Global Flagship Environmental Awards

Recognizing broad, cross-cutting contributions to environmental protection, sustainability, and environmental leadership.

UNEP Champions of the Earth

Considered the UN’s highest environmental honor, the Champions of the Earth Award has been given annually since 2005. Through this award, UNEP honors individuals and organizations working on innovative and sustainable solutions to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste.

In 2025, UNEP sought nominations from individuals and organizations whose work strengthens climate resilience and contributes to mitigation solutions. The 2025 Champions of the Earth, announced on 10 December at the 7th UN Environment Assembly, highlight bold climate and environmental action across the awards’ five categories.

• Science & Innovation: Imazon (Brazil) – a non-profit research institute which has developed AI deforestation prediction models that inform and help law enforcement protect the Amazon rainforest, while promoting sustainable economic growth.
• Lifetime Achievement: Manfredi Caltagirone (posthumous) – Former head of UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory, Mr. Caltagirone championed transparency and science-based action on methane, influencing the EU’s first regulation on methane emissions and shaping global energy policy.
• Entrepreneurial Vision: Mariam Issoufou (Sahel) – By grounding her architecture in local materials and cultural heritage, Ms. Issoufou is redefining sustainable, climate-resilient buildings across the Sahel and inspiring a new generation of designers shaping Africa’s built environment. Through projects like the Hikma Community Complex in Niger, she pioneers passive cooling techniques that keep buildings up to 10°C cooler without air conditioning.
• Policy Leadership: Pacific Island students fighting climate change – A youth-led NGO that secured a landmark opinion from the International Court of Justice affirming states’ legal obligations to prevent climate harm and protect human rights, their campaign is reshaping global climate law and empowering vulnerable nations.
• Inspiration & Action: Supriza Sahu (Inida) – A pioneer in sustainable cooling and ecosystem restoration, Ms. Sahu’s initiatives have created 2.5 million green jobs, expanded forest cover, and integrated heat adaptation into infrastructure, benefiting 12 million people and setting a model for climate resilience.

More info on the UNEP Champions of the Earth

Earth Shot Prize

Launched in 2020 by Prince William and supported by a global network of philanthropists and partners, the Earthshot Prize seeks out bold, scalable solutions to the world’s most urgent environmental challenges. Each year until 2030, five winners, one per Earthshot category, are awarded £1 million to grow and replicate their work. The Prize aims to accelerate real-world change in areas from nature restoration to clean air, oceans, waste reduction, and climate action.

At the 2025 Awards Ceremony, held on 5 November in Rio de Janeiro, the following winners were announced

• Protect & Restore Nature: re.green (Brazil) – A forest-restoration program that uses AI and satellite data to identify degraded land in the Amazon and Atlantic Forests and reforest it, while protecting biodiversity and supporting local communities.
• Clean Our Air: City of Bogotá, Colombia – Recognized for strong clean-air policy and action, tackling air pollution and improving air quality for millions of residents.
• Revive Our Oceans: High Seas Treaty (Global) – A global agreement for ocean protection, offering a framework for safeguarding marine ecosystems beyond national waters, helping achieve the global goal of safeguarding 30% of the ocean by 2030.
• Build a Waste-Free World: Lagos Fashion Week (Nigeria) – Promotes sustainable, craft-based fashion across Africa, challenging fast fashion and reducing textile waste while reviving local craftsmanship.
• Fix Our Climate: Friendship (Bangladesh) – Friendship protects vulnerable communities in Bangladesh, combining vital services like healthcare and education with climate resilience projects that save lives, restore ecosystems, and create opportunity.

More info on the Earth Shot Prize

Time 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders

The TIME100 Climate list recognizes each year 100 individuals from around the world whose leadership, business decisions, scientific work, or advocacy are having significant, measurable impact on the climate crisis.

The 2025 TIME100 Climate list reflects a moment when business leaders,  decision-makers, researchers and innovators, and civil-society actors are stepping forward to compensate for political inertia, mobilizing capital, influencing markets, shaping regulation, and delivering solutions

The list recognizes leaders in 5 categories: Titans, Innovators, Leaders, Defenders and Catalysts.

2025 Selected Climate Leaders (examples)

• Richard Thompson – Marine biologist honored under the “Innovators” category for his decades of pioneering research and advocacy exposing the global scale and impacts of plastic pollution, which has been pivotal to efforts to protect the ocean and the planet.

• Sonam Wangchuk –  honored under the “Defenders” category for his pioneering work with Himalayan “ice-stupas” (artificial glaciers) to secure seasonal water for remote mountain communities, a climate-adaptation innovation for vulnerable regions.

• Kathy Hochul – Governor of New York recognized for policies reducing emissions, promoting green infrastructure and sustainable mobility (e.g., congestion-pricing in New York City), and championing urban climate resilience in a major global city.

• Yann Quilcaille – post-doctoral researcher at ETH Zurich for his groundbreaking analysis linking the world’s 180 largest fossil-fuel and cement companies to roughly half of historical carbon emissions, a critical study that sharpened the focus on corporate responsibility.

Find the full 2025 list here

More info on the Time 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders

World Economic Forum – Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA) Awards

Started in 2025, the GAEA is an awards scheme launched to recognize and accelerate cross-sector collaborations and public, private and philanthropic partnerships delivering scalable, systems-level solutions to climate, nature and biodiversity challenges. Rather than awarding individual actors, the GAEA Awards spotlight collaborations that mobilize capital, innovation and governance across sectors, catalyzing transformation at the scale required for the planetary crisis.

The 2026 GAEA Awards honored groundbreaking partnerships across five categories which will be presented at the WEF’s annual Davos meeting in January 2026.

• Bridging Evidence to Action: The Lancet  Countdown on Health and Climate Change – A global collaboration of 300+ scientists from 100 institutions worldwide, the Lancet Countdown draws on world-leading science to track the evolving links between climate change and health. Its data informs COP negotiations and national health strategies, with 2400+ policy citations.
• Enabling Innovation Breakthroughs: Plastics Pact Network – Uniting 900+ organizations across 19 countries, this network is building a circular economy for plastics. Together, its national and regional Pacts have eliminated 33 billion single-use items, redesigned 850,000 tonnes of packaging, and improved livelihoods for waste workers worldwide
• Unlocking Capital at Scale: Sustainable Sovereign Debt Hub – Transforming the $92 trillion sovereign debt market by embedding climate and nature resilience into finance. Through tools and partnerships with governments and investors, it has enabled countries like Slovenia and Côte d’Ivoire to issue sustainability-linked bonds and debt-for-development swaps – building a fairer, resilient financial architecture for the future.
• Moving Business for Climate Impact: Canopy Partnering with 1,000+ brands worth US $2.1 trillion in revenue, Canopy is transforming the paper, packaging and textile industries.  By scaling circular “Next Generation” materials made from agricultural and textile waste, it has protected 16.6 million hectares of forests and catalyzed US $78 billion in investment potential – proof that business collaboration can drive systemic change.
• Empowering Voices to Shape Action: Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) – In Gujarat, India, SEWA through its Building Cleaner Skies Campaign is enabling thousands of low-income women salt-farmers to lead a clean energy transition. By transitioning to clean, green solar pumps, undergoing training on Solar PV and by designing and forging innovative financial partnerships, poor grassroots women have become solar engineers and entrepreneurs, cutting 18900+ tonnes of CO2 annually and raising incomes by up to 500%

More info on the WEF GAEA Awards

Right Livelihood Awards

Established in 1980 by philanthropist Jakob von Uexküll and often referred to as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”, the Right Livelihood Award honors individuals and organizations offering practical, courageous and long-term solutions to the world’s most urgent problems, from environmental protection and climate justice to human rights, peace, sustainable development and social justice.

