Young Champions of the Earth is the flagship youth engagement initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award is bestowed annually to ambitious young people from around the world with outstanding ideas to protect and restore the environment.

Humanity is using the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to maintain our way of life, and nature cannot keep up. The ocean is drowning in plastics, rivers are polluted, forests are burning, and farmland soil is drying out. With Young Champions of the Earth – the UN’s most prestigious award for environmental action by young people – we are looking for young changemakers with pathbreaking ideas and solutions that showcase nature’s potential in addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste.

In 2024, Young Champions of the Earth will be selected, one from each global region: Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, West Asia and two from Asia and the Pacific.

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Benefits of UNEP Young Champions

Each winner will receive: 

• Mentorship, capacity building workshops and access to a UN community of experts
• An introduction to dignitaries at the Young Champions of the Earth award ceremony
• Publicity and recognition through interviews and online and global media
• US$20,000 in seed-funding.

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Eligibility for UNEP Young Champions

• Applicants must be aged between 18 and 30 on 31 December 2024.
• Additionally, each applicant must have at least 6 months experience working on a big idea to protect or restore the environment.

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Application

The 2024 Young Champions of the Earth will be required to share their journeys through videos and blogs on this website for up to one year. Applications close on April 5, 2024 at 23:59 EAT (Nairobi, Kenya)