Sophie Handford

Councillor at Kāpiti District Council, and Founder of the School Strike 4 Climate in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sophie Handford is a 22-year-old Councillor, and activist from Kāpiti, New Zealand. Since a young age, Sophie has held the environment closely and always felt a strong connection to and need to protect this one planet we share.

She founded School Strike 4 Climate in Aotearoa NZ and went on to coordinate the movement which mobilised 170,000 people across the country in September of 2019, united for climate justice.

She then ran for Council at the age of 18 and was elected as one of Aotearoa’s youngest Councillors onto the Kāpiti Coast District Council. She’s now chairing its Strategy, Operations and Finance Committee.

Sophie has represented New Zealand through APEC Voices of the Future and Ship for World Youth, and is committed to seeing communities and Aotearoa lead our world to a better future for the next generation.