Green Summit 2026 – It’s a Wrap!

Review of the 8th Greater Manchester Green Summit – 3rd March

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The dust has now settled on the eighth Green Summit hosted by GMCA’s Environment Team.  This year’s event took place at the Co-op Live on the 3rd March, if you were there, you’d have experienced the electric vibe inside the venue, made possible by our many delegates, partners and schools, even the glorious sunshine paid the event a rare visit.

With over 2000 people passing through the doors at the Co-op Live (one of Europe’s most sustainable venues), 120 organisations showcasing their programmes and swapping contacts, and over 250 young people providing the energy and positivity to the event, I think we can safely say GMCA really did deliver the largest ever Green Summit in Greater Manchester (and possibly the North West!)

Green Summit market place

Sandwiched between the BRITs and Harry Styles, the Green Summit had big shoes to fill, opening the doors at 9:30am, the huge influx of delegates took your breath away.   With a lively exhibition space hosting a diverse range of organisations, from big corporates to third sector charities and volunteer groups, there was definitely something and someone for everyone to visit, meet and chat with.

The morning plenary session, hosted by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and Ilona Alcock, Director of Elevate GM, took us through the Mayor’s priorities on delivering the challenge of 2038 for the region. This includes increasing the number of electric buses, increasing the number of homes retrofitted, increasing the amount of renewable electricity generated in the region, reducing and redirecting waste streams and increasing our value in green space.  All these priorities align with the Greater Manchester Strategy and the Five Year Environment Plan for Greater Manchester.

In a filmed address from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, he stated that Greater Manchester was showing great leadership in clean energy, climate and nature and providing better lives today by tackling the cost of living crisis and protecting future generations.

The children from Parochial Primary School in Tameside, told the audience how funding from the GMCA Eco Grants for Schools enabled them to provide a home for rescue chickens, which now provides eggs for the school’s care packages alongside a greater appreciation from the children on the provenance of their food.

from Parochial Primary School

The Mayor then welcomed Khadija Patel who made a powerful entrance onto stage after cycling through the audience. Khadija was representing the Krimmz Girls Youth Club which had benefited from the TfGM Wheels and Walks funding, to provide cycling group sessions for girls and women in Bolton.

A Carbon Literacy ‘Flashmob’ also provided a surprise with many speakers from all walks of life popping up in the audience declaring that they were Carbon Literate.

We then had an engaging address from Kunle Barker, Property Expert, Writer, and Broadcaster on the democratisation of Nature – why nature us important in our cities, places and lives.

The morning plenary session was wrapped up by Trafford Council’s Leader and GM Portfolio Lead, Councillor Tom Ross, and the Five Year Environment Plan policy leads, updating on achievements to date and future work.

woman cycling through audience wearing veil and cycling helmet

During a busy lunchtime period, many networking and panel discussions started to take place.   One series of sessions throughout the afternoon included a Green City Café where delegates were invited to network and share best practices and ideas for aligning GMCA plans with real-life scenarios and work.

Other sessions taking place within the Hideaway Space included the launch of GM’s intentions to become a sustainable food place,  International Collaborations – Unlocking Commercial Opportunities for the new Green Revolution, Young People Driving Innovation and Action brought to life with presentations from the students at Hopwood Hall, Young Green Briton Challenge and the GM Youth Combined Authority, and Delivering Healthy Homes, hosted by Sureserve.

The Level 3 series of panel sessions hosted xx speakers covering a range of subject matters including: Managing Water in a Growing City-Region, Green Skills for a Low Carbon Greater Manchester, Accelerating the Low Carbon Transition and The Bee Network: A Transport System for a Global City Region.

Panel members sat on stage

GM Moving and the team from CyanLines led a 2 mile ‘walkshop’ which had an amazing turnout of over 100 attendees enjoying the sunshine and learning more about the emerging CyanLine taking in the surrounding waterways and learning more about a ’Stadium in the Park’.  Participants were encouraged to inform the CyanLines design approach, co-creating a code for delivering over 100 miles of nature across the city region.

Cyan lines walkers standing under carbon counter archway

With the help from colleagues at Manchester City and Co-op Live, over 100 primary school children took part in planting activities on the new city centre walkway creating a Green Summit legacy, a cooking workshop where they learnt how to construct a vegan Billie (Eilish) Burrito and a bee workshop hosted by the Co-op Live’s Bee Keeper.

 

This year’s Green Summit would not have been possible without the generosity of our sponsors who we would like to thank…

Our Headline Sponsors

  • Daikin
  • Deloitte
  • earth4earth
  • SP Electricity North West Ltd
  • SSE Energy Solutions

Official Partners

  • Environment Agency
  • NIBE Energy Systems Ltd
Headline sponsor street signage recognition

After a very energetic and productive day, we wished all our visitors and contributors a safe journey home via the region’s Bee Network, and that’s a wrap for Green Summit 2026!

Should you want to view the livestream from all of the Level 3 sessions of the Green Summit 2026: Greater Manchester Green Summit 2026 | GMGreenCity

Read the media release for the Green Summit 2026: Greater Manchester making progress towards 2038 carbon neutral target – as Green Summit returns – Greater Manchester Combined Authority

Take action…

To make a big change, we must all take small actions. Becoming greener and making an impact is easier than you might think. We have put together a range of blogs, articles, toolkits and checklists to help you make a start.

Explore resources

Although we set out with a simple mission to reduce plastic waste, we’ve quickly realised that it’s just one piece in the sustainability puzzle. One of the biggest, but most easily attainable actions we can achieve is to look at where our goods come from and reduce the carbon footprint needed to get a product from manufacturer to consumer. Many of the products we stock are made by local, independent manufacturers, who provide us with a wide range of things from reusable face wipes, wax food wraps, face coverings, soap bars, plant pots, kitchen cloths/sponges and butty bags.

Carl from Lentils and Lather

Our aim is to start changing the habits of families in Greater Manchester by getting them to ‘borrow’ rather than ‘buy’ brand new toys. We’re making sure that toys can be reused again and again by children who need and want them – and they are not just sitting in a cupboard or under someone’s bed.

Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

Hannah from Tread Softly

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is providing a further boost to the ambitions of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership to create a thriving, inspirational and connected landscape. It supports the recovery of wildlife through habitat creation and improvement as well as community recovery through providing opportunities for local people to develop skills, knowledge and beneficial connections to their local natural environment.

Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

The reason I signed up to the Green Homes Grant scheme was two-fold, selfishly the measures will add value to the properties and make them more valuable in the future. But more importantly it benefits the tenants, keeping them warmer and prevents problems like damp and condensation. Ultimately measures like external wall insulations should keep tenants happier and ensure they remain in the house for longer.

Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

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