Chennai: Supriya Sahu, Tamil Nadu’s Additional Chief Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forests, has been honoured with the 2025 UN Champions of the Earth Award in the Inspiration and Action category — the highest environmental recognition bestowed by the United Nations.

The award was presented to her at a ceremony in Nairobi on Wednesday, where the UN Environment Programme celebrated her as one of the 2025 Champions of the Earth.

According to an official release issued here, Sahu received the honour for her trailblazing and sustained work on several pressing environmental issues in India, particularly in the areas of plastic waste management and wildlife conservation.

The Champions of the Earth Award acknowledges individuals, groups and organisations whose efforts have remarkably advanced environmental protection. The 2025 awardees are recognised for leading global action to tackle the triple planetary crisis—climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, pollution and waste—by developing solutions that are scalable and impactful.

Sahu’s latest work on sustainable cooling has been specifically highlighted as an exemplary approach for a rapidly warming world, the release added.

Established in 2005, the annual Champions of the Earth awards aim to celebrate visionaries who are catalysing transformational change across economic, political and social spheres, addressing environmental injustice and safeguarding the planet’s natural resources.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin congratulated Sahu for winning the prestigious UNEP award.
PTI