2025 Laureates Related to the Environment

• Julian Aguon shared with the Pacific Island Student Fighting Climate Change – for carrying the call for climate justice to the world’s highest court, turning survival into a matter of rights and climate action into a legal responsibility

More info on the Right Livelihood Awards

Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

The Tyler Prize, established in 1973, was the first award recognizing achievements in environment science. It honors individuals or organizations worldwide for their groundbreaking work in environmental science, policy, health and energy. The laureates represent a diverse group of thought leaders, researchers, advocates whose contributions have made a lasting impact on addressing the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

2025 Laureates:

• Sandra Díaz – recognized for her pioneering ecological research on plant traits and ecosystem responses, helping shape the global dialogue on biodiversity and its role in human well-being.
• Eduardo Brondízio – honored for his decades of work on human-environment interactions in the Amazon and globally, bridging social and environmental sciences to highlight how Indigenous and local knowledge is critical for conservation and sustainable development.

More info on the Tyler Prize

Blue Planet Prize

The Blue Planet Prize, established by the Asahi Glass Foundation, honors individuals or organizations whose scientific research or practical work has made a major contribution to solving global environmental problems, from climate change to biodiversity, ecosystem health, and human-environment interactions. Each year, two laureates are selected for their long-term, high-impact contributions. Nominations are solicited between August and October each year.

2025 Laureates:

• Professor Robert B. Jackson – an expert on the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems, including forests, grasslands and wetland. Recognized for his pioneering research on the relationship between soil, vegetation, and soil bacterial communities.  In addition, he has quantified the balance of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, from natural ecosystems and from fossil fuel use and since 2017, has served as the chair of the Global Carbon Project.
• Dr. Jeremy Leggett – the inaugural chairman of the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI), introduced the concept of the “carbon bubble,” highlighting the economic risks associated with fossil fuel assets. Through CTI’s activities, he influenced investors and policymakers, advancing the divestment movement. In addition, as a practical effort to balance economic activity with environmental conservation, he founded one of the UK’s leading solar energy companies.

More info on the Blue Planet Prize

Frontiers Planet Prize

The Frontiers Planet Prize recognizes transformational research that shows the greatest potential to address the world’s most urgent environmental challenges.  Each year three international champions win 1 million USD to accelerate and scale up the impact of their breakthrough research.

The 2025 International Champions of the 3rd edition of the Frontiers Planet Prize were announced in June at the Villars Symposium’s Awards Ceremony.

• Dr. Arunima Malik (University of Sydney, Australia) – recognized for her work on “Polarizing and equalizing trends in international trade and Sustainable Development Goals“.
• Prof. Zahra Kalantari (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) – recognized for her work on “Contribution of prioritized urban nature-based solutions allocation to carbon neutrality“
• Dr. Zia Mehrabi (University of Colorado Boulder, United States) – recognized for his work on “Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture“

More info on the Frontiers Planet Prize

Zayed Sustainability Prize

Since 2008, the Zayed Sustainability Prize has been empowering global changemakers, recognizing their innovative sustainability solutions and amplifying their transformative impact. The prize recognizes drivers for change in 6 categories: health, food, energy, water, climate action and global high schools.

2025 Winners:

• Food: NaFarm Foods –  an SME from Nigeria that develops scalable hybrid solar food dryers that preserve food and reduce CO2 emissions.
• Energy: Palki Motors – an SME from Bangladesh that manufactures local, low-cost electric cars with solar powered battery swap stations
• Water: Skyjuice Foundation – an NPO from Australia that develops low-cost, easy to deploy water filters that provide clean drinking water without the need for chemicals, pumps, or external energy sources.
• Climate Action: OpenMap Development Tanzania – an NPO from Tanzania that deploys a flood management solution that combines indigenous knowledge with geospatial data.
• Global High Schools (The Americas): Centro de Estudios Tecnológicos del Mar 07 – a public school in Mexico with over 2,000 students, plans to reforest endangered red mangroves and combat the invasive lionfish in the Veracruz  region.
• Global High Schools (Sub-Saharan Africa): Sakafia Islamic Senior High School – a public school in Ghana with over 3,000 students, aims to develop urban aquaponics to enhance food security and nutrition
• Global High Schools (Middle East & North Africa): Merryland International School – a private school in the UAE plans to improve air quality and reduce CO2 in classrooms with biodegradable carbon sponge tiles made from coconut fibre and natural rubber containing carbon-absorbing algae.
• Global High Schools (Europe & Central Asia): Presidential School in Tashkent – a public school in Uzbekistan with 165 students, aims to install rainwater harvesting and filtration systems from 150 schools to provide clean water.
• Global High Schools (South Asia): Janamaitri Multiple Campus – a public school in Nepal proposes to tackle Kathmandu’s water crisis by optimizing water use and promoting conservation.
• Global High Schools (East Asia and Pacific): Te Pā o Rākaihautū –  a public school in New Zealand with 280 students, plans to use an indigenous biocultural technique that focuses on composting and land restoration.

More info on the Zayed Sustainability Prize

Nature, Biodiversity, and Ecosystem Restoration Awards

Honoring achievements in conservation, ecosystem recovery, and nature-positive development.

UN – World Restoration Flagships

With the World Restoration Flagships, the UN is honoring the best examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade.

2025 Initiatives Recognized:

• Shellfish Reef Building Program (Australia): Since this initiative’s launch, it has helped remove nearly 15 tonnes of nutrient pollution, boost fish stocks, and has achieved significant biodiversity gains whilst generating over 425 jobs.
• Respectful Returns (Canada):  Since 2010, Parks Canada has collaborated with Indigenous Peoples and local communities on the Respectful Returns initiative, which focuses on restoring damaged rivers and streams in seven national parks along Canada’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The project has helped restore over 65’000 hectares of land and created more than 100 jobs.
• Thicket Restoration (South Africa): Thicket Restoration in South Africa unites over 60 initiatives across Eastern and Western Cape. The initiative aims to restore 800,000 ha by 2030.
• Bamboo-based Restoration: Across nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, bamboo is being harnessed as a fast-growing, sustainable plant for land restoration, reversing the impacts of intense agriculture, logging, demand for fuelwood and charcoal and climate change.
• Collaborative Rangelands Restoration (Jordan): Tel al-Rumman, north of Amman, is an open mountainous forest area, which had been severely degraded due to illegal overgrazing. The Royal Botanic Gardens is now working together with traditional herders on reviving sustainable practices.
• The Restoration Initiative: The Restoration Initiative is designed to translate global restoration goals to local contexts by boosting local restoration economies, such as nurseries, training smallholder farmers and pastoralists, removing invasive species and informing government policies.
• Revitalizing Korea’s Forests From Fire (Republic of Korea): This initiative is restoring the country’s valuable forests while prioritizing community livelihoods and post-fire resilience. The entire fire-damaged area is expected to be restored by 2030.
• Comprehensive Island Restoration (Mexico): A restoration initiative launched to reverse the negative impacts of invasive species and revitalize the unique ecosystem of Mexico’s seabird Islands.
• Restoring the Northern Mozambique Channel Region: As part of the efforts to manage, protect and restore the coral-rich Northern Mozambique Channel, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania are working together to restore blue and green forests.
• Ecosystems Restoration in Mar Menor (Spain): The Spanish Government launched an ambitious intervention, aimed at restoring the natural dynamics and solving the problem from the source.

