Hear Hikaru speak at our 65th Anniversary Celebration & Symposium, “Envisioning the Future of the Interfaith Movement” on November 8 in New York City. Get tickets here.
Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa: Founder, Climate Cardinals
Through Climate Cardinals, Hayakawa continues to champion youth leadership, climate education equity, and global cooperation, advancing a vision that every young person has access to the knowledge and tools needed to shape a sustainable, just future.
Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa is a Caribbean and Japanese American social entrepreneur, climate justice activist, and Indigenous Studies researcher. As Executive Director and a founding director of Climate Cardinals, he leads one of the world’s largest youth-led climate organizations, mobilizing 16,000 volunteers across 134 countries and 130 chapters in 33 countries. Climate Cardinals focuses on making climate information accessible globally, especially to non-English speakers, and has partnered with Translators Without Borders and Google Cloud to translate critical scientific content into more than 100 languages. Under his leadership, the organization expanded its translation program, managed over two million words of translation, and secured six-figure funding from Google’s philanthropic arm.
Hayakawa’s passion for climate justice was shaped by his upbringing in Maplewood, New Jersey as the child of a Guyanese American mother and a Japanese immigrant father. Experiencing the social impacts of Hurricane Sandy firsthand, he developed an early commitment to addressing environmental inequity. He was awarded the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Abroad Program scholarship to study in North Macedonia during high school, where his dedication to citizen diplomacy was recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Cultural and Education Affairs.
Hayakawa graduated magna cum laude from Williams College with highest honors, focusing academically on global Indigenous rights movements. He spent a year at Exeter College, University of Oxford, further shaping his international perspective. Professionally, Hayakawa has advised the United Nations, served on UNESCO’s Youth Climate Action Network Steering Committee, and spoken at globally recognized institutions such as Harvard, Columbia, the United Nations, and UNESCO. His work has appeared in Forbes, Grist, Teen Vogue, and more.
Primary Sources & Speeches
- https://www.climatecardinals.org/hikaru-wakeel-hayakawa
- https://www.hikaruwhayakawa.com
- https://www.climatecardinals.org/pressreleases/climate-cardinals-names-hikaru-wakeel-hayakawa-as-first-full-time-executive-director-to-lead-global-climate-accessibility-efforts
- https://globalteacherprize.org/news/global-student-prize-finalists/2024-finalists-global-student-prize/1531/1531-Hikaru-Wakeel-Hayakawa
- https://www.oneyoungworld.com/speaker/hikaru-wakeel-hayakawa
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/hikaruhayakawa
- https://www.instagram.com/hikaru.w.hayakawa/?hl=en
- https://www.instagram.com/hikaru.w.hayakawa/reel/DNd0rpmuOKN/
- https://ineapple.com/known_pass1
- https://communicatingclimatechange.com/podcast/translating-climate-information-for-the-global-majority-with-hikaru-wakeel-hayakawa
- https://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/exeter-alumnus-appointed-executive-director-of-climate-cardinals-raising-awareness-of-climate-crisis-globally/
- https://williamsrecord.com/staff_name/hikaru-wakeel/