How Member-led community action will drive change this September
Every year, Green Action Week brings together communities from across the world to reimagine how we live, share, and consume together. In 2025, 30 Consumers International Members will lead initiatives rooted in community action, demonstrating how local practices can support global solutions.
Why Green Action Week 2025 matters
We are in the final third between the 2015 adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their 2030 deadline, yet many key targets remain off-track and risk being missed if significant action is not taken. Additionally, recent UN Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Geneva (INC5.2) concluded without a final agreement. This highlights how international momentum on a topic does not always translate into immediate action, creating a lag between global ambition and real change on the ground.
In moments like this, initiatives like Green Action Week show how community-led action can strengthen local resilience and bring people together to find practical responses to shared challenges.
What local action looked like in 2024
In 2024, Green Action Week supported 26 campaigns across 22 countries, reaching more than 1.3 million people worldwide. Of those who took part directly in Green Action Week activities, more than half were children and young people, and nearly one third were women.
Every year we are inspired by the local impact Green Action Week initiatives achieve. In 2024, for example, in Rwanda, community radio broadcasts reached 600,000 listeners and encouraged households to adopt new practices around agriculture and resource sharing. In India, e-waste programmes taught students and community members how to safely dispose of electronics, and in Zimbabwe, the “Bring a Bag” campaign encouraged shoppers to switch from single-use plastics to reusable bags.
Read more about Green Action Week 2024 here.
What can we expect from Green Action Week 2025?
This September, Green Action Week will celebrate community-led solutions that make responsible consumption part of daily life. Members delivering their initiatives are made possible through the Green Action Fund, an annual award supported by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and facilitated by Consumers International. The campaigns will focus on four key areas:
- Food and local food systems
- Waste management and circular economy
- Tackling plastic pollution and exploring eco-friendly alternatives
- Youth and environmental education.
Together, these themes capture the diversity of issues shaping consumption today — from what we eat and how we reuse resources, to how the next generation learns to care for the environment.
Find out more about this year’s initiatives here.
Building a community of practice
Online engagement is also being used to expand Green Action Week’s reach.
The Community of Practice connects groups through online sessions from across Green Action Week’s network to exchange experiences and perspectives. These connections will concentrate on addressing climate change, strengthening responsible consumption, and elevating Indigenous knowledge.
Meanwhile, the Youth Webinar Series creates a space for under-30s to co-design a public event on “Sharing Community and Sustainable Consumption,” ensuring the next generation shapes the conversation and highlights the solutions they see as most urgent.
Follow along the journey of local initiatives
Green Action Week proves that when communities are empowered to act locally, their efforts can ripple outward to create change on a larger scale.
Stay tuned to our social channels throughout the month (LinkedIn and X), as we share stories, updates, and highlights from community-led initiatives worldwide.
2024 in action
Consumer Council of Fiji speak on national radio about the growing challenge of electronic waste and what consumers can do to reduce their e-waste footprint.
Rwanda Consumers Rights Protection Organization (ADECOR) set up a community garden in the Musanze district. The garden will support healthy and nutritious diets in the district and strengthen community action and resilience.
Rose Mpofu, Executive Director of Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, meets community 'Consumer Action Clubs' to promote their Green Action Week #BringYourBag campaign to encourage consumers to reduce their use of single-use plastics.
Consumer Voice (India) lead workshops with women in Jahangirpuri to provide essential training on proper disposal of e-waste as well as tricks for giving single-use plastics a second life.