Introducing the Zayed Sustainability Prize

The Zayed Future Energy Prize, founded in 2008 by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, has been renamed the Zayed Sustainability Prize as part of a strategic move to refocus its mandate.

The prize was launched at the 2008 World Future Energy Summit by H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as a tribute to his father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and his legacy of environmental stewardship and sustainability. Now, after 10 years of promoting renewable energy initiatives across the globe, the prize will broaden its focus to support a wider range of solutions to the challenges of sustainable development.

“Inspired by the vision and legacy of our founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the Zayed Future Energy Prize has, for the last decade, been able to positively impact 307 million lives through empowering access to energy, clean water, education, training, advocacy and more,” said His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and director general of the Zayed Sustainability Prize.

“In a move to align more closely with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UAE’s developing national agenda, going forward the prize will broaden its reach beyond renewable energy, and reward projects and innovative solutions from a wider spectrum of sustainability and human development initiatives. In addition the prize will expand its support of young people through the Global High Schools category, which will now reward youth-driven projects from a greater number of world regions.”

The prize now has five distinct categories for applicants to choose from: Health, Food, Energy, Water and Global High Schools. As explained by Prize Director Dr Lamya Fawwaz, “The new categories were carefully selected to reflect the most pressing sustainability challenges and offer the greatest socio-economic impact on the lives of people around the world.”

The Zayed Sustainability Prize will see a three-stage evaluation process, beginning with the due diligence that is conducted by a reputed international research and analysis consultancy. Following this, the shortlisted entries will undergo evaluations by a selection committee to determine the finalists. From these finalists, a jury will select the winners in all five categories, including the winning schools from six world regions.

The deliberations on who wins the Zayed Sustainability Prize are set against three core criteria where entrants must demonstrate impact, innovation and inspiration. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony during the opening of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, on 14 January 2019.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is now open for submissions and will close on 9 August. For more information, visit http://zayedsustainabilityprize.com/en/.

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