New York / Freetown September 2026 Her Worship Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr OBE, Mayor of Freetown and Co-Chair of C40 Cities, played a prominent role at the 2026 Urban 20 (U20) Mayors Summit held in New York City from 19–21 September. The summit, co-chaired by New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, brought together mayors and city leaders from across G20 countries to advance practical solutions on housing affordability, climate resilience, and migration. Speaking at the summit, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr emphasised the critical role of cities in delivering climate action and protecting vulnerable communities. “Whether we lead a city in Africa, Europe, Asia or the Americas, mayors from around the world see many of the same pressures on our residents: rising costs, extreme heat, housing insecurity and displacement,” she stated. “But cities are also where solutions are being delivered. We want young people to have real opportunities at home, and we want climate change to never be the reason they have to leave.
By working together, sharing what works and investing in a just transition, we can tackle the climate crisis while creating jobs, improving lives and making our communities more resilient. The message from mayors in New York will be clear: give cities the tools and resources to act, and we will deliver.” In a joint press conference with Mayor Mamdani of New York City, Mayor Clara Brugada of Mexico City, and Mayor Roberto Gualtieri of Rome, Mayor Aki-Sawyerr highlighted climate justice, noting that those who have contributed the least to climate change often suffer the most from its impacts. She stressed the urgent need for climate finance to reach frontline communities. The U20 Communiqué, ratified at the close of the summit, outlines shared priorities including expanding access to secure, dignified and affordable housing, accelerating climate action, and addressing migration challenges. Freetown is listed among the participating cities, alongside global counterparts such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Paris, and São Paulo.
Mayor Aki-Sawyerr’s participation builds on Freetown’s ongoing Transform Freetown Transforming Lives agenda, which focuses on creating 120,000 decent jobs for women and youth through climate action, heritage tourism, the digital economy, and human capital development. Recent local milestones under her leadership include the August 2026 launch of construction of the historic King Jimmy Market in the Central Business District under the EU-supported SURGE Project (€505,246 total, with €479,964 from the European Union), advances in sanitation byelaws enforcement, youth climate action funding, and continued tree-planting and urban resilience efforts. The Mayor’s engagements in New York reinforce Freetown’s growing international profile and her advocacy for greater empowerment and resources for African and Global South cities in the fight against climate change and for inclusive urban development.