Ramsar Wetland Conservation Awards

Established in 1996, the Ramsar Wetland Conservation Awards celebrate and recognize individuals and organizations for contributions towards promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands. Award recipients receive the Evian Special Prize of USD 10,000 provided by Danone.

The 2025 winners were approved at the 64th meeting of the Standing Committee in January 2025 and will be honored at the 15h Meeting of the Conference of Contracting Parties (COP 15) in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

• Innovation Award: Laura Gonzalez – executive director of Marea Verde, was recognized for her organizations groundbreaking approach to tackling plastic pollution. They have created a first-of-its-kind river-based waste capture system deployed in Panama’s Juan Díaz River in 2022. In just over two years, the Wanda system has prevented more than 540,000 pounds of waste and plastic from reaching Panama Bay, a Wetland of International Importance.
• Young Wetland Champion Award: Iman Ebrahimi – recognized for the work of the NGO he founded in Iran dedicated to wetland conservation, Avaye Boom Bird Conservation Society. His work focuses on fostering community engagement and environmental stewardship, he has led six national projects and trained over 4’000 individuals in conservation practices.
• Indigenous Peoples Conservation and Wise Use Award: Dayana Blanco Quiroga – recognized for her leadership in restoring Lake Uru Uru. Through championing the integration of Indigenous Knowledge with modern environmental science, rallying her community and using nature-based solutions, she has revived aquatic life while enhancing the resilience of local communities against climate change.

More info on the Ramsar Convention Wetland Awards

UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Conservation

Established in 1991, the UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Conservation is a biennial award recognizing outstanding contributions by individuals, groups of individuals, institutes or organizations in the  management or preservation of the environment. It consists of a diploma and a financial reward of US$100,000 and it is awarded during the World Science Forum.

2024 Laureate

• Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET) – a non-profit organization established in 2003 which operates environmental education centers in and around the NamibRand Nature Reserve. The Centre’s immersive, hands-on programs work with adults and children to build sustainable practices, including solar cooking, water conservation, and recycling.  NaDEET has also played a key role in shaping Namibia’s environmental policies. From 2017-2019, NaDEET was a lead organization in the drafting and finalization of the Namibian National Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development (EE/ESD) Policy, the first stand-along policy of its kind in southern Africa.

More info on the UNESCO Environmental Conservation Prize

UNESCO MAB Michel Batisse Award for Biosphere Reserve Management

2025 Laureate:

• Mr Shu Zufei from China’s Chebaling Biosphere Reserve – a protected-area manager since 2002 and now a professorate senior engineer, is honored for a decade of field-tested innovation in the Chebaling Biosphere Reserve, now a national model for tech-enabled conservation and community stewardship. He led a technological leap that included infrared camera networks, wireless data transmission stations, and AI-powered cloud platforms to automatically detect and identify species.  Local villagers, drawing on deep knowledge of the forest, were trained to install devices, maintain equipment, and support field surveys.

More info on the UNESCO Award for Biosphere Reserve Management

Future for Nature Award

The Future For Nature Award is a prestigious international award that celebrates tangible achievements in protecting wild species. The winners each receive 50’oo0 euros to support the continuation and scaling up of their important work.

2025 Award Winners:

• Kumar Paudel (Nepal): founded Greenhood Nepal, an organization dedicated to protect threatened but neglected species, and is especially recognized for his protection of pangolins through anti-illegal trade efforts.
• Ruthmery Pillco (Peru): conservation biologist working to protect the fragile cloud forest of the Andes who also founded the Peruvian Wildlife Foundation in 2023, an NGO committed to preserve Andean ecosystems. One of her initiatives involved planting over 400,000 native trees to regenerate cloud forest, ensuring long-term sustainability for the region’s biodiversity.
• Anthony Waddle (Australia): conservationist dedicated to saving amphibians from the deadly chytrid fungus. He developed a vaccination approach which is now being  implemented both in green and golden bell frogs and in leopard frogs in the USA.

More info on the Future for Nature Award

Future Conservationist Award

The Future Conservationist Award, offered by the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP), supports teams of early-career conservationists undertaking hands-on projects to protect threatened species and habitats. Winners receive a project grant of up to USD 15,000, plus access to training, mentorship and CLP’s global alumni network. Projects must be community-linked, scientifically grounded, and implemented by teams of early-career professionals (with no more than five years of experience) working in biodiverse, under-resourced regions.

Examples of the 2025 winners:

• Conservation of endangered migratory bird species within the East Atlantic Flyway: A project focused on conserving critically important coastal wetlands and migratory bird populations along the East Atlantic Flyway, strengthening habitat protection and community engagement.
• Guardians of the Sucre Water Frog: Building a New Generation of Conservationists: A team working to protect the Sucre water frog, a species experiencing sharp declines, while training and empowering a new cadre of local conservation leaders.
• Protecting hornbills from consumption-driven extinction in Kalimantan, Indonesia: A project that combines local knowledge with active field interventions to conserve culturally important hornbill species threatened by hunting pressures.

For full project list, click here.

Deadline for 2026 applications is 9 January 2026. For more information on how to register, click here.

Climate Action Awards

Recognizing efforts that support climate mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and climate justice.

Keeling Curve Prize

Named in honor of the groundbreaking Keeling Curve, the Keeling Curve Prize (KCP) recognizes and supports innovative climate solutions that aim to bend the Keeling Curve downward, ultimately reducing the concentration of atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases. This prize acknowledges projects and initiatives from around the globe that are making significant strides in addressing climate change, promoting sustainability, and advancing decarbonization efforts.

The 2025 Laureates were announced at the TED Countdown Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, awarding $50’000 to each project.

Carbon Sinks – projects accelerating carbon capture through nature-based and engineered solutions.

• Carbon Upcycling Technologies, Inc. (Canada): Carbon Upcycling’s CUT CO2 System strengthens construction supply chains by localizing critical material manufacturing. The technology transforms CO2 and industrial byproducts into an abundant and local source of cement materials with a lower carbon footprint
• Octavia Carbon (Kenya): Octavia Carbon is the first Direct Air Capture (DAC) company in the Global South. Their DAC technology removes CO₂ from the air for safe storage or conversion into climate-neutral carbon products. Using Kenya’s renewable energy, geology, and talent, they aim to lower DAC costs and advance global decarbonization.

Energy – projects advancing clean, affordable, and scalable energy systems

• Gham Power Nepal (Nepal): Founded during Nepal’s energy crisis, Gham Power began with solar solutions for load shedding. Now with 4,000+ projects, they combine solar tech and innovative financing to deliver clean, reliable energy, empowering rural communities, reducing emissions, and supporting sustainable development.
• Kraftblock (Germany): Kraftblock’s high-temp thermal storage captures surplus clean energy when high renewable output strains the grid, helping decarbonize industry and power systems. Made from upcycled materials, their system is long-lasting, affordable, and scales fast – cutting costs and unlocking over twice the renewable energy per MW stored. 

Finance – projects mobilizing financial innovation to drive climate action.

