Zayed Sustainability Prize 2027: US$7.2 Million Global Award for Sustainability Solutions

Zayed Sustainability Prize 2027: US$7.2 Million Global Award for Sustainability Solutions

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is the United Arab Emirates’ pioneering global award for sustainability. Established in honour of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, it recognises and rewards small and medium enterprises, non-profit organisations, and high schools that are delivering practical, scalable solutions to some of the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. For the 2027 cycle the Prize carried an increased total prize fund of US$7.2 million, distributed across six categories. Winners are announced each January at an awards ceremony held during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

This page explains what the Prize offers, the six categories, who fits, the eligibility rules, how the application and evaluation process works, the timeline, the materials you need, and the mistakes that most often keep strong organisations out of the finalist round. Where a specific figure or date could not be confirmed from official sources, that is stated plainly rather than guessed.

Key details

Note on the deadline: the 2027 cycle closed on 15 June 2026, so no submission window is open at the time of writing (late July 2026). The Prize runs annually, and past cycles have opened for submissions early in the calendar year. The next cycle’s exact open and close dates had not been published at the time this page was prepared. Confirm current dates on the official site before planning an application.

What the Prize offers

The headline benefit is direct funding, but the Prize is designed to do more than write a cheque. Winners join a recognised global community of sustainability pioneers and gain visibility that can attract partners, investors, and new markets.

The financial awards for the 2027 cycle were structured as follows:

• Each of the five organisation categories, Health, Food, Energy, Water, and Climate Action, awards US$1 million to its winner.
• The Global High Schools category awards US$150,000 to a winning school in each of six world regions.

Five organisation winners at US$1 million each, plus six Global High Schools winners at US$150,000 each, together with programme costs, make up the US$7.2 million total fund reported for the 2027 cycle.

For organisations, the award money is intended to help scale a solution that is already working, expand it into new communities or markets, and reach more people. For schools, the funding is intended to implement or scale a student-led sustainability project on campus and in the surrounding community. Beyond the money, the recognition itself carries weight: being named a Zayed Sustainability Prize winner or finalist is a credible, independent signal of impact that many funders and partners take seriously.

The six categories

The Prize is organised around six categories. Five are for organisations, and one is for high schools.

• Health. For organisations with innovative, sustainable solutions that improve access to essential healthcare, help prevent or respond to epidemics, and address global health challenges.
• Food. For solutions that boost agricultural productivity, improve the sustainability of food systems, and reduce hunger and malnutrition.
• Energy. For solutions that support clean energy infrastructure, improve energy efficiency, and expand access to affordable, reliable power.
• Water. For solutions that improve access to clean water, sanitation, and efficient water management.
• Climate Action. For solutions that reduce emissions, build resilience, and help communities adapt to a changing climate.
• Global High Schools. For high schools and secondary schools proposing innovative, impactful, and inspiring sustainability projects in the areas of health, food, energy, and/or water. This category is judged across six world regions.

The six world regions for the Global High Schools category are: The Americas; Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; Europe and Central Asia; South Asia; and East Asia and Pacific. One winning school is selected from each region, so up to six schools can win in a single cycle.

Who this fits

The Prize is a strong fit if you run an established organisation or school with a sustainability solution that already has a demonstrable track record. It is not designed for early concept-stage ideas, research proposals without deployment, or organisations that cannot yet show measurable results.

Good candidates for the organisation categories include:

• Small and medium enterprises with a commercially viable product or service that delivers a clear environmental or social benefit.
• Non-profit organisations running programmes that measurably improve health, food security, energy access, water access, or climate resilience.
• Organisations that can show their solution has already reached real users and produced results, and that have a credible plan to reach more.

Good candidates for the Global High Schools category are secondary schools with a student-led project that tackles a real sustainability challenge in their community, and a plan for what US$150,000 would let them build or scale.

The Prize repeatedly emphasises three qualities: Impact (measurable, positive results for people and the planet), Innovation (a genuinely new or improved approach), and Inspiration (the potential to motivate others and be replicated elsewhere). If your work maps clearly onto all three, you are the intended applicant.

Eligibility in detail

Based on official descriptions of the Prize, eligibility works as follows:

• The five organisation categories are open to small and medium enterprises and non-profit organisations. Large corporations and individuals are not the intended applicants for these categories.
• The Global High Schools category is open to high schools and secondary schools, evaluated within the six world regions listed above.
• Applicants must demonstrate a proven track record against the criteria of Impact, Innovation, and Inspiration. The solution should already be established and delivering results.
• Submissions are accepted in seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, which supports genuinely global participation.

On entry cost: the official submission channels do not indicate an application fee, and the Prize is presented as an open global call. If confirming whether there is any cost is important to you, check the current FAQ and submission portal directly, because a definitive “free to enter” statement could not be independently confirmed for this page.

If any part of your eligibility is uncertain, for example whether your organisation counts as an SME, the safest step is to review the official criteria and FAQ for the live cycle before you invest time in a full submission.

