Big Strategies. Talented Leaders. Global Impact.

Vinuta Gopal, Brikesh Singh, Sanjiv Gopal

Vinuta Gopal, Sanjiv Gopal, and Brikesh Singh are three masters of their own crafts, driven by their shared vision of an aligned Indian civil society that is collectively progressing and

Award Year 2022

James Irungu Mwangi

James Irungu Mwangi wants to flip the script: Africa is no longer a climate change victim—it’s the hero with an undeniable potential to lead the way in carbon removal and

Award Year 2022

Isabel Cavelier Adarve

Isabel Cavelier Adarve is a Colombian changemaker who envisions an equitable transition towards a clean, just, and regenerative economy and society across Latin America. PROFILE Isabel understood and harnessed the

Award Year 2022

Denise Fairchild

A veteran leader in environmental justice and community development, Denise Fairchild is dedicated to untangling the multidisciplinary root causes of climate change. SELECTION AND BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGIES Denise Fairchild exemplifies the

Award Year 2021

Sara Jane Ahmed

Sara Jane Ahmed is a finance advisor and strategist who sees transitioning to a resilient and clean energy economy as the path to prosperity for the countries most vulnerable to

Award Year 2021

Kathrin Gutmann

Kathrin Gutmann is an ambitious climate strategist looking to push Europe towards a future that is not only coal-free but completely fossil-free and fully powered by renewable energy, transformed in

Award Year 2021

Mohamed Adow

Mohamed Adow is an international climate policy expert and ardent advocate for the people of developing nations—who are disproportionately affected by climate change but play almost no role in causing

Award Year 2020

Nicole Rycroft

Nicole Rycroft is an accomplished environmental activist, an Ashoka Fellow, and, unusually, a former physiotherapist and elite rower. A systems thinker, she confronts the world’s rapid and dangerous destruction of

Award Year 2020

Nguy Thi Khanh

Nguy Thi Khanh is a pioneer leader of Vietnam’s environmental movement and has played an instrumental role in shifting Vietnam from coal and towards renewables and energy efficiency. Khanh’s breakthrough

Award Year 2019

Arief Rabik

Arief Rabik is the director of Indonesia’s Environmental Bamboo Foundation and the founder of the 1000 Bamboo Villages project, which aims to create economic viability for the use of bamboo

Award Year 2019

Sebastián Kind

As the Undersecretary for Renewable Energy in Argentina, Sebastián was the architect and primary driver of Argentina’s RenovAr program, which has attracted over $7.4 billion USD in clean energy investments resulting

Award Year 2019

Tzeporah Berman

Tzeporah Berman has a long record of leading and winning major environmental campaigns and negotiating significant policy victories. Now she is focused on curtailing the global oil and gas supply.

Award Year 2019

Tessa Khan

Tessa began her work as an awardee focused on using the law as a tool to dramatically increase national climate mitigation ambition. The Climate Litigation Network (CLN), which she co-founded,

Award Year 2018

Bruce Nilles

Founder and lead strategist of the Beyond Coal Campaign, before receiving his Climate Breakthrough Award, Bruce’s efforts secured the retirement of over half the United States’ coal fleet. When selected

Award Year 2018

Yang Fuqiang

Fuqiang finished his Climate Breakthrough tenure this year. Selected in 2017, he used his award to mainstream within the policy and business circles the idea of capping oil consumption in

Award Year 2017

May Mei

May is the founder of GoalBlue, a Chinese startup NGO that aims to spark lasting low-carbon dietary and lifestyle trends among China’s rapidly growing middle class, urban, and millennial populations.

Award Year 2016

John Hepburn

John is Executive Director of The Sunrise Project. He used his Climate Breakthrough Award to launch Insure Our Future, a global campaign to hold the insurance industry accountable for its

Award Year 2016