IAS Officer, Behind Project To Tackle Extreme Heat, Wins UN Environment Award

IAS officer Supriya Sahu has been named a 2025 UN Champions of the Earth laureate, earning the world's highest environmental honour in the Inspiration and Action category. The Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu received the award last night at a special ceremony hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi.

The award recognises individuals and institutions whose work offers transformative solutions to the planet's most urgent environmental challenges. UNEP said this year's laureates represent the strongest examples of scalable approaches to tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

Sahu has been honoured for her pioneering, long-standing environmental leadership in India, particularly her work on plastic reduction, wildlife conservation, and more recently, sustainable cooling - an area UNEP described as "critical for a warming world."

At the heart of her recent work is Tamil Nadu's Cool Roof Project, which has emerged as a model for cities worldwide struggling with extreme heat. Under the Urban Heat Mitigation Project in Chennai, cool roof technology was piloted at the Lighthouse Project site, where Silka cool roof paint, with a high Solar Reflective Index of 102, was applied on two residential blocks covering 200 houses. The impact was striking: indoor temperatures dropped 5 to 8 degrees Celsius during peak summer months, offering a low-cost, passive cooling solution that reduces energy demand while safeguarding vulnerable communities.

Calling the initiative a "game changer", UNEP noted that such community-centred interventions help keep neighbourhoods cool without warming the planet, demonstrating how local innovation can shape global climate action.

In her acceptance speech, Sahu said she believed governments play a vital role in tackling climate change, but lasting change begins when people lead. "Climate action must become a people's movement," she said, sharing experiences from her years of service - from elephants and tigers forced to forage through plastic waste in the Nilgiris to witnessing mangroves save countless lives during the 2004 tsunami. These moments, she said, reinforced her belief that "nature protects those who protect her."

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin applauded her achievement, calling it a moment of pride for the state. "This UN honour for Supriya Sahu makes Tamil Nadu proud," he said, praising her commitment to wetlands restoration, expansion of mangrove cover, protecting endangered species and reducing plastic use. "I believe this award will further inspire her work and strengthen the state's efforts to combat climate change in a sustainable and people-centric manner," he added.