Application and evaluation process

Applications are made online through the Prize’s official submission system, reached from the “How to Apply” section of the website. The evaluation then moves through several stages that are consistent across recent cycles:

1. Online submission. Applicants complete and submit their entry through the official portal during the open submission window, in any of the seven accepted languages.
2. Due diligence. Each submission is reviewed to confirm it meets the Prize’s core criteria of Impact, Innovation, and Inspiration, and to check the basic facts of the entry.
3. Selection Committee assessment. Category-specific panels of independent international experts assess the qualifying submissions in detail and draw up a shortlist. From that shortlist, finalists are identified.
4. Prize Jury. The finalists are presented to the Prize Jury, which unanimously elects the winners across all six categories.
5. Announcement. Winners are announced at the awards ceremony held during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in January.

The multi-stage structure means the quality bar rises at each step. A submission that clears due diligence still has to convince a panel of category experts, and then the jury. That is why evidence and clarity matter more than polish.

Timeline and deadline

The Prize runs on an annual cycle. For the 2027 edition:

• Submissions opened on 26 January 2026.
• Submissions closed on 15 June 2026.
• Winners are announced in January 2027, during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

At the time this page was prepared, in late July 2026, the 2027 window had already closed and the next cycle’s dates had not yet been published. Past cycles have opened for submissions early in the calendar year and closed around mid-year, so a similar rhythm is likely, but treat that as a pattern rather than a confirmed schedule. Always verify the live dates on the official site before you plan around them. Because the deadline for the current cycle is not open, the deadline field for this listing is intentionally left empty.

Required materials and information

The exact fields in the online form vary by cycle and category, so use the live portal as your source of truth. In general, be ready to provide:

• A clear description of your organisation or school, and of the solution or project itself.
• Evidence of impact to date: the numbers of people reached, the environmental or social results achieved, and how you measured them.
• An explanation of what makes the solution innovative compared with existing approaches.
• Evidence that the solution can inspire others and be replicated or scaled.
• A plan for how the award funding would be used to expand or deepen the impact.
• Supporting documentation such as references, data, or third-party validation where available.

Because entries are accepted in seven languages, you can submit in the language you write most precisely in. Choose the one that lets you present your evidence most clearly.

Preparation strategy

The organisations and schools that do well treat the submission as a case built on evidence, not a marketing pitch. A few practices help:

• Lead with proof. Show concrete results before you describe ambition. Judges are looking for a track record, so put your strongest, best-documented outcomes first.
• Quantify everything you can. Replace adjectives with numbers: people served, litres of water saved, tonnes of emissions avoided, cost reductions, yields improved. Explain how each figure was measured.
• Map your entry to Impact, Innovation, and Inspiration. Make sure each of the three criteria is addressed explicitly and separately. Do not leave the reader to infer it.
• Be specific about scaling. Explain exactly what the award would let you do next, and why that plan is realistic given what you have already achieved.
• Pick the right category. A solution that could sit in two categories should be entered where its evidence is strongest and its fit is clearest.
• Write plainly. Reviewers assess many submissions. Clear, direct writing that a non-specialist can follow works better than dense jargon.
• Start early. Gathering evidence, references, and data takes longer than writing the form. Begin as soon as the cycle opens rather than in the final week.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Applying with a concept rather than a proven solution. The Prize rewards established work with results. Early-stage ideas without deployment rarely progress.
• Claiming impact without evidence. Statements that cannot be backed by data weaken an entry. If you cannot measure it, be honest about that and show what you can measure.
• Ignoring one of the three criteria. Entries strong on impact but silent on innovation or inspiration miss part of what the judges score.
• Choosing the wrong category. A mismatch between your solution and the category’s focus makes it harder for expert panels to evaluate you fairly.
• Missing the deadline or submitting at the last minute. Portals can be busy near the close date, and late materials cannot be added after the window shuts.
• Vague scaling plans. “We will help more people” is weaker than a specific, costed plan tied to the award amount.
• Assuming the dates repeat exactly. Cycle dates shift year to year. Confirm the live schedule rather than relying on last year’s calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Who can apply? Small and medium enterprises and non-profit organisations can apply in the five organisation categories. High schools and secondary schools can apply in the Global High Schools category, which is judged across six world regions.

How much can I win? Each organisation category winner receives US$1 million. Each Global High Schools regional winner receives US$150,000. The 2027 cycle had a total prize fund of US$7.2 million.

What are the categories? Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action, and Global High Schools.

What are the six regions for high schools? The Americas; Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; Europe and Central Asia; South Asia; and East Asia and Pacific.

Is there an entry fee? The official submission channels do not indicate an application fee, and the Prize is an open global call. A definitive “free to enter” confirmation could not be independently verified for this page, so check the current FAQ and portal if this matters to you.

When is the deadline? The 2027 cycle closed on 15 June 2026. The next cycle’s dates had not been published when this page was prepared. Check the official site for the live schedule.

How are winners chosen? Submissions pass a due-diligence review, are assessed by category-specific Selection Committees of independent experts who produce a shortlist and finalists, and the Prize Jury then unanimously elects the winners. Winners are announced in January during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

What language should I submit in? You can submit in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish. Choose the language in which you can present your evidence most precisely.

Official links

• How to apply: https://zayedsustainabilityprize.com/en/how-to-apply
• Main site: https://www.zayedsustainabilityprize.com/

Always confirm the current cycle’s dates, eligibility details, and any application requirements on the official Zayed Sustainability Prize website before submitting, because programme details can change from one cycle to the next.