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

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.

Emilio Estefan debuts new song at a festival in Miami Beach. A climate festival.

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.

Miami Beach to become ‘center of the climate action world’ with 2022 Aspen Ideas conference