Call for Applications: 2024 Ashden Awards

Ashden winners come in all shapes and sizes. They don’t reward the biggest organisations or slickest marketing pitches – they’re looking for passion, potential and commitment to the values. They’ve put winners on stage at the COP climate talks and in global media.

Categories

• UK Awards
  • Ashden Award for Energy Innovation
  • Ashden Award for People’s Energy
  • Ashden Award for Nature Based Solutions
• International Awards
  • Ashden Award for Energy Innovation (Global South)
  • Ashden Award for Powering Futures in Clean Energy
  • Ashden Award for Natural Climate Solutions (Global South)
  • Ashden Award for Energising Refugees and Displaced People

What are the benefits of winning an Ashden award?

• A prize of £10,000 or £25,000 each, depending on which award you.
• Prestige of winning one of the world’s top sustainability awards. The rigour of the assessment process is well known to investors, policymakers, academics and other experts in the sustainable energy and climate change sector around the world.
• Membership of an alumni network of Ashden Award winners, which facilitates learning and opportunities to create productive partnerships.
• Opportunities to present your work to large and influential audiences at the Ashden Awards ceremony and other Ashden events.
• The chance to have your work profiled in regional, national, international and specialist media. Ashden’s communication team gets winners exposure in newspapers and magazines, on television and radio, and on a wide range on online platforms. This continues long after the award ceremony – Ashden regularly secures coverage for winners months and even years after they win their award.
• Promotional material including photographs, print material and broadcast quality video for you to use in your own marketing efforts.
• Where it can have a significant impact, tailored support from the programme team to grow or replicate your work: this can include professional mentoring, training, help raising finance and investment, and media and communications support.
• Where it can have significant impact, introductions to influential policy and decision makers, and an opportunity to make your voice heard.
• They seek to integrate UK-based winners into the Sustainable Towns and Citiesprogramme of work, where they embed the winners’ approaches into policy and practice. The widely used resources for local authorities such as a climate action co-benefits toolkit, and the Learning Out Loud pages feature many of the alumni. They also regularly showcase the winners at the regional local authority learning workshops, and through the network of city region sustainability lead officers.
• Additionally, there is opportunity for the winners to participate in a programme of free masterclasses which help them get to grips with a wide range of practical issues. These can be anything from customer experience or developing a communications strategy to getting investment-ready.
• Many of these benefits are also offered to shortlisted organisationswhere possible.

Eligibility Criteria

• Businesses, NGOs, government organisations, and social enterprises (both for-profit and not-for-profit, including community groups) are all eligible. Each award is limited to work in certain parts of the world.
• To be shortlisted and win an award, all applicants must satisfy these eligibility criteria:
  • The work submitted for an award must be currently available to customers, clients or beneficiaries.
  • The applicant must show an innovative approach in their work.
  • The applicant’s work must have the potential to create significant impact. This might be achieved by their growth as an organisation, or the replication of their innovation around the world. Applicants must be willing to work with Ashden and others to achieve this goal. ​
  • The applicant must show good governance and management. They are looking for efficient use of funds and a strong plan to generate further income, whether from sales, grants or any other source. Organisations can be for profit or not-for-profit. Winners must have sustainability embedded in their values and practices.
• Ashden Award for People’s Energy: UK
• Ashden Award for Energy Innovation (UK): UK
• Ashden Award for Natural Climate Solutions (UK): UK
• Ashden Award for Energy Innovation (Global South): countries receiving ODA funding
• Ashden Award for Natural Climate Solutions (Global South): countries receiving ODA funding
• Ashden Award for Powering Refugees and Displaced People: countries receiving ODA funding
• Ashden Award for Powering Futures in Clean Energy: countries receiving ODA funding.

For more information, visit Ashden.