UNEP Names Five ‘Champions of the Earth’ for 2025, Spotlighting Grassroots Climate Leadership
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) recently announced its 2025 Champions of the Earth, honouring five individuals and groups for their transformative work on climate justice, sustainable cooling, resilient architecture, forest protection, and methane emissions reduction.
The awards come as global temperatures are projected to surpass 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels within the next decade, highlighting the urgent need for bold and innovative climate action.
“As the global impacts of the climate crisis intensify, innovation and leadership across every sector of society have never been more essential,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “This year’s Champions of the Earth show the kind of leadership that will inspire the world to face down the challenge of climate change.”
The 2025 laureates are:
1. Cynthia Houniuhi & Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change – Policy Leadership
The Solomon Islands youth advocate and her organization successfully campaigned for a landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which affirmed states’ legal obligations to protect people from climate change and uphold human rights.
2. Supriya Sahu (Government of Tamil Nadu, India) – Inspiration and Action
Recognized for her subnational leadership in scaling sustainable cooling and ecosystem restoration, Sahu’s initiatives have created 2.5 million green jobs, expanded forest cover, and improved climate resilience for 12 million people.
3. Mariam Issoufou (Mariam Issoufou Architects, Niger/France) –Entrepreneurial Vision
An architect blending local materials with cultural heritage, Issoufou designs climate-resilient buildings in the Sahel that use passive cooling to reduce indoor temperatures by up to 10°C without air conditioning.
4. Imazon (Brazil) – Science and Innovation
This research institute has pioneered AI-driven deforestation prediction models that inform law enforcement and policy in the Amazon, supporting thousands of legal cases and strengthening forest governance.
5. Manfredi Caltagirone (posthumous) – Lifetime Achievement
The former head of UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory was honoured for advancing global transparency and science-based policy on methane emissions, shaping regulations in the EU and beyond.
The Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honour, recognizing outstanding leaders from civil society, academia, government, and the private sector. This year’s winners reflect a growing emphasis on locally grounded, innovative, and justice-oriented approaches to the planetary crisis.