• Topo Finance (USA): Topo Finance taps into treasury management to drive climate action. As a leader in climate-aligned finance, they help shift trillions toward decarbonization. In 2024, they worked with organizations managing over $500 billion, guiding them to align cash stewardship with long-term planetary impact.
• Terraformation (USA): Terraformation restores native forests through a model that supports profit, people, and the planet. By channeling carbon finance to underserved tropical communities, they help make biodiverse reforestation profitable –  leveraging local knowledge to regenerate degraded forests across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Social & Cultural Pathways – projects shifting behaviors, values, and policies to support a post-fossil fuel future.

• SXD (USA): SXD transforms fashion brands’ leftover textiles into stylish zero-waste clothing using patent-pending AI. Their system eliminates material waste and creates efficient designs – achieving up to 69% material savings, ~80% lower carbon emissions, and up to 55% cost savings across the fashion production process.
• AgriTech Analytics Ltd. (Kenya): Agritech Analytics helps smallholder farmers monitor crops and soils using AI-driven sensors that detect pests, diseases, and perform on-site soil diagnostics. Results are sent via SMS or their Farmpulse App – enabling timely, informed decisions that improve yields, raise incomes, and support sustainable farming.

Transport & Mobility – projects transforming transportation by shifting away from the internal combustion engine.

• Carma Technology Corporation (USA): Carma Technology’s GoCarma app currently rewards 90,000 Dallas-Fort Worth commuters with incentives for low-emission travel. It verifies trips automatically and incentivizes HOV use, off-peak travel, using transit, and route shifts. As the first to link road pricing with verified behavior, it proves emissions cuts can drive revenue.
• ElectricFish Energy Inc. (USA): ElectricFish builds microgrids that quickly enable fast EV charging and emergency backup for fleets in grid-constrained areas – in days, not years. Their award-winning hardware and software deliver industry-leading time and cost savings in infrastructure, peak demand, and grid services.

The deadline to apply for next year is January 15, 2026. For more information on applying, click here.

More info on the Keeling Curve Prize

Climate Breakthrough Award

The Climate Breakthrough Award program supports visionary leaders to develop, launch, and scale their boldest new initiatives for policy, economic, and social transformation to address the climate crisis. The program is designed to overcome the constraints of traditional grantmaking that often stifle breakthrough thinking. It uniquely blends the large-scale innovation focus of institutions known for pursuing inventions, with the nimble and entrepreneurial spirit of startup incubators and venture capital.

The largest climate award for individuals, the Climate Breakthrough Award provides each Awardee with $4 million in multiyear, flexible funding to develop, launch, and scale their boldest new initiatives.

2025 Awardees

• Alessandra Orofino (Brazil): founder of Peri Productions and visionary cultural strategist and narrative producer, she works at the intersection of climate justice, storytelling, and democratic transformation through crafting stories that spark action, shift worldviews, and expand the collective imagination of a just future.
• Gavin McCormick (USA): a pioneering climate technology leader who cofounded WattTime, developing real-time emission reduction technology now built into over one billion devices sold by major companies, and Climate TRACE, recognized as Fast Company’s #5 most innovative company worldwide.
• Liming Qiao (Singapore): a pioneering strategist in Asia’s energy transition with over two decades of experience in everything from climate negotiations to renewable energy deployment. Through the award, Liming is creating the first coalition targeting grid flexibility and energy storage bottlenecks in the renewable energy transition across the ASEAN region, the world’s fourth-largest energy consumer.
• Ramón Méndez Galain (Uruguay): a key actor shaping Uruguay’s transformation to 98% renewable electricity. He now serves as Executive Director of Ivy, an environmental NGO that advises governments across Latin America. Through the award, he will scale Ivy’s demonstrated approach and partner with countries across the Global South to address systemic barriers that have prevented them from replicating Uruguay’s success.
• Team: Giuliana Furci (Chile), Merlin Sheldrake (UK), and Toby Kiers (Netherlands): this team represents an unprecedented collaboration bringing together fungi conservation advocacy, science communication, and cutting-edge research.
  • Giuliana founded the world’s first fungi-focused nonprofit and successfully advocated for Chile to become the first country including fungi in environmental law.
  • Merlin authored the million-copy bestseller “Entangled Life,” bringing fungi into public consciousness.
  • Toby co-founded SPUN and uses innovative research combining robotics and imaging to map underground fungal networks.

More info on the Climate Breakthrough Award

UNDRR & Munich Re Foundation – Risk Award

The RISK Award, launched in 2012, awards up to €100,000 every two years to fund groundbreaking projects helping improve disaster risk reduction and management. It is jointly organized by Munich Re Foundation and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

The 2025 Winner was announced during a ceremony hosted at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

• ChildFund International – recognized for a project aimed at empowering indigenous children and youths on the front line of emergency preparedness and climate resilience in Bolivia. It addresses the current vulnerability and low response capacity of schools, the psychological impacts of wildfires on children, while improving vulnerable schools’ preparedness and resilience to future events, and empowering indigenous youths and school-age children as climate advocates

More info on the UNDRR Risk Award

QS ImpACT Climate Education for Change Award

2025 Winner:

• Solve Education (Indonesia) – In Bandung’s flood-prone Citarum basin, marginalised groups, especially youth and people with disabilities, often lack access to green-skills education. Solve Education’s program, Ecopower, changed that by training 18,000+ participants in circular economy, sustainability, and green micro-business development. Through mentoring, employment connections, and business planning, Ecopower created pathways to resilience and economic opportunity

More info on the QS ImpACT Climate Education for Change Award

Pollution & Waste Awards

Celebrating solutions for circularity, pollution control, and waste reduction.

Zero Waste International Award (ZWIA)

The Zero Waste International Award (ZWIA) is a global initiative that celebrates remarkable accomplishments in the realm of zero waste. Administered by the Zero Waste Foundation in partnership with UN-Habitat and UNEP, the Awards recognize outstanding initiatives that align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Inaugural 2025 Winners

• Special Citation for Contributions to Zero Waste Living: HE Nga Kor Ming, President of the United Nations Habitat Assembly & Minister of Housing and Local Government, Malaysia.
  • Recognized for positioning Zero Waste at the heart of international policy. His leadership led ASEAN and China to adopt Zero Waste frameworks in urban sustainability programs, while Malaysia’s own transformation includes mandatory eco-design standards, the “Say No to Single-Use Plastics” campaign and the conversion of landfills into Lestari (Sustainability) Parks.
• Outstanding Achievement as a Zero Waste Global Business: Too Good To Go (Denmark)
  • Too Good To Go transforms surplus food from restaurants and retailers into accessible, low-cost consumer meals, saving over 200 million meals from going to waste, proving that sustainability and scalability can go hand-in-hand.
• Outstanding Achievement for Zero Waste Innovation YENXA (Spain)
  • YENXA’s proprietary appliance turns used cooking oil into biodegradable soap, preventing water contamination while empowering households to engage in waste-to-product circularity, a remarkable example of grassroots scale innovation with global potential.
• Outstanding Achievement as a Zero Waste City: Boris Palmer, Mayor of Tübingen, Germany
  • Tübingen became the first German city to tax single-use packaging, sparking a 15 per cent reduction in public litter in just one year. Despite corporate legal challenges, the policy was upheld by Germany’s Constitutional Court, positioning Tübingen as a leading case study in behavioural change through municipal intervention.
• Outstanding Achievement in Zero Waste Industrial Solutions: Pedro Bulnes, Co-Founder & CEO, Rembre (Chile)
  • Rembre Tires recycles over 800,000kg of mining tyres per month, addressing one of Latin America’s hardest-to-treat industrial waste streams. The company’s impact helped inaugurate Chile’s national Extended Producer Responsibility (REP) law, demonstrating how industrial circularity can reshape national policy.

