Winners by region

The Run4Salmon prayerful journey engages government officials, lawyers, advocates, and everyday people on a 300-mile journey that the endangered Chinook salmon make along the waters of California’s largest watershed. The project is aimed at inspiring, educating, and engaging people in restoring this endangered keystone species that is essential to the health of California lands and waters. In the face of climate change, ecological collapse and pandemics, indigenous-led species restoration is key to building a resilient future that can withstand and thrive as climate change continues to unravel. The project is coupled with advocacy, campaigns, and indigenous curriculum.

Eco Star is focused on the efficient collection of recyclable materials (paper, plastic and metal) and works hand-in-hand with recycling factories. Kuwait is very wealthy, but does not have many sustainable solutions in the field of recycling, with 90 percent of waste going directly to Kuwait’s eighteen growing landfills. Kuwait also lacks functioning green areas and has air pollution problems. In exchange for waste, Eco Star works with agricultural companies to give plants and trees to individuals and organizations, thereby encouraging the increase in green cover in Kuwait.

Gjenge Makers Ltd is a sustainable, alternative and affordable building products manufacturing company. They produce eco-friendly pavers that are made of a composite of recycled waste plastic and sand. They have partnered with different manufacturers of plastics bottle tops and seals in the beverage and pharmaceutical industries in Kenya, from whom they collect offcuts and scraps. This is amalgamated with discarded single use plastics that our informal waste collectors deliver to us.

MyH2O Water Information Network was established to tackle inaccess to clean drinking water in rural China. Through a nationwide collaborative youth volunteer network MyH2O collects clean water data and diagnoses water problems on a case-by-case basis, with the goal to connect data-driven water resources and solutions to the underprivileged communities in need and improve their overall health. The network has grown to over 100 field teams covering 3800+ datasets in close to 1000 villages across 26 provinces and has successfully delivered clean water stations to tens of thousands of villagers in China.

Takachar’s goal is to increase the amount of waste biomass transformed into marketable products around the world, and reduce the pollution associated with open-air biomass burning. Takachar enables rural farmers to earn 40% more by converting their crop residues into fuels, fertilizers and value-added chemicals like activated carbon (AC) on-site. By choosing activated carbon (AC) as the starting market, Takachar brings this value chain to the doorstep of farmers and hence reduces air pollution associated with crop residue burning.

The organization Enaleia created the Mediterranean cleanup. Mediterranean fish stocks have been steadily declining with fisherman pulling up plastic in their nets instead. Using a network of fishermen and ensuring responsible management of the collected waste into the circular economy, Enaleia trains, empowers and incentivizes old and new fishermen to collect plastic from the sea. This allows fish stocks and the ecosystem to recover, while providing a source of income from plastic brought to shore. They are currently removing more than 1.5 tonnes of marine plastic weekly, and 10 tonnes of discarded fishing gear per year.

YAWA is a portable, multifunctional and sustainable technology capable of obtaining up to 300 liter of water per day from atmospheric humidity and mist. This technology can be applied to provide access to drinking water to communities, in agricultural and forestry projects, and for the irrigation of green buildings. Yawa is an alternative that will allow us to prepare for the future in the face of an imminent water shortage that 33 countries will suffer in the world in the year 2040.

The Wildlife Protection through Community Based Natural Resource Management in Eastern Angola project aims to develop a model for communities in one of the last wildlife hubs in eastern Angola, as a tool to activate wildlife conservation and help protect one of the last wild places on earth. Unlike existing models, this is tailored to the needs, believes, culture and aspirations of the local Luchaze people, as they are part of the decision making and the structuring of the model.

The Farm and Culinary Lounge established The Cacao Project, which aims to combat deforestation by reviving barren lands through tree planting, creating economic forests and nurseries, promoting fair trade and reforestation, while empowering farmers with higher incomes. This cultivates resilient and climate-smart livelihoods, positioning farmers for sustainable success in San Fernando, Camarines Sur, in the Philippines.

Green Energy Mobility aims to tackle the worst air quality in South Asia in Nepal, and make public transportation a quality alternative to private vehicles - especially for women safa-tempos (small busses) drivers. The vision is to help women own and upgrade their electric vehicles through low-interest financing from commercial banks.

The “Plant the Forest” project aims to engage more people in reforestation efforts through their website. The “Plant the forest” educational gaming project turns actions in virtual reality to tree restoration in real life. You can grow your own virtual forest and, in parallel, new forests planted by our volunteers will emerge.

Sustainable Development and Water for All produces Aqualuz, a UN-recognized device that costs only US$125 and will reduce the problem of water infection through a rainwater-harvesting system from the semi-arid areas of Brazil. Applying the UNICEF and WHO recommended principle of solar water disinfection, they have developed Aqualuz as the only technology in the world for cisterns. It only needs sunlight to make rainwater suitable for consumption.

GoodLands is working to bring nature conservation to the scale and impact of Catholic healthcare and education, as the largest global network of its kind. They are bringing the most powerful technology for large-scale property planning and sustainability - Geographic Information Systems - to the Catholic Church.

