IAS officer Supriya Sahu has been named a 2025 UN Champions of the Earth laureate in the Inspiration and Action category.
The honour is considered the highest global recognition for environmental work.
She received the award at a ceremony hosted by the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi.
UNEP said this year’s laureates represent the strongest scalable solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Sahu was recognised for her long-standing leadership in India on plastic reduction, wildlife conservation, and sustainable cooling.
Her recent work in Tamil Nadu includes the Cool Roof Project, which has become a model for cities dealing with extreme heat.
Under the Urban Heat Mitigation Project in Chennai, cool roof paint with a Solar Reflective Index of 102 was applied on two residential blocks at the Lighthouse Project site. The paint covered 200 houses. Indoor temperatures fell by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius during peak summer.
UNEP called the project a game-changer for providing low-cost cooling that reduces energy use and protects vulnerable communities.
In her acceptance speech, Sahu said climate action must become a people’s movement. She spoke about seeing elephants and tigers forced to forage through plastic in the Nilgiris and how mangroves saved lives during the 2004 tsunami. These experiences, she said, strengthened her belief that nature protects those who protect it.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin congratulated her. He said the award brings pride to the state and praised her efforts in wetland restoration, mangrove expansion, species protection, and plastic reduction. He added that the honour will further inspire her work and support the state’s fight against climate change.