More info on the ZWIA

Zero Waste Cities Recognition

In response to the UN Secretary-General’s call for transformative waste action, the Advisory Board on Zero Waste (hosted by UN-Habitat and UNEP) is inviting cities to nominate themselves and showcase their innovative, inclusive and sustainable initiatives to tackle waste in their cities. Selected cities will be celebrated among the “20 Zero Waste Cities”, gaining global visibility and high-level endorsement to inform policy, unlock funding, and catalyze peer learning.

Twenty submissions will be published and showcased by the Advisory Board and highlighted on its dedicated webpage. The successful submissions will also be spotlighted by the Advisory Board members at high-level events.

More info on the Zero Waste Cities Recognition

Science & Innovation Awards

Highlighting excellence in scientific discovery, technological solutions, and innovation for sustainable development and environmental challenges.

BloombergNEF’s Pioneers Award

BNEF Pioneers is the world’s leading climate-tech innovation competition, recognizing solutions with the potential to accelerate global decarbonization and halt climate change. This award recognizes game-changing technologies or innovations with the potential to accelerate the transition toward a net-zero economy across three key climate challenges.

2025 winners:

• Challenge 1: Making Light Industry More Sustainable:
  • AtmosZero is electrifying steam production globally with its Boiler 2.0 technology and generating steam that is cost-effective, scalable and deployable today.
  • Circ is a textile-to-textile recycling innovator with the technology to recycle and recover polycotton blends, transforming waste into new, circular raw materials for the industry.
  • Everdye is developing bio-based dyeing solutions to decarbonize the textile industry.
  • Rondo is helping the world’s most difficult-to-decarbonize industries rapidly lower their energy costs and carbon emissions
• Challenge 2: Innovation in Energy Storage:
  • Hytzer is transforming high-performance and high-safety solid-state battery (SSB) technologies into commercial products.
  • Instagrid is redefining portable power, offering innovative, sustainable solutions that meet demanding off-grid energy needs. 
• Challenge 3: Boosting Climate Adaptation Capabilities:
  • AiDASH is making critical infrastructure industries climate-resilient and secure with a satellite-first AI platform. 
  • Beewise is helping make pollination services more resilient. Its AI-operated robotic beehives protect bees from extreme weather, disease and chemicals. 
  • InnerPlant is engineering crops that emit optical signals when stressed, providing farmers with early and actionable data that helps improve yields and reduce chemical use. 
• Wildcard:
  • Binding Solutions Limited is making cold agglomerated pellets to significantly cut CO2 emissions, lower capital requirements and reduce process complexity in iron making, enabling green steel production at scale. 
  • Coolbrook is decarbonizing major industrial sectors with innovative rotating technology that replaces the burning of fossil fuels. 
  • Reclinker is making low-carbon, recycled cement, processing it through steel electric arc furnaces

The applications for 2026 are now closed and the winners will be announced in April 2026. Themes for next year are:

• Technologies for Sustainable, Scalable Data Center Infrastructure
• Flattening the Duck Curve
• Decarbonizing and Heavy Duty Transport

More info on the BloombergNEF Pioneers Award

ONE CREATION – Environmental Innovation Awards

2024 Winners:

• Solar Freeze: a Kenyan start-up, took the top position with its innovative solutions to help the local growers.
• Cotierra: a Swiss-Colombian company, secured second place for their impactful contributions to improving carbon sequestration in tropical soils.
• Libattion: a Zurich-based company, earned the third position with their impressive energy storage solutions through the use of upcycled lithium batteries.

More info about the ONE CREATION Environmental Innovation Awards

Policy & Governance Leadership Awards

Recognizing leadership in environmental diplomacy, law, policy-making, and international cooperation.

World Future Policy Award

The World Future Policy Award celebrates top policy solutions for us and generations to come. This award spotlights visionary and exemplary laws and policies, accelerating policy action toward a common future, where every person lives in dignity on a healthy, sustainable planet. Each year they focus on one topic where progress is particularly urgent and receive nominations from across the globe.

The 2025 awards titled, “Living in Harmony with Nature and Future Generations“, recognized the winners at the World Future Council in partnership with the International Union for conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

• Environmental Ombudsoffice of Tyrol (Austria): an independent institution representing nature and the public interest in environmental decision-making across Tyrol, Austria. It ensures ecological concerns are integrated into land-use and development planning while advising and engaging citizens. Through innovative programmes like Citizen Biotopes and youth initiatives, it promotes a democratic, inclusive culture of living in harmony with Nature and future generations.
• Biodiversity Act (Bhutan): The Biodiversity Act of Bhutan 2003 (amended in 2022) establishes the legal foundation for the conservation, sustainable use, and equitable sharing of the country’s biological and genetic resources. Administered by the National Biodiversity Centre, the Act integrates traditional knowledge and scientific governance within a rights-based framework.
• Law 287 on the Rights of Nature and Related State Obligations (Panama): Law No 287 of 2022, grants legal rights to Nature within the Republic of Panama. It introduces a suite for rights for ecosystems and living beings, including the rights to exist, persist, regenerate life cycles, and be restored following harm. It has already been judicially enforced in high-profile environmental litigation and is shaping national discourse, legislation, and activism towards a more nature-centric governance paradigm.
• National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEM:BA) (South Africa): NEM:BA establishes the legal framework for conserving South Africa’s biodiversity with around 95 000 described species across nine terrestrial biomes. It creates the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and a Scientific Authority; mandates strategic tools; regulates threatened and invasive species, genetically modified organisms and bioprospecting; and embeds public participation, cooperative governance, and intergenerational equity.
• Law 19/2022 Granting Mar Menor and its basin status of a legal person (Spain): Law 19/2022 grants legal personality to the Mar Menor Lagoon and its basin, recognising the ecosystem as a subject of rights. The law includes the right to exist, evolve naturally, be protected, conserved, and restored. The law assigns legal guardianship and representation for the Lagoon to Public Administration, with support from the local community. The law marks a legal paradigm shift from anthropocentric to ecocentric jurisprudence and aligns with broader movements for the rights of Nature and protection of future generations
• The National Environment Act (Uganda): Uganda’s principal legislation for environmental protection and management. It recognizes the rights of Nature and the duty to maintain a clean and healthy environment for current and future generations. It reinforces the role of environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs), introduces strategic environmental assessments (SEAs), and outlines provisions for pollution control, sustainable use of ecosystems, biodiversity conservation, and management of hazardous substances

Vision Award Winner:

• BBNJ Agreement: an international treaty adopted in 2023 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It addresses the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The BBNJ Agreement explicitly refers to the responsibility of present generations to act as stewards of the oceans on behalf of both current and future generations. It also embeds principles such as the common heritage of humankind, the ecosystem approach, and intergenerational equity within its general provisions.

