2023 UN Global Climate Action Awards

The UN Global Climate Action Awards are spearheaded by UN Climate Change to shine a light on the enormous groundswell of activities underway across the globe that are moving the world toward a highly resilient, low-carbon future. The UN Global Climate Action Awards recognize innovative and transformative solutions that address both climate change and wider economic, social and environmental challenges.

The projects that have received the UN Global Climate Action Award represent some of the most practical, scalable, and replicable examples of what people, businesses, governments, and industries are doing to tackle climate change.

For 2023, the Awards seek to highlight the innovative climate action that young people around the world are undertaking to ensure their communities are more sustainable, resilient, and equitable places to live. Two youth awards will be selected:

• A youth award for energy transition, and
• A youth award for nature and eco-system based climate action.

Winners will receive a package of benefits, including travel to and participation in the COP28 Climate Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This year’s Awards are implemented in partnership with IRENA, IUCN, and the Permanent Representative of the UAE to IRENA.

What benefits do UN Global Climate Action Award winners receive?

• The Global Climate Action Award seeks to support youth by raising awareness of their work, providing a platform from which to share their priorities and knowledge, and helping them to further develop their capacities.
• Award winners will therefore receive:
  • UN Climate Change Award certificate presented at a special awards event at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
  • Travel, daily allowance, to participate in COP28 UN Climate Change Conference in the UAE
  • Opportunities to network and present work to policymakers during the UN Climate Change Conference
  • A video produced about their initiative and distributed to the media
  • Dedicated webpage on the UN Climate Change website
  • Participation in relevant speaking arrangements throughout 2024
  • Year-long mentoring programme tailored to the needs of each winner
• The mentoring programme is intended to empower the selected winners to build upon their current achievements by providing a year’s worth of mentoring in priority areas specified by the winners. These may include developing further capacity in advocacy, communications, technical solutions, and/or accessing financing, for example.

Who can apply?

• If you or a group of young people are under 35 years old and are implementing a project, initiative, program or other activity that addresses climate change mitigation or adaptation, they would like to hear from you.
• Youth award on energy transition: The youth energy award will recognize innovative work on energy transition and equity by an individual youth or group of young people.
• Youth award on nature and eco-system based climate action: This award will recognize nature and eco-system based activities to address climate adaption and/or mitigation, as well as issues of equity conducted by an individual youth or group of young people in indigenous and/or local communities.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications will be reviewed based upon the following criteria:
• Youth award on energy transition:
  • A project, initiative, program or other activity (led or implemented by young people up to 35 years of age);
  • Demonstrating renewable energy and/or energy efficiency outcomes;
  • Locally led and/or community focused;
  • Utilising elements of education, training, and/or public awareness to achieve goals;
  • Addressing issues of equity in the community; and
  • Be already implemented, or in the course of implementation.
• Youth award on nature and eco-system based climate action:
  • A project, initiative, program or other activity (led or implemented by young people up to 35 years of age) in indigenous or local communities;
  • Demonstrated activities designed to increase natures’ resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions, including through nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches, while minimizing negative and fostering positive impacts of climate action on biodiversity; and/or
  • Demonstrated efforts to restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services through nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature;
  • Incorporating elements of public awareness, public participation, and/or public access to information to achieve its goals;
  • Addressing issues of equity in the community; and
  • Be already implemented, or in the course of implementation.

For more information, visit UN Climate Change.