New York City, NY – November 3, 2026 – Climate Cardinals now supports 180+ active chapters in 46 countries, more than double the 68 it counted at the end of 2025. The organization budgeted for 85 chapters in 2026 and passed that goal in February.
90% of chapters are in the Global Majority. More than half are in Africa and about a fifth are in South Asia.
Chapters are based in schools, universities and local organizations. Leaders choose local priorities and run projects that respond to them: climate workshops, translated resources, advocacy campaigns, tree planting and clean-ups. A chapter counts as active only if it reports every quarter.
Recent chapter work includes:
Tribhuvan University (Nepal): flood-preparedness workshops for 500+ students in Kathmandu
Pwani University (Kenya): thousands of trees planted and coastal clean-ups in Malindi
Kakuma (Kenya): ten young people trained in green entrepreneurship
Climate Cardinals backs chapters with training, monthly workshops, mentorship and quarterly regranting. This year it funded more than 20 chapter projects. With the Wade Trim Foundation, it launched $2,000 Coastal Resilience Grants for student chapters in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.
"Young people started chapters faster than we planned for. Our job is to make sure every one of them is real, supported and accountable," said Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, Executive Director of Climate Cardinals. "Thank you to our Chapters Co-Managers, Mercy Cai and Zeinab Farag, who built the systems that let this network grow without losing quality."
Explore the Program Dashboard and the Live Chapter Map.
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Press Inquiries:
Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa, Executive Director: [email protected]
About Climate Cardinals
Climate Cardinals is one of the world's largest youth-focused climate organizations. It breaks language barriers so every community can take action and protect their future, with a vision of climate resilience for all. Since 2020, more than 21,000 young people in 145 countries have volunteered with Climate Cardinals. Today it runs 180+ active chapters in 46 countries, 90% of them in the Global Majority, a paid global Fellowship, a research program, and translations of climate information into 100+ languages for partners including UNESCO, UNICEF and Yale. Learn more at climatecardinals.org and on our Program Dashboard.