Global Impact Award Winner:

• Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act Aotearoa (New Zealand): By conferring a legal personality to the river, the Te Awa Tupua Act reflects the deep ancestral relationship the Whanganui Iwi (tribes) have with the sacred waterway and gives them legal means to protect it. The Act affirms the river as a living, indivisible entity.

More info on the World Future Policy Award

International Council for Environmental Law (ICEL) Burhenne-Guilmin Award

Inaugural 2025 Winner:

• Prof. Dr. Christina Voigt – recognized for her outstanding contributions to advancing the environmental rule of law, including her leadership in bringing together teams of legal experts to prepare influential oral and written submissions to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and International Court of Justice regarding their Advisory Opinions on climate change.

More info on the ICEL Award

ISES Global Leadership Award in Advancing Solar Energy Policy

In recognition of the late Dr. Hermann Scheer (1944-2010), this award was introduced and presented for the first time in 2011 to pay tribute to the solar hero whose enormous contribution and vocal political commitment to solar energy were so effective in bringing about energy changes globally. The award is presented to a person who has made significant contributions to the advancement of solar energy policy.

2025 Winner:

• Dr. Robert Habeck: former Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and former Vice Chancellor of Germany. Dr. Habeck has been a leading figure in German politics representing Alliance 90/The Greens since the early 2000s. During his tenure, Dr. Habeck played a pivotal role in advancing Germany’s renewable energy transition. Under his leadership, the 2022 “Easter Package” introduced a series of ambitious measures to accelerate the deployment of solar and wind energy across the country. Notably, Dr. Habeck established the classification of renewable energy projects as being of “overriding public interest” – a landmark achievement that significantly strengthened the legal and policy framework for renewables in Germany.

More info on the ISES Global Leadership Award in Advancing Solar Energy Policy

Youth Awards

Celebrating young innovators, leaders, and future environmental champions.

UNEP Young Champions on the Earth

Launched in 2017, this award is the flagship youth engagement initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award is given annually to ambitious young people from around the world with outstanding ideas to protect and restore the environment, and since 2024 it has been implemented with the support of Chris Kemper and in partnership with Planet A.

2025 Winners:

• Jinali Pranabh Mody (India):  founder and CEO of Banofi Leather. The material-science startup is turning banana crop waste into a plant-based leather alternative. Made from banana stem fibre blended with natural binders and starches, the material looks, feels and even smells like animal leather. . It reduces water use by 95 per cent, cuts carbon emissions by more than 90 per cent and eliminates toxic waste
• Joseph Nguthiru (Kenya): founder of the Kenyan startup HyaPak, which produces biodegradable packaging from the pulp of water hyacinths, an invasive weed that covers much of Kenya’s Lake Naivasha. The packaging includes seedling bags that decompose directly into the soil, parcel packaging for courier services and carton linings that keep food fresh without cold storage.
• Noemi Florea (USA): inventor of Cycleau, a compact system that turns greywater into drinking water. Using a four-stage treatment process, it removes over 200 contaminants, reduces building water footprints by up to 80 per cent and lowers energy demand by more than a third, all at a fraction of the cost of conventional systems. Cycleau has been piloted in projects ranging from a public bottle filling station in the United States of America, to schools along the Tajikistan–Afghanistan border.

More info on the UNEP Young Champions of the Earth

UNESCO MAB Young Scientists Award

2025 Winners

More info on the UNESCO MAB Young Scientists Award

UNICEF Climate Innovation Challenge Winners

The UNICEF Climate Innovation Challenge is a global initiative that identifies and supports early- and growth-stage frontier tech start-ups from emerging economies developing scalable solutions to protect children from the impacts of climate change. Organised by the UNICEF Venture Fund in partnership with the India Health Fund and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the Challenge focuses on child-centric climate and health technologies, climate adaptation, resilience, disaster risk management and early-warning systems. The program is part of UNICEF’s broader climate-innovation ecosystem, which also  includes Innovation30 – a global platform that identifies and supports promising climate innovators under the age of 30. It provides visibility, expert validation and connections to partners, helping youth-led climate solutions grow.

2025 Winners

• ClimatrixAI (Nigeria): Combines satellite imagery, IoT sensors and AI to deliver hyperlocal predictions of floods, heatwaves and other climate hazards, turning fragmented data into actionable early-warning intelligence for communities and planners
• NAXA (Nepal): NAXA blends community insights with climate and hazard data to generate localized risk profiles and multilingual preparedness messages, strengthening anticipatory action in hard-to-reach regions across Nepal.
• RIFFAI (Thailand): integrates GIS layers, weather forecasts, geological indicators, and classification models into an AI system that predicts environmental changes and their severity, bridging the gap between raw geospatial data and real-time disaster preparedness decisions.
• RESPIRER (India): Respirer uses AI to process high-frequency environmental and air-quality data collected from school-zone and in-vehicle monitors, revealing pollution patterns where it matters most for children and offering cities actionable insights to design safer, healthier environments.
• TRYOLABS (Uruguay): female-founded / female-led. TryoLabs leverages generative AI, AI agents, and GeoAI to transform fragmented climate datasets into clear, actionable insights for children and the systems that support them. Their work shows how advanced AI can be grounded in public-good use cases, enabling governments and NGOs to respond faster and plan more effectively for climate change.

More info on the UNICEF Climate Innovation Challenge

The Earth Prize

The Earth Prize, the world’s largest environmental competition for young people,  is an annual global $100,000 environmental sustainability competition for students between the ages of 13 and 19, which rewards the teams whose projects have the most potential to address environmental issues. The Earth Prize aims to inspire and empower the next generation of environmental leaders and innovators, creating a global platform for sharing and scaling their solutions. The Earth Prize features seven regional winners, each receiving $12,500 to implement their ideas. The regions are Southeast Asia and Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, and Central & South America. In addition, three mentors of the year will be recognized, with each receiving $2,500.

2025 Regional Winners

• PURA (Slovakia & Czechia): Pioneering water purification solution that uses the power of light and plasma to remove harmful pollutants and combat antibiotic resistance.
• StuyBigCompGroup (USA): Kiriboard is an origami-inspired and eco-friendly alternative to sytrofoam packaging that uses geometric folding to transform a portable sheet of cardboard into a shock-absorbing structure.
• Preserve Our Roots (Nigeria): A project turning underserved urban sites into green community hubs, fostering climate story telling, education and community empowerment. Preserve Our Roots’ GREEN initiative is a transformative sustainability park built from recycled materials.
• Sustainability Heroes (UAE): EcoMind Academy is an AI-powered platform that integrates sustainability into school subjects by making recycling education interactive, personalized, and action-driven.  Through gamified challenges, virtual assistants, and real-world applications, we empower students to become changemakers
• Kultibado (Philippines): An innovative web app that connects farmers, consumers and cooperatives directly. By removing price-controlling middlemen, it helps farmers earn fairer prices and offers consumers produce that’s 72% cheaper.
• Thermavault (India): A first-of-its-kind electricity-free refrigeration unit for medical supply transport in remote areas, using reusable salt-based reactions. Thermavault uses salt-based endothermic reactions (which are reusable and sustainable) to create an electricity-free refrigeration unit tackling issues of plastic waste, energy inequality, inefficient cooling, especially for vaccines.
• EcoAction (Brazil): A tech-driven solution using AI, satellites and data analysis to plant strategic greenery and cool overheated cities. By pinpointing the most strategic locations for vegetation to mitigate extreme heat, it empowers local organizations to cool cities efficiently with minimal effort and maximum impact

Registration for 2026 will close on 31 January 2026 and winners will be announced on 29 April 2026. For information on how to register, click here.

