Zayed Sustainability Prize

INNOVATING FOR HUMANITY

The Zayed Sustainability Prize Newsletter

Q3 - 2020

The Zayed Sustainability Prizes Announces Postponement of 2021 Awards Ceremony

The Zayed Sustainability Prize has announced the postponement of the 2021 Awards Ceremony, which was scheduled to take place in January, as part of the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

The decision was made due to travel restrictions for different countries and to ensure international participants’ safety and well-being in light of the unprecedented global challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

While the UAE is a safe travel destination, the current global climate means that the 2021 Awards Ceremony will not be able to deliver the physical event, networking, and knowledge exchange opportunities which the Zayed Sustainability Prize represents to its worldwide stakeholders.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize values and recognises all efforts and reassures applicants who have already submitted their entries to the 2021 awards cycle that their submissions will be automatically moved to the 2022 cycle. More details will be announced in upcoming months.

In support of its ongoing encouragement for sustainable development around the world, the Zayed Sustainability Prize continues to actively drive the 20by2020 initiative – an impact-focused, UAE-driven global humanitarian initiative. Delivered in partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Market, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Mubadala Petroleum, the UAE’s Ministry of Tolerance and Coexistence, Masdar and Majid Al Futtaim, 20by2020 aims to improve standards of living and create a host of new prospects in vulnerable communities. As part of the initiative’s first phase, a total of five deployments have been rolled out to date, including energy, health and food-related solutions in Nepal, Tanzania, and Uganda, followed by our most recent deployments in Jordan and Egypt, as outlined below. Read more

Jordan: Safety and security for
COVID health workers

Sunna Design, a France-based SME that won the Zayed Sustainability Prize in 2018 under the ‘Energy category’ installed its high-performance energy-efficient LED solar lights within the parameter of the Prince Hamzah Hospital, busy treating COVID patients, to provide sustainable lighting and enhance the safety of the area for more than 3,000 people and 100 medical staff, daily.

Egypt: Brightened prospects in
Habisha village

Similarly, Sunna Design have installed the solar lights in Habisha village. They are expected to positively impact the residents in various ways; allowing them to work, socialise and feel secure after dark – while protecting the progress being made in the global fight against climate change.


Electricians Without Borders recently mobilised their teams to support the people of Beirut following the major explosion which devastated parts of the city. With skills and resources to strengthen what was already a weakened electrical system, their work was more important than ever given the strain on the health system caused by the pandemic. Read more	The most isolated populations are paying a high price during COVID-19 with their access to electricity generally being the most restricted. In this regard Electricians Without Borders are working to provide light for medical centres to allow them to be in operation outside of daylight hours. Read more

A platform for action


As the novel coronavirus continues to spread and the pursuit of a vaccine intensifies, debate has grown among corporate leaders, economists, public-policy makers, and scientific experts—and even in our own living rooms. Will we have a COVID-19 vaccine? If so, when? And how much value can it provide to society? Read more	2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize winner Okuafo Foundation have repurposed their artificial intelligence technology, usually used to predict and prevent crop diseases, to pinpoint outbreaks of the pandemic in Ghana. Read more


SELCO Foundation won the 2018 Prize in the Non-Profit Organization category for their work in financing renewable and sustainable energy systems for low-income households in India. During COVID-19, however, they pivoted to support the provision of critical testing technology, putting Prize funds to use. Read more	The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing water insecurity and stalling efforts to improve global hygiene standards, at a time when access to safe water is needed most. Read more

Webinar Throwback

The Zayed Sustainability Prize webinar series, ‘Build Back Better’, delivered unique insights on a wide variety of timely topics. Each episode is just 30 mins long and packed with knowledge from sector experts, to keep you informed on key global topics.

The New Normal for Corporate Sustainability

John Elkington
Author, advisor and world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development

“Until business leaders properly address regeneration they can't properly talk about sustainability, because mainly what they're talking about is how they're becoming a bit more responsible.” Watch video

Mindful Business: Innovative Strategies to Reach and Serve the Base of the Pyramid

Stuart L. Hart
Founder, Enterprise for a Sustainable World

“Base of the pyramid opens up the opportunity to serve a whole lot more people, but to in order to do that, it requires a completely new way of thinking about doing business, an innovative business model and a dramatically lower cost, but also the opportunity to bring in new, leapfrog, disruptive, inherently clean, even sometimes regenerative, technologies.” Watch video

A Circular Economy Approach to Accelerate the SDGs

David McGinty
Global Director of the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE)

“We're polluting the air that's resulting in about 9 million annual deaths a year that are unnecessary from pollution. We’ve had 90% of global biodiversity loss and 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to excessive resource consumption and we only reuse about 9% of the materials we take. If we could address that gap and make it a more efficient use and reuse of those materials, then we can hopefully improve the economic viability of our countries and our communities, as well as the overall health of our communities.” Watch video

Stay tuned to our social media channels and website for the latest news from the Zayed Sustainability Prize and our initiative, 20by2020.

www.ZayedSustainabilityPrize.com