The 2021 Zayed Sustainability Prize scheduled for January in the United Arab Emirates has been postponed, with any submitted entries now moved into 2022.

Officials in the UAE said the ceremony, celebrated during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW), was too much of a risk with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The competition deadline was extended in May because of the COVID crisis but travel restrictions and other challenges continue.

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is a UAE initiative that engages Africans and their global counterparts in delivering solutions for a sustainable future. There are categories open for small- and medium-sized businesses, nonprofit organizations and high schools on the African continent.

Past winners for sub-Saharan Africa have included the African Leadership Academy outside Johannesburg, which uses an innovative greywater treatment system and solar power to reduce its climate impacts. The global nonprofit We Care Solar has won a Zayed Sustainability Prize for its portable solar power “suitcase” stations, used primarily in maternal and child health in Liberia, Nigeria and beyond.

The Tanzania-based Sanku has won for its nutrition work, and BBOXX has received a Zayed prize for its delivery of solar energy to some 675,000 people across the continent. The US$3 million prize is divided equally to winners across five categories; for high schools, there is a $100,000 award for a winner in Africa and the five other regions.

Image: Zayed Sustainability Prize file