More info on the Earth Prize

Action for Nature – International Young Eco-Hero Awards

Every year since 2003, Action for Nature (AFN), a U.S.-based non-profit, has sought to recognize and reward young people between the ages of 8 and 16 who are taking action to solve the global environmental challenges.

2025 Award Winners, Age Group 8-13:

• 1st place: Alice Wanjiru (Kenya) – 11-year-old climate ambassador, leading efforts to rehabilitate Nairobi’s Ruai Sewer Treatment Plant by planting over 2’000 trees, mobilizing community clean-ups, and successfully advocating for policies protecting communities from harmful emissions.
• 2nd place: Harsita Priyadarshini Mohanty (India) – 13-year-old recognized for her project on agro-biodiversity conservation where she established a unique indigenous seed bank, preserving over 240 varieties of paddy and millet through a “loan for exchange” to promote food security and climate resilience.
• 2nd place: Nicolina Pappas (USA) – 13-year-old combatting single-use plastic pollution through Nicolina’s Turtle Co. She has raised over $15’000 for conservation, educated thousands, and successfully advocated for her “Skip the Plastic Campaign”, leading to city-wide proclamations and state resolutions like “Skip the Plastic Day”
• 3rd place: Josue Arias Calderon (Colombia) – 11-year-old passionate defender of high-mountain ecosystems. Through social media videos and restoration campaigns, he educates and inspires thousands to protect vital páramos and glaciers, ensuring water for 85% of Colombians.
• See other honorable mentions here

2025 Award Winners, Age Group 14-16:

• 1st place: Priyanshi Poddar (Nepal) – 16-year-old transforming rubber waste into comfort and dignity for underserved communities. Through her Saathi initiative, she upcycles discarded rubber into mats and clogs, benefiting over 4’000 individuals and preventing significant CO2 emissions.
• 2nd place: Nethanya Fonseka (USA) – 16-year-old leading Plant It Forward, an initiative combating climate change through tree planting. She cultivates climate resilience and environmental justice, securing funding for a microforest and honoring indigenous heritage through native gardens.
• 2nd place: Charmante Espoire Nduwayo (Burundi) – 15-year-old saving the Gikoma River. Through tree planting and community education on sanitary waste, she’s stabilized riverbanks, reduced pollution, and safeguarded her community’s health and livelihoods.
• 3rd place: Bibhuti Bhattarai (Nepal) – 16-year-old empowering communities through “Girls Leading Organic Way”. She teaches young girls and mothers to transform kitchen waste into organic compost, fostering sustainable farming and reducing reliance on harmful chemicals.
• 3rd place: Eesha Ande (USA) – 16-year-old combating period poverty and plastic waste through her impactful sustainable menstrual hygiene initiative, empowering menstruators with reusable products and vital education.
• See other honorable mentions here

2025 Special Award Winners

• Dr. Mary Griffin-Jones Award: Ana Lucía Pérez Escalera (Puerto Rico) – 13-year-old leading “De a Pokito por Puerto Rico” where she educates over 100’000 people on environmental care and waste reduction through STEAM, hackathons, and legislative advocacy.
• Shimon Schwarzschild Award: Dominic Oviedo Löwen (Paraguay) – 16-year-old leading “Mymba Saite”, he documents and shares his country’s biodiversity, awakening love for wild animals through books, social media, and education.

Deadline for 2026 registration is 28 February, 2026. For more information on registration, click here.

More info on the International Young Eco-Hero Awards

Grassroot Initiatives & Environmental Justice Awards

Honoring individuals and communities advancing environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and grassroots advocacy.

The Goldman Environmental Prize

More info on the Goldman Environmental Prize

UNDP Equator Prize

The UNDP Equator Prize, presented by the Equator Initiative within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is a biennial award that recognizes Indigenous Peoples and local community-led nature-based solutions advancing sustainable development, biodiversity conservation and climate resilience. Selected from hundreds of nominations worldwide, the Prize celebrates initiatives that combine traditional knowledge with innovative approaches to protect ecosystems, reduce poverty, and build equitable, nature-positive livelihood

In 2025, the Equator Prize focused on“Nature for Climate Action”, highlighting women and youth-led initiatives. Ten winners were selected from over 700 nominations across 103 countries, showcasing the global breadth of Indigenous and community solutions. Each laureate receives USD 10,000, is featured in high-level forums such as the UN General Assembly and COP30.

2025 Winners:

• Cooperativa de Mujeres Artesanas del Gran Chaco (Argentina): A cooperative empowering more than 2,600 Indigenous women in the Gran Chaco through Matriarca, a sustainable brand transforming traditional crafts into global-market products. COMAR strengthens biodiversity protection, climate resilience, and women-led governance through culturally rooted, nature-based solutions.
• Associação Uasei dos Povos Indígenas de Oiapoque (Brazil): Bringing together four Indigenous Peoples in Amapá, Uasei is building a sustainable, Indigenous-led bioeconomy around native açaí. By creating their own agroindustry and value chain, they boost incomes, protect biodiversity, and promote women and youth leadership in cultural and ecological stewardship.
• Hakhu Amazon Foundation (Ecuador): A women- and youth-led organization defending the Amazon through Indigenous rights advocacy, decolonial education, and grassroots media. Their women’s territorial guard, Yuturi Warmi, protects land and life, while a social enterprise supports culturally rooted livelihoods for Kichwa women.
• Bibifathima Swa Sahaya Sangha (India): A women-led initiative supporting over 5,000 farmers across 30 villages with regenerative agriculture, millet-based cropping, seed banks, and solar-powered processing. The group advances biodiversity restoration, food security, and economic empowerment for marginalized women and youth.
• Mitra BUMMA (Indonesia): Supporting tribal governance and sustainable livelihoods in Tanah Papua, Mitra BUMMA helps protect 100,000 hectares of rainforest while strengthening community enterprises. Over 3,000 people, especially women, benefit from initiatives in climate finance, ecosystem stewardship, and traditional knowledge.
• Ranu Welum Foundation (Indonesia): A women- and youth-led Indigenous organization mobilizing Dayak communities for forest conservation, cultural revitalization, and environmental storytelling. Their programmes protect 3,000 hectares of forest, restore peatlands, and train women firefighters, driving inclusive climate action in Central Kalimantan.
• Nature and People As One – NaPO (Kenya): A women- and youth-led pastoralist organization restoring drylands using traditional knowledge and low-cost techniques. NaPO has restored more than 550 hectares and manages 10,000+ hectares under community bylaws, strengthening local climate resilience and ecosystem governance.
• Sea Women of Melanesia Inc. – SWoM (Papua New Guinea): An Indigenous women-led initiative that trains women to lead marine conservation using both traditional knowledge and marine science. Since 2018, SWoM has trained over 50 women and helped manage 1,500 hectares of coral reef across 15 villages, improving ecosystems and livelihoods.
• Cuyocuyo Terraces Agrobiodiversity Zone (Peru): Led by six Quechua communities, this is Peru’s first officially recognized agrobiodiversity zone. Stretching across 6,500 hectares, it protects 1,281 native crop varieties and preserves one of the Andes’ largest systems of ancient agricultural terraces.
• Sustainable Ocean Alliance Tanzania – SOA Tanzania (Tanzania): A youth-led initiative restoring marine ecosystems and supporting coastal communities. SOA Tanzania has restored over 100 hectares of seagrass, planted 20,000 mangroves, and trained 130+ young leaders, while promoting sustainable seaweed farming through its Bahari Venture.

