On September 25, 2025, the City of Yokohama led an official event during Climate Week NYC 2025 (September 21–28), one of the world’s largest climate-focused gatherings held annually in New York City.

To the best of our knowledge, Yokohama became the first Japanese municipality to host an official event during Climate Week NYC, marking a new step forward in advancing global climate action from the standpoint of cities.

Titled “Yokohama Smart City Collaboration Forum,” the program was designed to promote collaboration between Japan, the US, and the rest of the world across the fields of clean energy, smart cities, and finance, and to accelerate city-driven climate action.

Launched in 2009 by The Climate Group in partnership with the State of New York, Climate Week NYC is held every September alongside the UN General Assembly. It has become one of the largest and most influential global platforms where governments, corporations, civil society, and international organizations convene to share strategies for a sustainable future.

Yokohama’s initiative represented a significant opportunity to demonstrate municipal leadership at a time when local and regional actions are increasingly recognized as key drivers of global climate progress.

Organized by the Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas (New York) with the Global Futures Network (GFN), established under the Ford Foundation, as the leading sponsor, the event was supported by diverse partners including the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), Nishimura & Asahi New York, and ShibuLA Ventures.

Across the morning and afternoon sessions, the forum gathered approximately 160 participants from government, academia, industry, and finance.

The day’s program featured a morning U.S.–Japan climate-tech matching session, “Yokohama Clean Tech Gateway” focused on connecting US startups to Japanese and international investors, followed by an afternoon global forum, “Smart Cities, Shared Futures,” which connected discussions across policy, finance, and technology toward advancing cross-sector collaboration.

Morning Session: “Yokohama Clean Tech Gateway” – Promoting U.S.–Japan Clean-Tech Collaboration

The morning session of the Climate Week NYC event, “Yokohama Clean Tech Gateway,” was co-organized with Greennex Global as an invitation-only matching event bringing together Japanese corporations and investors with U.S. climate-tech startups.

In the opening remarks, Masa Nishikawa, Director of the Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas, emphasized the importance of building practical partnerships between the innovation ecosystems of Japan and the United States.

This was followed by a presentation from Kazuhiko Nishioka, CEO of SUN METALON Inc., a Yokohama-based startup pioneering zero-emission metal recycling using proprietary heating technology. His pitch showcased how Yokohama-born innovation can address global sustainability challenges by regenerating contaminated industrial waste into high-value metal materials directly on-site.

Curated by Greennex Global, seven cutting-edge U.S. startups then took the stage, presenting frontier technologies spanning EV charging infrastructure, distributed energy control, next-generation battery materials, thermal energy storage, CO₂ mineralization, and AI-driven infrastructure optimization.

These companies are backed by world-class investors and accelerators such as Breakthrough Energy, Toyota Ventures, AWS, Greentown Labs, Newlab, and Activate, and are already conducting pilot projects across the United States with Fortune 500 partners.

Ori Karev, a seasoned executive with leadership experience at United Healthcare International Division and a mentor-investor to technology startups in the U.S., Europe, and Israel, served as commentator and offered insights on how these innovations could align with Japan’s industrial and policy landscape.

17 major Japanese corporations and investment institutions participated, joined by five overseas investors, reflecting strong interest in cross-border investment collaboration in the climate-tech sector.

Following the pitches, a lunch networking session brought together U.S. and Japanese startups, investors, city representatives, and international organizations for active discussions on potential partnerships and inter-city cooperation.

Connections that formed in the morning continued into the afternoon’s “Smart Cities, Shared Futures Forum,” expanding the dialogue among cities, corporations, and researchers.

Afternoon Session: “Smart Cities, Shared Futures Forum” – Connecting Policy, Finance, and Technology

The afternoon public forum of the City of Yokohama Climate Week NYC event, “Smart Cities, Shared Futures: Bridging Asia and the World through Cities Collaboration,” convened city leaders, international organizations, researchers, investors, and private-sector stakeholders to discuss the global potential of city-based collaboration.

Opening remarks were delivered by Satoshi Sekiya, the Executive Director of the Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas, who highlighted the importance of cities being on the front line of climate action and connecting local policy with on-the-ground implementation.

