme heat that he was thrilled to continue the conversation on climate action in Miami Beach.

“We want to do more and more and more here,” he said. “This is the place to be.”

The May 2022 event was the Aspen Institute’s first major conference dedicated to the topic of climate change and was the first of at least three annual gatherings to be held in Miami Beach. Around 1,700 people attended. The group is best known for its yearly Aspen Ideas Festival, where big names gather to discuss solutions to the world’s problems.

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Tickets for the Miami Beach event are now available, and they’re far cheaper than the first version of the conference. In May, general admission tickets started at $2,000. Next year, general admission passes are $500, and there are early-bird discounts and one-day passes available. Academia and nonprofit groups are also eligible for discounted entrance.

Next year’s event will also include more free, community events than the previous conference, Portfield said, as well as more public climate-related art exhibits. Aspen is also more than doubling the scholarships it offers to 18- to 25-year-old climate leaders, from 100 to 250.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, speaking at the same extreme heat panel, called Aspen Ideas: Climate a “problem-solving global conference,” that he hopes will bring fresh new ideas on addressing climate change to his city, which is at the forefront of addressing rising seas.

“We want this to be something that is accessible to the world,” he said.

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This story was originally published October 20, 2022 at 3:46 PM.

Alex Harris
Miami Herald
Alex Harris is the lead climate change reporter for the Miami Herald’s climate team, which covers how South Florida communities are adapting to the warming world. Her beat also includes environmental issues and hurricanes. She attended the University of Florida.
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