Sustainable Summits: Climate Solutions from the Top of the World

Sustainable Summits is an international conference series for sharing solutions on protecting and preserving the world’s mountain regions. The Sustainable Summits conferences are inspired by the growing pressures on our mountain environments, the need to find solutions to the impacts of such pressures, and a drive to uphold the values sustaining these environments.  In 2016 the 3rd Sustainable Summits was held at Aoraki-Mt Cook, supported by NZAC, DOC and Ngai Tahu. This was a memorable and very successful week with many overseas mountain folk attending. For 2021, Sustainable Summits (SS21) was planned to be held in Nepal to showcase the country’s mountain environment, bring international attention to the climate change impacts in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), and to highlight the role of mountains in the lead up to COP 26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

SS21 aims to:

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  • Honour mountain voices and promote understanding of the Himalaya as an “abode of the gods"

Due to COVID 19, however, it is now impossible to hold the SS21 conference as originally intended. Therefore, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), working with the Climate Alliance of Himalayan Communities (CAHC); the SS21 organizing committee; and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) – has produced a series of films covering the same themes, to achieve the same objectives, and to promote the Sustainable Summits message in the region and internationally with a focus on providing an HKH message for COP 26.

We can now share the the first Sustainable Summits: Climate Solutions from the Top of the World film which features powerful voices and stirring images from the Hindu Kush Himalaya for the decision makers at COP26, here.

To watch COP26 address by Sir Chris Bonington click here.

To watch COP26 address by Reinhold Messner click here.


The New Zealand Alpine Club has been an active supporter of the Sustainable Summits efforts since its inauguration in 2010 and has included the hosting of the 2016 summit in New Zealand by key members of the Club and NZAC past presidents.