UN's Champions of the Earth Awards 2018
Prime Minster Naredra Modi and Cochin International Airport Wins UN's Champions of the Earth Awards 2018
UN’s Highest Environmental Honor
The Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental recognition celebrating exceptional figures from the public and private sectors and from civil society, whose actions have had a transformative positive impact on the environment.
List of Winners of UN's Champions of the Earth Awards 2018
This years’ (2018) laureates are recognized for a combination of bold, innovative, and tireless efforts to tackle some of the most urgent environmental issues of our times.
Six of the world’s most outstanding environmental changemakers will be recognized today with a Champions of the Earth Award, the UN’s highest environmental honor.
The winners of the 2018 Champions of the Earth Awards are:
- Joan Carling
- Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods
- Emmanuel Macron, President of France
- Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
- China’s Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Programme
- Cochin International Airport
Joan Carling
Joan Carling is recognized with the lifetime achievement award for her work as one of the world’s most prominent defenders of environmental and indigenous rights. Carling has been at the forefront of the conflict for land and the environment for more than 20 years. Her tireless and selfless fight for the environment has made her a champion to peoples and communities all over the globe.
Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods
Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are jointly recognized in the Science and Innovation category, for their revolutionary development of a popular, plant-based alternative to beef, and for their efforts to educate consumers about environmentally conscious alternatives.
Emmanuel Macron, President of France and
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
Emmanuel Macron, President of France and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, are recognized in the Policy Leadership category for their pioneering work in championing the International Solar Alliance and promoting new areas of levels of cooperation on environmental action, including Macron’s work on the Global Pact for the Environment and Modi’s unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022.
China’s Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Programme
China’s Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Programme is awarded for Inspiration and Action for the transformation of a once heavily polluted area of rivers and streams in East China's Zhejiang province. This exceptionally successful eco-restoration program shows the transformative power of economic and environmental development together.
Cochin International Airport
Cochin International Airport will take home the award for Entrepreneurial Vision, for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy. Cochin is showing the world that our ever-expanding network of global movement doesn't have to harm the environment. As the pace of society continues to increase, the world's first fully solar-powered airport is proof positive that green business is good business.
Past laureates of Champions of the Earth Awards Winners List
2007 - Former US Vice-President Al Gore
2013 - Scientist-explorer Bertrand Piccard, and developer of Google Earth Brian McClendon
2014 - Ocean Cleanup CEO Boyan Slat
2016
- Afroz Shah, who led the world’s largest beach cleanup
- Rwandan President Paul Kagame