Stepping into the Ring at Shanghai Climate Week 2025

Building on the first Climate Ring held by Swissnex in Boston and New York during Climate Week NYC 2024, Swissnex in China launched Climate Ring Shanghai as part of Shanghai Climate Week 2025. Set inside an actual boxing ring: symbolizing climate change as "the fight of our century", the stage hosted nine events, convening over 40 speakers and 300 participants to address this urgent global challenge. A diverse Swiss delegation joined Chinese counterparts in driving the dialogues, including representatives from the University of Geneva, ETH Zurich, a Swiss artist, and a startup founder.

The ring served as a launchpad for tangible action, featuring the introduction of China’s 2025 Frontiers Planet Prize National Champion and the unveiling of the CEA-4 tool, an open-source ETH Zürich platform designed for planning decarbonized cities. Entrepreneurial energy flourished during an Innovation Night that spotlighted Swiss and Chinese startups, accompanied by a data-driven art installation utilizing real-time atmospheric data from ETH Zurich. Additionally, a behavioral insights session examined the psychological barriers influencing climate decision-making, offering pathways to more effective communication and policy.

Beyond technology, the program emphasized human-centric engagement through interactive formats. These included a “Climate Fresk” workshop to educate youth and a behavioral insights session where young leaders from academia and civil society contributed vital perspectives. The week concluded with a cross-disciplinary panel that reflected on air and clouds, examining both their scientific properties and symbolic connection to the climate.

For Swissnex in China, Climate Ring Shanghai offered an opportunity to connect Swiss and Chinese stakeholders around planetary challenges that transcend borders. The dialogues in China, centered on prediction, participation, and interdisciplinary collaboration, resonate with global trends while bringing a distinctive perspective shaped by China’s scale, ambition, and cultural context. During the event, three Swiss researchers on short-term sabbaticals in China participated in the Ring, visited peers and led academic sessions.

Climate Ring Shanghai was more than an event series; it became a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue driven by a shared urgency to act. We believe that each voice enriches our understanding of the challenges and possibilities ahead, and that the connections forged in and beyond the ring will serve as vital links in shaping a more climate-conscious future.