FabricAID reuses and recycles unwanted clothes. Clothes are graded, sorted into over 46 categories, cleaned and redistributed to disadvantaged communities at between US$0.3 – US$2 per item. Omar has succeeded in growing FabricAID from an idea into a full-blown company with more than 120 employees and several millions in turn over within 5 years.

Better Blue is a global network consisting of divers and diving centres. It aims to build an eco-evaluation system to redefine the diving industry and empower every diver to become advocates and practitioners in marine conservation. Within one year Better Blue built a reliable community of active divers in over 10 cities and supported them to conduct more than 180 offline events in over 30 cities. Better Blue provides consulting services to the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) in Greater China and its global charity partner, Project AWARE, to help them better integrate Chinese divers’ resource and motivate action for ocean conservation.

BioCellection is tackling the plastic crisis by developing an economical recycling solution for currently unrecyclable plastic waste. The team has developed a chemical process that transforms plastics into renewable chemicals for sustainable virgin-quality materials. The  team aspires to process seventeen metric tons of plastic waste in California per year. At commercial scale, BioCellection fabricates modular process skids to treat plastic waste on a regional level around the world. Products from these regions are centralized and purified in chemical facilities.

Women in Energy and Environment (WEE) is a forward-looking organization focusing on women in the Middle East and North Africa. WEE is a member-driven organization in which diversity, innovation and creativity are valued and the members are the key resources. WEE is dedicated to supporting women in their current roles and building a supportive community for them. WEE seeks to advance the role of women in the MENA region in leading the green industry while demonstrating the positive environmental, social and economic impacts of women.

Coral Vita is created a global network of innovative land-based coral farms, using breakthrough methods developed at the Mote Marine Lab and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology to grow corals up to fifty times faster while strengthening their resiliency to climate change. The land-based farms are scalable, allowing Coral Vita to grow millions of corals from a single site. Coral Vita’s business model supports restoration efforts, and by taking a community-based approach we integrate local actors to promote long-term reef stewardship.

Evocco’s smartphone app helps the consumer to align their purchasing behavior with their ethics. Users take a photo of their food shopping receipt to receive instant information on the environmental impact of their purchases. The app then allows them to track their impact over time, and offers personalized advice on how to reduce their impact the next time they shop. Evocco also collaborates with several universities to explore the psychological motivations behind lasting behavioral change.

Chakr Innovation has devised a new technique to control emissions from diesel generators. The Chakr Shield is a technology that causes minimum backpressure on the diesel generator. The device is able to control up to 90% of particulate matter from diesel engines, with no impact on the engine’s efficiency. The carbon produced is used to create ink pigment. This pigment is non-toxic and is of same quality as the ink used in industries. Chakr in Hindi means cycle, and Chakr innovation are completing the cycle of carbon.

Shady’s  dream is to bring together children who are working as garbage collectors in Luxor and teach them how to make musical instruments from trash, and play music as a band. The project empowers children through the innovative use of waste, and uses art and music as a medium to nurture relationships between communities and families. Rabab Luxor Art Collective provides free weekly classes to a stigmatized group of 70 children in Luxor who work as waste collectors. They play together as the “Garbage Conservatoire Band”.

Green roofs are eco-friendly infrastructures in the city of Quito, Ecuador. Selecting native plants suitable for green roofs is the key to making these infrastructures a success and ensuring that they are welcomed by citizens, authorities and industry alike. The use of native plants makes the city greener and restores the bird and insect biodiversity that has been displaced by urbanization. The project focusses on propagating and experimenting with different native plant species on green roofs to see how they fare.

Novel Supply Co. is a conscious local apparel company. Kaya created a fully closed-loop clothing line with no waste and automated manufacturing. She integrated a research and development hub to test leading-edge technology that decomposes fabrics and tests natural dyes. She also implemented an Extended Producer Responsibility policy by having a Take Back Program for the clothing she produces. Kaya works in partnership with local universities.

BioTreasure aims to improve the livelihoods of at least 1500 rural households in Yemen through the deployment of small-scale biogas plants. The devices are constructed locally. The devices are designed to enable the rapid decomposition of organic waste, maximizing the amount of biogas produced. The project will help to solve three major problems in Yemen: (i) household organic waste, which emits significant amounts of methane gas and is a major contributor to climate change; and (ii) indoor air pollution which causes many people to die each year – in Yemen, over 3 million people still cook over open fires. Additionally, the project will (iii) help to reduce the incidence of certain diseases known to be spread or exacerbated by the dumping of organic waste, such as cholera which has affected nearly half a million Yemenis in 2017 alone.

Jacigreen offers an innovative, eco-friendly solution to the problem of water hyacinth in Africa and the devastating degradation of cropland caused by chemical fertilizers. The invasive alien species hyacinth grows very rapidly in the waterways of the Niger River. Although not inherently harmful, initially purifying the waterway in which it grows, water hyacinth becomes a problem once it reaches a certain maturity by suffocating aquatic life. Jacigreen introduced a plant-based purification mechanism to help manage fresh water sustainably and improve access to drinking water.