Dunkeld and Birnam’s Climate Café now a Global Movement

Ten years after the world’s first Climate Café opened in the Perthshire villages of Dunkeld and Birnam, the grassroots idea born over cups of tea has grown into an international network inspiring communities from Jakarta to Lagos — and soon, perhaps, Finland, Melbourne and New York.

Jess Pepper, who founded the original café in 2015, is back pouring tea at the latest gathering. She remembers the uncertainty of that first meeting.

“I wasn’t sure whether people would want to talk about climate in that way.” “But what we learned very quickly was that people really valued that space.” she says.

Today, she coordinates the global Climate Café network.

Over the last eight years, the Dunkeld and Birnam group has turned conversation into action. Their projects range from food‑sharing schemes to helping the village become Scotland’s first Water Efficient Village after saving one million litres of water in a year. They have also run “cakes for commuters”, offering home‑baking at the train station to encourage residents to choose public transport over driving. More recently a new Repair Café and Foodshare have emerged as connected initiatives in the community.

The group’s creativity has travelled far beyond Perthshire. Their upcycled bunting appeared at COP21 in Paris, and they hosted a pop‑up Climate Café at COP26 in Glasgow. These local efforts have inspired new cafés across the world, including an upcoming launch in Finland.

For Jess, the biggest transformation has been cultural.

“I think what really has shifted is our climate literacy,” she says. “We talk about climate stuff all the time. And everyone brings their own insights and experience to those conversations.”

To anyone sceptical about climate change, she extends an open invitation:

“I think they would be amazed that all this momentum can come from a cup of tea.”

Attendees say the café’s strength lies in its informality, a  safe space has helped spark initiatives such as the village foodshare, which volunteer Fiona Ritchie says has raised awareness of food waste and supported neighbours.

The movement’s reach is now global. In Jakarta, coordinator Amanda Katili Niode describes the cafés as “a caring and human space” where people can share worries and hopes “without judgment and without needing to be experts.”

In Lagos, organiser Saviour Iwezue says the cafés help people understand“the  everyday concerns and everyday experiences” behind the climate crisis.

Despite national and international political turbulence, Jess says the group remains focused.

“Dealing with a climate emergency is going to take everyone. And if everyone can connect in their communities… any politician will be tuning in to see the difference we can make.” she says.

First Minister and Perthshire North MSP, John Swinney, called the Dunkeld and Birnam initiative “a marvellous endeavour”. He said its success shows how small steps can grow into “an extraordinary global movement” — one that began, quite simply, with neighbours gathering over tea.

You can find out more about Climate Café HERE.