The Zayed Sustainability Prize has announced that the 2024 cycle is now open for submissions for candidates from all over the world, including Viet Nam.

The prize, which accepts submissions until May 2 through the prize’s online portal, is the UAE’s pioneering global award for recognising excellence in sustainability.

Small to medium-sized enterprises, non-profit organisations and high schools with sustainability solutions are invited to submit an entry for consideration in one of the five categories of health, food, energy, water and global high schools.

The prize’s US$3 million fund rewards winners US$600,000 in each category. The global high schools category is split into six world regions, with each school able to claim up to $100,000 to start or further expand their project.

The Zayed sustainability prize has a three-stage evaluation process, beginning with the due diligence conducted on all submissions to ensure that they meet the prize’s evaluation criteria. This identifies qualified entries and results in the selection of eligible candidates.

Evaluations are undertaken by a selection committee consisting of category-specific panels of independent international experts. From this shortlist of candidates, the finalists are chosen and sent to the Prize Jury who unanimously selects the winners across all five categories.

The Zayed sustainability awards 2023 cycle received 4,538 applications from 152 countries worldwide, a record number that represents a 13 per cent increase over the previous season.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Awards, as well as a historic year for the UAE, which is about to host the United Nationals Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)'s 28th Summit (COP 28) and the winner of the Award. At this ceremony, the Zayed Sustainability Award 2024 will be announced.

“The Zayed Sustainability Prize helps organisations and schools scale their solutions, enabling them to realise even greater impact and catalyse positive, transformational change. To date, the prize has impacted the lives of over 378 million people around the world, including in Viet Nam, Nepal, Sudan, Ethiopia, Maldives and Tuvalu,” said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize.

Established in 2008, the Zayed Sustainability Prize aims to drive sustainable development and humanitarian action by recognising and rewarding small and medium-sized enterprises, non-profit organisations, and high schools that are delivering impactful, innovative and inspiring solutions in the categories of health, food, energy, water and global high schools. — VNS