Supriya Sahu, a senior bureaucrat from Tamil Nadu, has been named a UNEP Champion of the Earth for 2025. The award recognises her work in sustainable cooling and ecosystem restoration across India’s southern state.
The United Nations Environment Programme announced Sahu as a laureate in the Inspiration and Action category. She joins four other global winners honoured for their environmental leadership.
Sahu’s programs have created 2.5 million green jobs and expanded forest cover across Tamil Nadu. Her climate adaptation work has benefited 12 million people in a state where summer temperatures regularly soar above 40 degrees Celsius.
Who Is Supriya Sahu?
Supriya Sahu was born on July 27, 1968, and joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1991. She currently serves as Additional Chief Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forests in the Tamil Nadu government.
Before focusing on environmental work, Sahu held leadership positions in Doordarshan and Prasar Bharti, India’s public broadcasting services. This experience in public communication later helped her run large-scale environmental campaigns that required mass participation.
She belongs to the 1991 batch of the IAS and has served the Tamil Nadu cadre throughout her career. Her administrative roles have spanned various departments before she took charge of the state’s environmental portfolio.
Colleagues and observers call her a “green crusader” for combining administrative authority with grassroots engagement. Her approach merges policy-making power with evidence-based programs that involve local communities in conservation efforts.
What Did She Actually Do?
Sahu designed and led Tamil Nadu’s Green Missions, a set of integrated environmental programs. These include the Green Tamil Nadu Mission, Climate Change Mission, Wetlands Mission, and Tamil Nadu Coastal Restoration Mission.
The state government created the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company to coordinate these efforts. This entity is India’s first state-owned nonprofit organization dedicated to climate action.
Between 2021 and 2023, her teams planted between 100 million and 108 million trees across the state. The government also designated more than 7,000 hectares as new Reserve Forests and established 65 to 70 new forest and wildlife conservation areas.
How Cities Stay Cool Without Air Conditioning
Tamil Nadu doubled its mangrove cover under Sahu’s leadership. The state increased its Ramsar-listed wetlands from one site to 20, gaining international recognition for wetland conservation.
The government allocated approximately 60 million US dollars to an Endangered Species Conservation Fund. This money protects threatened animals including dugongs and slender lorises.
Sahu introduced sustainable cooling methods in dense urban areas like Chennai. Her programs use tree-lined corridors, nature-based shading, cool roofing materials, and heat action plans to protect vulnerable communities from extreme temperatures.
What Makes This Approach Different?
She integrated climate risk assessments into public housing, infrastructure projects, and government budgets. This “climate budgeting” process requires state departments to align spending with emission reduction and resilience goals.
Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, praised Sahu’s work in the award announcement. “Into these concrete jungles, Supriya Sahu has brought the cooling spray of nature, helping millions of people, among them thousands of schoolchildren, cope with the debilitating summer heat of Tamil Nadu, India,” Andersen said.
Andersen emphasized the importance of avoiding energy-intensive air conditioning. “Her leadership demonstrates not just the importance of using nature to cool passively, avoiding the huge energy burden of air-conditioning, but the importance of sub-national leadership in addressing the climate crisis,” she said.
Why This Matters Beyond Tamil Nadu
The Champions of the Earth award is the UN’s highest environmental honor. Established in 2005, it recognizes individuals and organizations whose actions create transformative environmental impact.
This year’s laureates all focus on climate change solutions. UNEP noted that global temperatures are on track to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next decade, and current pledges fall short of Paris Agreement goals.
Adaptation costs for developing countries could reach 310 to 365 billion US dollars annually by 2035. This is twelve times current funding levels, according to UNEP projections.
Dia Mirza, a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador for India, shared her perspective on Sahu’s work. “It’s difficult to describe how the heat feels during summer in India. Oppressive puts it lightly. It’s as if every sip of water evaporates straight back out through your skin,” Mirza said.
Mirza, who is also a mother, connected the issue to future generations. “What’s even harder to capture in words is how this feels as a mother. It’s both angering and heartbreaking to watch global warming compromise the health and freedom of our children, all the while knowing that they will also inherit this crisis,” she said.
She praised Sahu’s approach to cooling as a fundamental right. “Supriya understands that in a rapidly warming world, cooling is not a luxury, it is a human right,” Mirza said.
What Comes Next
Other 2025 Champions include Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, which secured a landmark International Court of Justice opinion on states’ climate obligations. Architect Mariam Issoufou from Niger won for pioneering passive cooling techniques that keep buildings up to 10 degrees Celsius cooler without air conditioning.
Brazil’s Imazon research institute received recognition for strengthening forest governance and exposing illegal deforestation in the Amazon. The awards ceremony will take place during the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi.
Sahu’s recognition highlights how state and regional governments can lead climate action when national efforts lag. Her model demonstrates that local solutions, rooted in nature and community engagement, can address global environmental challenges at scale.
Banner image: Supriya Sahu. Photo credit: United Nations Environment Programme
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