More info on the UNDP Equator Prize

Swiss-based Environmental Awards & Prizes

Switzerland hosts a wide ecosystem of awards that reflect its strong commitment to environmental protection, scientific excellence, and sustainable business innovation. Many of these prizes support emerging talent, applied research, and pioneering solutions for the green transition.

UNIL-EPFL Durabilis Award

The Durabilis Award, jointly organised by EPFL and the University of Lausanne, recognises outstanding student projects that explore sustainability challenges and solutions. Open to Bachelor’s and Master’s students, the prize supports innovative work that integrates environmental, social and economic sustainability, with awards presented annually in December

2024 Winners: 

• Vibhu Baibhav (EPFL): Industrial decarbonization within the framework of energy systems modeling
• Luana Ferrari (EPFL): Transhumance : en quête d’un confort durable
• Julien Pignat (EPFL): Le réemploi en Suisse : enjeux liés à la conception architecturale, et Plaines-du-Loup : le réemploi comme moteur d’un quartier en transition
• Julia Gallmeier (UNIL): Quels sont les investissements suisses dans le secteur du charbon allemand qui sont protégés par le Traité sur la charte de l’énergie et quels risques font-ils porter à l’Allemagne dans le contexte de sa sortie du charbon ?
• Eloïse Richard (UNL): Le malthusianisme environnemental : une histoire intellectuelle et politique dans la seconde moitié du XXe siècle en France

The deadline for submitting applications is 31^st of August each year, and the awards ceremony takes place in December.

For more info on the UNIL-EPFL Durabilis Award

Bernese Award for Environmental Research

Presented biennially by the University of Bern, this award promotes excellence in environmental sciences and sustainability research. Winners are recognized for academic work that deepens understanding of environmental problems and contributes to practical solutions, with CHF 15,000 in prize money

2024 Winners:

• Dr. Gabi Sonderegger – “Governing agricultural land use in an interconnected world: Opportunities and challenges for Voluntary Sustainability Standards”
• Dr. Jonas Joël Schmid – “De-centralization and Wind Energy Permitting: An Evaluation of Implementation Effectiveness in Switzerland and Europe.”

The winners for the 2025/2026 period will be announced on 18 March 2026.

For more info on the Bernese Award for Environmental Research

Environmental Research Prize of the University of Fribourg

This prize supports early-career researchers whose disciplinary or interdisciplinary work advances scientific understanding of environmental issues and sustainability. It celebrates innovative research that contributes to identifying practical approaches to environmental challenges.

2024 Winner:

• Sophie Bucher – “The Virtue Ethics of Shrub Encroachment on Cultural Landscapes. Extensive Subalpine Grasslands in the Valais, Switzerland as a Case Study of Good Environmental Stewardship”

For more info on the Environmental Research Prize of Firbourg University

University of Geneva Prix Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle

Awarded by the University of Geneva, this prize honors excellence in plant sciences, biodiversity research and related fields. It recognizes scholars whose work enhances knowledge of plant life and contributes to broader understanding of ecological systems

The next prize will be awarded in Geneva during early 2026.

For more info on the UNIGE Prix Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle

Green Business Award

Presented by Swiss business organizations, the WWF, and the Swiss Confederation, the Green Business Award is Switzerland’s flagship sustainability prize for businesses that combine ecological impact with economic success.  National scouts nominate innovative companies and projects that advance climate, biodiversity or circular-economy solutions, with finalists selected by an expert jury.

2025 Finalists:

• Everllence (Zurich, Switzerland): Everllence develops large-scale heat pump systems that can replace fossil-fuel-based district heating with climate-neutral alternatives for entire cities. By using environmental heat sources (such as water, waste heat and ambient air) and integrated storage, Everllence’s technology stabilises energy grids and significantly reduces carbon emissions from urban heating.
• Oxyle (Schlieren, Switzerland) – Oxyle tackles one of the most persistent environmental contaminants, PFAS (“forever chemicals”), with a solution that permanently degrades the compounds rather than just capturing them. This technology addresses a major water-quality challenge affecting soil and groundwater globally, demonstrating how Swiss environmental innovation can solve complex, real-world pollution problems
• Voltiris (Epalinges, Switzerland) – Voltiris has created innovative solar modules for greenhouses that split incoming light so plants still receive the wavelengths they need for growth while generating solar power from the rest. This dual use of greenhouse surfaces can cut CO₂ emissions by up to 95% without impacting crop yields, offering an elegant solution for sustainable agriculture

The winner will be announced on 13 February 2026 at the Impact Circle Event in Gstaad.

For more info on the Green Business Award

Swiss Future Award

The Swiss Future Award, powered by B Lab Switzerland Foundation and enabled by the PETRAM Foundation, celebrates innovative Swiss startups and SMEs leading the sustainable transformation of business models, products and services. With three categories – Innovation, Environmental Awad and Public Choice Award, the award provides not only financial support but also visibility and resource to accelerate growth and deepen their contribution to a sustainable economy.

• Environmental Award: Luya – Luya Foods (Bern) has developed an innovative fermentation technology that transforms by-products like okara (a tofu residue) into high-quality, natural protein alternatives. By valorizing food waste and reducing emissions, Luya is helping build a more sustainable food system and its products are already sold in major outlets like Coop and ZFV canteens.
• Innovation Award: Deeplink – Deeplink is a Swiss AI and B-Corp certified company that enables public institutions and SMEs to deploy sovereign, secure, multilingual AI assistants. With more than 50 clients (from cantonal authorities to federal bodies) Deeplink’s solutions streamline operations while keeping full data control in the hands of organizations
• Public Choice Award: Kompotoi – Kompotoi offers stylish, chemical-free composting toilets crafted in Swiss wood for events, municipalities, construction sites or homes. Their systems protect drinking water and close nutrient cycles by turning waste into soil conditioner, combining sustainability with comfort and design.

For more info on the Swiss Future Award

Swiss Sustainability Reporting Excellence Awards

Hosted by PwC Switzerland with the University of St. Gallen, these awards recognize Swiss organizations that demonstrate leadership in sustainability reporting. They reward transparency, high-quality non-financial disclosures and reporting that drives continuous improvement in environmental and social performance.

2024 Winners:

• Pharma and Healthcare: Roche 
• Retail and Consumer Goods: Nestlé
• Industrial Manufacturing: ABB
• Middle Market: Swiss Prime Site

For more info on the Swiss Sustainability Reporting Excellency Awards

Swiss Solar Prize / Schweizer Solarpreis

The Schweizer Solarpreis celebrates excellence in solar-energy deployment, building integration and renewable energy innovation. Award categories include solar installations, plus-energy buildings and special distinctions such as the Norman Foster Solar Award. Recipients demonstrate leadership in expanding solar energy and reducing carbon emissions nationwide.

For more info on the Swiss Solar Prize

Swiss Environmental Award / Umweltpreis der Schweiz

One of Switzerland’s long-standing eco awards, the Umweltpreis honours organisations and projects that deliver notable environmental benefits, from resource conservation to biodiversity protection. It highlights sustainability solutions that advance the country’s environmental goals.

For more info on the Swiss Environment Award