The UAE has created a new Climate Action category for its Zayed Sustainability Prize. It will award SMEs and NPOs that are leading the way in deploying environmental solutions that build climate resilience.

Since its establishment in 2008, the $3.6 million Zayed Sustainability Prize fund recognizes organizations and high schools across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action and Global High Schools, with 106 winners in total It has people access safe drinking water through winners like Ecosofft, the 2019 Prize winner in the Water category, an SME headquartered in Singapore.

Funding awarded to organizations working in the sustainable energy sector has helped extend clean energy access to 54 million homes, according to the UAE, many of which previously had no access to domestic power sources.

The launch of the Climate Action category coincides with the UAE’s Year of Sustainability, a national initiative that aims to accelerate sustainable development both within its borders and beyond. It also comes ahead of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will be hosted in the UAE later this year.