Zayed Sustainability Prize

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is the United Arab Emirates global award for sustainability, established in 2008 to honour the humanitarian and environmental legacy of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE. The Prize awards six categories each year: Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools. The first five recognise small and medium enterprises and non-profit organisations that have already delivered impact on the ground, while the Global High Schools category funds sustainability projects proposed by secondary school students across six world regions. The Prize fund is provided by the Abu Dhabi Government, and the Prize is managed by Masdar, the renewable energy company that also holds the contractual agreements signed by finalists and winners. Submissions are assessed against three criteria, impact, innovation and inspiration, through a three-stage process involving technical due diligence, a Selection Committee and a Jury of global sustainability leaders whose final decisions must be unanimous. Through its winners the Prize reports having positively affected more than 411 million lives worldwide, and it also runs the Beyond2020 humanitarian outreach initiative.