Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa is a Caribbean and Japanese American climate justice activist and researcher. As Executive Director and a founding director of Climate Cardinals, he leads 16,000 youth volunteers across 134 countries and 100 chapters, making climate information accessible worldwide. Hayakawa established Climate Cardinals’ translation program in partnership with Translators Without Borders and Google Cloud, increasing translation capacity to over two million words annually and securing six-figure funding from Google’s philanthropic branch.
Hayakawa represents Climate Cardinals on UNESCO’s Youth Climate Action Network Steering Committee, which advocates for over 10 million youth climate activists, and serves on the WHO Youth Council. He has spoken about his work at the Smithsonian, UN Development Programme, and Italian Ministry of the Environment, among others, and has been featured in Axios, The Guardian, Forbes, and Teen Vogue. His accolades include the Grist 50 Class of 2024 and the Global Student Prize Top 50.
Meet more of our speakers
Would you like to speak at the Extreme Hangout at COP29?
We are still finalising the programme and speakers for Extreme Hangout at COP29. If you have stories or learnings to share that will inspire environmental action and popularise the climate movement, we'd love to hear from you.
Please email us at speakers@extremeinternational.com
