Climate Leaders Exchange
City leaders learning side by side with experts in data, finance, policy, and innovation, then taking what they learn back to their cities.
The challenge
Local leaders are on the front lines of climate change. They are dealing with rising seas, extreme weather, and growing economic and social risk, and they are doing it with less public sector capacity while national governments pull back. Cities keep driving progress on climate goals, but existing mayoral and city platforms struggle to bring academic and private sector partners into the work at scale.
Cities need a new model. The New York Climate Exchange has built one.
The Climate Leaders Exchange brings local leaders from around the world to Governors Island, a Living Laboratory in a waterfront park with the New York City skyline as its backdrop. New York is a leader in urban resilience, finance, technology, and culture. Here, leaders work alongside researchers, entrepreneurs, finance professionals, and students, and leave with practical policies and tools for their own cities.
The program is for mayors and also for the people who deliver resilient cities day to day, across housing, energy, land use, transportation, water, and air.
Drawing on the expertise of our partners and New York City's convening power, the Climate Leaders Exchange:
Strengthens local government capacity
Advances technology development and adoption
Supports policymaking and business innovation
Supports green and blue workforce development in cities worldwide
Launch pilot: Climate Week NYC 2026
September 24–25, 2026, Governors Island & Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Exchange launched the Climate Leaders Exchange during Climate Week NYC (September 20–27) with an invite-only, two-day workshop. Teams of three came from 12 U.S. cities, including New York City. Climate, housing, and finance leaders came to learn about and share energy efficient housing solutions.
The pilot had three goals:
Connect city offices. Help leaders working on housing build relationships with colleagues in other offices who may not yet work together.
Connect cities. Give leaders a chance to exchange solutions across geographies and learn from Exchange experts in data, finance, and urban resilience, so they return to City Hall with new tools.
Test the curriculum. Road test content designed for this audience, using Governors Island and our partners' expertise, and use what we learn to shape a larger program. Duke University, Pratt Institute, Pace University, and Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science participated in this iniatial pilot of the Climate Leaders Exchange.
Students at the center
Students from our partner universities work as researchers, interns, and fellows on real projects, drawn from the priorities that surface in Exchange programming. They gain hands-on experience, and cities gain access to a network of 62,600 faculty and researchers and more than half a million students. By creating shared learning spaces across sectors, the Exchange helps cities move from ambition to action and prepares the next generation of climate leaders.
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Atlanta
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Boston
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Cleveland
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Denver
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Madison
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New York City
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Philadelphia
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San Francisco
〰️ Atlanta 〰️ Boston 〰️ Cleveland 〰️ Denver 〰️ Madison 〰️ New York City 〰️ Philadelphia 〰️ San Francisco
WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED!