The nomination cycle for the 2025 Champions of the Earth award runs from 2 to 30 April.
The Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour and celebrates individuals and organizations whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment.
UNEP seeks nominations of individuals and organizations working on innovative and sustainable solutions delivering climate action. The 2025 award spotlights outstanding climate action focusing on solutions on methane, buildings and construction, sustainable cooling including energy efficiency, clean air, and forests.
Nominations can be made in four categories:
Selection process
UNEP staff and subject matter experts carefully select Champions from a global pool of nominations. The nomination process is open to everyone, and past cycles have seen over 2,500 submissions from around the world.
The selection criteria are as follows:
- Impact: Have the nominee’s actions resulted in profound environmental gains or demonstrated significant potential for replication and scaling?
- Novelty: Has the nominee done or achieved something new and innovative?
- Influence: How compelling and inspiring is the nominee’s story?
