Submissions open for Zayed Sustainability Prize

Submissions are now open for the 2025 cycle of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, worth over AED 21.6 million.

Small and medium enterprises, non-profit organisations and high schools can submit entries before the deadline of June 23, 2024 through the Prize's online portal.

The annual award supports social initiatives that make use of innovative technologies and solutions to transform people’s lives.

Entries can be submitted in one of the six categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools.

As part of efforts to enhance the UAE’s efforts to accelerate practical solutions to drive climate action and uplift vulnerable communities, the Prize has increased its funds from $3.6 million to $5.9 million.

Each winner in the organisational categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water and Climate Action will be awarded $1 million.

Within the Global High Schools category, which is split into six world regions, each school can claim up to $150,000 to start or further expand their project.

The six world regions of the Global High Schools category are The Americas, Europe & Central Asia, Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and East Asia & Pacific.

To encourage a broader range of organisations and high schools to participate, the Prize will be accepting submissions in multiple languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Winners of the Zayed Sustainability Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony during the 2025 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW).

The most recent winners were honoured on the sidelines of the UN Climate Climate Change Conference, COP28, at Expo City Dubai.

We are now open for submissions! Small and medium enterprises, nonprofit organisations, and high schools with solutions in health, food, energy, water, and climate change are invited to apply to the #ZayedSustainabilityPrize today. #ThisPrizeIsForYou pic.twitter.com/tjjVaJCk7f

— Zayed Sustainability Prize (@ZSP_ORG) December 20, 2023

The evaluation of each submission consists of a rigorous, three-stage process.

First, due diligence is conducted on all submissions to ensure that they meet the evaluation criteria of impact, innovation and inspiration. This identifies the qualified entries and results in the selection of eligible candidates.

Following this, evaluations are undertaken by a selection committee consisting of category-specific panels of independent international experts.

From this shortlist of candidates, the finalists are chosen and then sent to the prize jury who unanimously elect the winners across all six categories.