A fireside chat followed between Kathy Han, Founder of the Global Futures Network (GFN), and Director Masahiro Nishikawa, focusing on how cities can harness technology—particularly AI and digital tools—for public benefit. The discussion explored ways cities can act as catalysts for addressing global challenges such as climate change and social equity.

Nishikawa shared examples from Yokohama’s zero-carbon and circular-economy initiatives, including citizen-driven projects such as the SDGs Food-Loss Reduction Lockers. Han introduced GFN’s AI-enabled smart-city partnerships and leadership programs, underscoring the need to link local innovation with global collaboration.

The session effectively set the tone for the afternoon’s thematic discussions.

In the keynote speech, Professor Kent E. Calder, Director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University, delivered a lecture titled “From Local Innovations to Global Pathways: Cities as Strategic Actors in Climate Action.”

He emphasized that cities are emerging as vital diplomatic and economic actors in the global arena, pointing to collaborative city networks such as C40 and the World Urban Forum as critical platforms for advancing coordinated climate policies.

Drawing on examples from New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Yokohama’s own Zero Carbon 2050 target, he highlighted how locally led initiatives are accelerating global climate action and shaping a more sustainable, inclusive future.

Three thematic panel sessions followed:

【Policy】 City Diplomacy and Global Cooperation – From Local Action to Global Impact

Speakers included Oumar Sylla, Regional Representative for Africa at UN-Habitat; Aditi Maheshwari, Managing Director of Climate Action Implementation at C40 Cities; and Amanda Leffson, Director for Asia and the Middle East, NYC Mayor’s Office for International Affairs.

Moderated by Nikolai Muth, Project Manager for the Office of the City of Yokohama Representative to the Americas, the session examined how cities contribute to global goals through on-the-ground climate action and how inter-city collaboration can drive policy innovation. Participants discussed the role of international institutions and networks in strengthening municipal capacity through knowledge-sharing, technology, and finance, referencing Yokohama’s experience with the Asia Smart City Conference (ASCC) as a model for regional cooperation.

【Finance】 The New Wave of Climate Finance – Funding Smart and Sustainable Cities

Speakers included Norihisa Shimozawa, CEO of DBJ Americas; Ivan Frishberg, Chief Sustainability Officer of Amalgamated Bank; and Chandan Deuskar, Urban Specialist at the World Bank’s City Climate Finance Gap Fund.

Moderated by Kevin Ninomiya, Co-Founder and CEO of ShibuLA Ventures, the panel explored how cities can secure sustainable financing for climate action and infrastructure. Discussions highlighted the growing importance of ESG and impact investment, as well as the role of multilateral development banks (MDBs) in enabling risk-sharing frameworks that support local and emerging cities.

Drawing from Yokohama’s experience, participants noted that public–private partnership models involving regional financial institutions can serve as effective mechanisms to mobilize resources for decarbonization and smart-city development.

【Technology】 Integrating Technology and Knowledge – Scaling Urban Climate Solutions

Panelists included Timothy Hoffman, Program Director at Columbia Technology Ventures and Hidetoshi Takeda, Communication Lead at Kyoto University and representative of NINEJP (National Innovation Network for Entrepreneur Japan).

Moderated by George Panagiotakopoulos, Head of Global Expansion at UC Berkeley, the discussion focused on how universities, research institutions, startups, and municipalities can jointly apply technological innovation to solve urban and climate challenges.

Examples such as Tsubame BHB, a Yokohama-based climate-tech startup expanding globally, illustrated how Japanese university-driven innovations are contributing to international sustainability goals.

Closing: Toward Deeper Global Urban Collaboration

The forum built upon Yokohama’s experience organizing the Asia Smart City Conference (ASCC), bringing together cities, companies, international organizations, and researchers to explore sustainable models of inter-city collaboration across policy, finance, and technology.

Masaaki Maeda, Executive Director of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York (JCCI), delivered the closing remarks.

Reflecting on Yokohama’s historical ties to New York, he emphasized that addressing the climate crisis requires cooperation that transcends borders and sectors, and expressed strong expectations for Yokohama’s continued leadership in this field.

Building on the outcomes of this event at Climate Week NYC, the City of Yokohama will continue to advance dialogue toward COP30, the upcoming Asia Smart City Conference, and GREEN×EXPO 2027, working to realize a more sustainable and inclusive future through global urban partnerships.