Two major climate champion awards set to name their 2026 winners this autumn

Two of the world’s most closely watched climate honours are expected to reveal their 2026 winners in the coming months. One is the UN’s top environmental prize. The other offers youth-led climate groups $1 million each.

Champions of the Earth turns to the ocean

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) calls its Champions of the Earth award the UN’s highest environmental honour. This year it is focusing on people and organisations working to protect and restore the ocean.

UNEP accepted nominations from 5 March to 15 April 2026. Individuals, organisations and governments could be put forward in four categories: Policy Leadership, Inspiration and Action, Entrepreneurial Vision, and Science and Innovation. The agency says winners will be announced in late 2026.

The theme reflects growing pressure on marine ecosystems. UNEP says only 15 percent of the world’s coastlines remain ecologically intact, as pollution, habitat loss, sediment runoff and untreated wastewater take their toll. The ocean also absorbs more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases.

The award brings global recognition and a platform to scale up solutions rather than a cash prize. Since 2005 it has honoured 127 laureates. Last year’s winners included the youth-led group Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change; Supriya Sahu, a senior government official in India’s Tamil Nadu state; Nigerien entrepreneur Mariam Issoufou; the Brazilian research institute Imazon; and the Italian methane expert Manfredi Caltagirone, who was honoured posthumously.

$1 million each for youth-led groups

The second award is the Emerging Climate Champions Award, a $25 million global open call sponsored by the Enlight Foundation and The Patchwork Collective and managed by Lever for Change. It was launched on 26 June 2025.

It will give flexible gifts of $1 million each to youth-led organisations working on climate solutions, paid out over one to five years. Applications closed on 22 September 2025. Applicants first reviewed one another’s proposals late last year, and the top scorers then went to an evaluation panel.

The organisers say winners will be announced by autumn 2026. In May, the Enlight Foundation said its $20 million share of the funding would be announced this autumn.

Why it matters

Both awards arrive as attention turns to COP31, the UN climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye, from 9 to 20 November 2026. They put a spotlight on the people and groups turning climate goals into action on the ground, and for young organisations in particular, flexible funding of this size can be rare.

Watan News will report the winners of both awards once they are announced.

*Sources: UN Environment Programme; Lever for Change; Enlight Foundation.*