Chicago: ICYMI: Mayor Brandon Johnson At Climate Conference In New York City: “Trump Is Wrong On Climate And He’s Wrong On Immigration.”
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CHICAGO — In case you missed it, Mayor Brandon Johnson represented Chicago in New York City alongside the United Nations General Assembly and New York Climate Week as part of C40, a global network of cities leading the fight for environmental justice.

In the morning, Mayor Johnson participated in a panel discussion titled "Powering Possibilities: Tackling Energy Costs in a Changing Climate" at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College where he made it clear that Chicago will not back down in the fight to safeguard our residents against the worst effects of climate change.

Mayor Johnson discussed some of Chicago's exemplary environmental policies including:
In the afternoon, Mayor Johnson participated in the launch of the Economic Transformation Action Plan as Co-Chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative's Mayors Commission on Economic Transformation, advancing a 10-year blueprint to attract sustainable industries, create millions of jobs in the blue and green economy, protect water quality, and reduce emissions in the region. By 2035, the plan calls for the region to attract half a million businesses, create over 18 million new jobs, protect water quality, and reduce emissions by 300 million metric tons. Mayor Johnson participated in a panel discussion at the Quebec Government Office in New York with Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, Toronto Deputy Mayor Paul Ainslie, and St. Catherine's Mayor Mat Siscoe which can be viewed here.



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This plan builds on the binational engagement and regional leadership of Mayor Johnson since signing the historic pledge to transform the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin into a thriving blue-green economic corridor.

Mayor Johnson spoke with Politico and Channel 4 about New York Climate Week and President Trump's United Nations speech where the president referred to climate change as a "con job" and told UN members that their countries were "going to hell" because of their immigration policies.

Key excerpts from Politico's Illinois Playbook: "Mayor counters Trump's climate denial"

By Shia Kapos, Sept. 25, 2025
  • "He's wrong about the climate, and he's wrong about immigration. Both of those things are ultimately connected," Johnson said about Trump's claim that climate change is "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world" and that U.N. countries are "going to hell" over immigration.
  • Johnson pointed to neighborhoods on Chicago's Southwest Side, where relentless rainstorms have overwhelmed infrastructure, and the Southeast Side, where industrial legacies have left a toxic imprint. "Tell those families that climate change isn't real," he said. "Where families are not able to breathe clean air. But it's easy for a billionaire to be dismissive of these real injustices," making a not-so-subtle swipe at Trump's gilded lifestyle.
  • He ticked off a list of local climate-forward initiatives: public buildings and airports now powered entirely by renewable energy, a new Green Homes Chicago program aimed at cutting both emissions and utility bills and the expansion of green social housing that puts sustainability at the core of urban development.
  • "We're doing everything a local government can do to respond to climate justice," he said. "From sustainable housing to planting more trees, we are leading the way."
  • Johnson also had a warning, saying leaders can't be held hostage to the political calendar. "We cannot think about election cycles when it comes to environmental justice," he said. "We have to think about the long-term sustainability of our environment … and how our environmental investments will build an economy that can outlast a presidency or a term."

Key excerpts from Channel 4: "Trump 'absolutely wrong' about climate change and immigration – Mayor of Chicago"

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By Matt Frei, Sept. 24, 2025
  • "Well, first of all, let me just first start off by saying that the president of the United States of America is absolutely wrong about climate change, but he's also wrong about immigration. In fact, both of them are tied together. As we have seen, poor policies that have been implemented, particularly in the western hemisphere, has had an incredible saturnine impact on the rest of the globe. And whether it's global population shift or climate change, these are issues that, at the city level, that we have to address, and I'm doing that as mayor of the city of Chicago."
  • "As city leaders, it's our responsibility to make sure that we're making our cities affordable and making sure that they're safe, but we have to do it through the lens of climate justice. In the city of Chicago, we're building green social housing, making it affordable and sustainable. It's one thing to be able to afford to live in a particular home, but we also have to make sure that we're building our economy for the future, and that's what we're doing in Chicago."
  • "We have a president that is more concerned about a comedian than he is about making sure that a child has access to a fully funded public education system. He's more concerned about someone's tweet versus ensuring that people have good paying jobs. He's more concerned about someone's opinion versus being concerned about making sure that people can afford to live in our communities."

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