The Prize fund comes from the Abu Dhabi Government as a way to honor and continue the sustainability
and humanitarian legacy of the founding father of the United Arab Emirates, the late Sheikh Zayed bin
Sultan Al Nahyan.
Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, manages the Zayed Sustainability Prize. A dedicated
team works on the Prize all year round.
Zayed Sustainability Prize awards 5 categories:
HEALTH
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational
sustainability solutions in the areas of health that include, but are not limited to:
Ensuring access to essential and affordable healthcare
Ensuring access to maternal and new-born healthcare
Ending epidemics (AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis etc.)
Preventing and treating water-borne, communicable and non-communicable diseases
Reducing illness from pollution, hazardous chemicals and contamination
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution
and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human
development.
To be eligible for this category, organisations must be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a
non-profit organisation (NPO).
The Prize fund for this category is US$ 600,000.
FOOD
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational
sustainability solutions in the areas of food that include, but are not limited to:
Decreasing hunger and malnutrition
Increasing agricultural or other food processing productivity
Enhancing sustainable food production
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution
and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human
development.
To be eligible for this category, organisations must be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a
non-profit organisation (NPO).
The Prize fund for this category is US$ 600,000.
ENERGY
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational
sustainability solutions in the areas of energy that include, but are not limited to:
Ensuring access to affordable and reliable clean energy
Increasing production of clean energy
Improving energy efficiency
Introducing new forms of clean energy or other technology innovations
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution
and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human
development.
To be eligible for this category, organisations must be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) or a
non-profit organisation (NPO).
The Prize fund for this category is US$ 600,000.
WATER
This category recognises organisations that can demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational
sustainability solutions in the areas of water that include, but are not limited to:
Ensuring access to safe and affordable drinking water
Ensuring access to sanitation and hygiene
Increasing water use efficiency
Improving water quality
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution
and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human
development.
To be eligible for this category, organisations must be a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), or a
non-profit organisation (NPO).
The Prize fund for this category is US$ 600,000.
GLOBAL HIGH SCHOOLS
The Global High Schools category recognises high schools or secondary schools, from six global
geographic regions that propose innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability projects in the
areas of health, food, energy and/or water. The proposed project could be in one area (e.g. water) or a
combination of areas (e.g. energy, water, food, and health).
The Prize is intended to encourage students to develop and implement their sustainability ideas and is
not aimed at administrative projects or educational reforms at the school.
The award in this category is not given for past achievements but will enable students from winning high
schools to implement sustainability projects in their own schools. These student-led projects must
demonstrate innovative approaches to address sustainability challenges, and inspire students to take
active roles in sustainable development.
The application must be submitted by the students and supported by the school management. The
projects must:
demonstrate how they meet the three criteria: impact, innovation, inspiration; as explained in
the Evaluation Criteria section of this page;
be able to be implemented and operational within one to two years;
benefit the school community and/or their local/regional community for several years.
In each of the following six global regions, one school will win up to US$ 100,000:
- The Americas
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Middle East & North Africa
- Europe & Central Asia
- South Asia
- East Asia & Pacific
The total prize fund is USD 3 million, distributed as follows:
Health USD 600,000
Food USD 600,000
Energy USD 600,000
Water USD 600,000
Global High Schools USD 600,000
(divided amongst six schools; awarding each up to US$100,000)
Assessment Criteria
For Health, Food, Energy and Water categories, the criteria are:
INNOVATION: 40%
Innovation refers to a novel solution or a transformation of an existing solution that solves a challenge or
a need, generates value and brings significant positive impact.
A solution can be a technology, a service or a business model.
The innovation criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that their solution:
has a unique value proposition;
is disruptive or transformative;
is technically and commercially viable; and
is adopted by the market.
The Prize does not award early stage start-ups, demonstration projects, prototypes or solutions that have
not demonstrated any impact on the ground.
IMPACT: 30%
Impact refers to a positive change that addresses social, economic, technological and/or environmental
challenge(s) and has proven to make the world a better place by improving the well-being of humanity.
The impact criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that:
their solution already has had a positive impact on the quality of peoples’ lives;
they are resilient to potential social, economic, technological, and environmental challenges;
they have good governance by employing skilled people and establishing fair policies; and
they have a detailed plan of how the Prize money would be used to further increase their impact.
INSPIRATION: 30%
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, was a pioneering advocate of global
sustainability and human development. Leading by example, he placed great value in the pursuit of socioeconomic development that meets the needs of both current and future generations. Continued through
the Prize, Sheikh Zayed’s legacy is a source of inspiration for the entire world.
The inspiration criterion requires organisations to demonstrate that their solution:
reflect’s Sheikh Zayed’s core values – sustainability and human development that were central to
his own approach and actions;
can inspire and influence others to advance sustainable and human development; and
can further inspire sustainable actions from the wider community by instigating behavioural
changes.
For Global High Schools category, the evaluation criteria are:
INNOVATION: 30%
Innovation refers to a creative idea, proposed by students, which solves a challenge or a need for the
school and/or local community in the areas of health, food, energy and/or water.
The Innovation criterion requires schools to demonstrate that:
the project is driven by students who work together to identify a challenge and create an
innovative solution either by utilising existing technologies or by developing their own;
the students use project management techniques – planning, scheduling, and budgeting to
implement the idea, and apply learnings at school to deliver the desired sustainability outcome.
IMPACT: 30%
Impact refers to a positive change, as a result of the proposed project, that improves the well-being of the
school, students and/or local community.
The Impact criterion requires schools to demonstrate that:
the project delivers measurable sustainability outcomes – in terms of access to sustainable
energy, clean water, basic healthcare and/or nutritious food in your school or wider community;
the project delivers benefits for both current and future students. These benefits may include,
but are not limited to opportunities for education and/or improving technical skills in the area of
sustainable development.
INSPIRATION: 40%
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, strongly believed that a country’s
greatest investment lies in building generations of knowledgeable youth. He was a firm believer of youth’s
active role in the development process by sharing responsibilities to lay foundations for the success of the
society. Continued through the Prize, Sheikh Zayed’s legacy is a source of inspiration for the young
generation.
The Inspiration criterion requires schools to demonstrate that:
the project reflects Sheikh Zayed’s core values – sustainability and human development that were
central to his own approach and actions;
the project can be sustained in the long term;
the project inspires students to become the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and
leaders capable of addressing sustainability challenges;
the project further inspires responsible actions from the wider community and other schools.