The UAE’s Zayed Sustainability Prize, a portfolio entity of Erth Zayed Philanthropies which has impacted 400 million lives worldwide by advancing progressive options to urgent international challenges, has formally introduced its name for submissions for 2026. Marking 17 years of continued assist and empowerment for the following era of sustainability champions, the Prize invitations small to medium enterprises (SMEs), nonprofit organisations, and excessive faculties to submit their initiatives in six distinct classes: Well being, Meals, Power, Water, Local weather Motion, and International Excessive Colleges.
In 2024, the Prize obtained 5,980 submissions from 156 nations, reflecting a rising worldwide dedication to sustainable improvement. Because the 2026 submission cycle begins, the Prize goals to construct on this momentum and seize the distinctive alternative on the Nexus of Subsequent, a dynamic convergence of technological innovation, human ingenuity, and strategic imaginative and prescient to speed up progress worldwide.
Commenting on the launch, H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Trade and Superior Expertise and Director Common of the Zayed Sustainability Prize mentioned: “The Zayed Sustainability Prize honours Sheikh Zayed’s imaginative and prescient of advancing inclusive sustainable and humanitarian improvement. By supporting initiatives that harness new applied sciences to enhance lives and drive prosperity in native communities, the Prize locations folks on the coronary heart of progress, and demonstrates the function of the Nexus of Subsequent in accelerating socio-economic progress worldwide.”
The Prize will reward US $1 million to the winners of every organisational class, whereas these within the International Excessive Colleges class – break up into six world areas – can declare as much as US $150,000 to deploy or additional broaden their undertaking. This funding has already enabled tangible progress and improved dwelling situations in weak areas all over the world, from increasing healthcare entry in Southeast Asia to lowering meals poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The newest Zayed Sustainability Prize winners have been recognised at an Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi within the presence of H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, President of the United Arab Emirates, alongside 11 Heads of State and a number of other Ministers and enterprise leaders. These distinguished company witnessed the promise and influence of every winner, in addition to the UAE’s agency dedication to offering a platform for such options to develop.
For the 2026 cycle, candidates within the Well being, Meals, Power, Water and Local weather Motion classes should show that their answer is bettering entry to important providers of their communities, and that they’ll implement a long-term imaginative and prescient for higher dwelling and dealing situations. For the International Excessive Colleges class, initiatives ought to be led by college students and should reveal progressive approaches to deal with sustainability challenges.
To encourage a broader vary of organisations and excessive faculties to take part, the Prize accepts submissions in a number of languages, together with Arabic, Chinese language, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
The analysis of every submission to the Prize consists of a rigorous, three-stage course of. First, due diligence is carried out on all submissions to make sure that they meet the Prize’s analysis standards of Influence, Innovation, and Inspiration. This identifies the certified entries and leads to the choice of eligible candidates. Following this, evaluations are undertaken by a Choice Committee consisting of category-specific panels of impartial worldwide consultants. From this shortlist of candidates, the finalists are chosen after which despatched to the Prize Jury who unanimously elect the winners throughout all six classes.
Winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize will likely be introduced at an Awards Ceremony in 2026.
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