The 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners

The 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners attend the 2026 Ceremony.Goldman Environmental Prize with permission

The winners of the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize have been announced, celebrating six grassroots climate activists from across the globe. For the first time in the Prize’s history, all six of the 2026 winners are women.

About The Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize was founded in 1989 by Richard and Rhoda Goldman, as they wanted to reward activists and inspire others to join the fight for climate justice. The prize, “honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world, inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet.” By “grassroots,” they mean, “those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation.”[1]

The winners are announced at an annual live award ceremony at the San Francisco Opera House in California, which coincides with Earth Day. There is also a smaller, more intimate ceremony for the winners only, which is held in Washington D.C. At the winner’s ceremony, they are presented with a bronze sculpture of an Ouroboros, a serpent biting its tail, a powerful symbol of nature’s power of renewal.

To date, The Goldman Environmental Prize have honored 233 environmental activists, from 98 different countries. To see the previous winners of the award, click here. 

The 2026 Winners

This year’s Goldman Prize winners are Sarah Finch from England, Alannah Acaq Hurley from the United States, Borim Kim from South Korea, Yuvelis Morales Blanco from Colombia, Theonila Roka Matbob from Papua New Guinea, and Iroro Tanshi from Nigeria. All six women are inspirational leaders and activists, each one having had a significant impact on environmental change both in their communities and beyond.

Sarah Finch, England

Sarah Finch, 62, gathered a group of locals passionate about the environment to form the Weald Action Group (WAG), campaigning against the extraction of fossil fuels in the South of England. WAG successfully prevented an oil development from drilling in the area, which led to the “Finch ruling,” which stipulates that authorities must consider the widespread impact of fossil fuel extraction before granting permission for developments to take place.

Goldman Environmental Prize with permissionSarah Finch

Alannah Acaq Hurley, United States

Alannah Acaq Hurley led a campaign on behalf of fifteen tribal nations to prevent a Pebble Mine megaproject in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. Bristol Bay includes 25 million acres of wilderness, rivers, and wetlands and home to the largest wild salmon runs in the world. The bay would have been decimated by the proposed mining expedition, which would have caused 10 billion tons of mining waste over the mine’s lifetime, 35 billion gallons of freshwater being removed every year from salmon spawning rivers and severe damage to nearly 100 miles of streams and 2,100 acres of wetlands.

Goldman Environmental Prize with permissionAlannah Acaq Hurley

Borim Kim, South Korea 

31-year-old climate activist and founder of Youth 4 Climate Action Borim Kim successfully campaigned for the first youth-led climate legislation in Asia. Following Kim’s campaign, the South Korean Constitutional Court voted to change the government’s climate policy, and implemented emissions reduction targets, ensuring that the country will achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Goldman Environmental Prize with permissionBorim Kim in front of the Taean Coal Power Plant

Yuvelis Morales Blanco, Colombia

At 24-years-old, Yuvelis Morales Blanco has already had a huge impact on her community in Puerto Wilches, Columbia. Through the staging of peaceful protests and strategic on-the-ground activism, Blanco successfully prevented two devastating fracking projects as well as the introduction of commercial fracking into Colombia.

Christian EscobarMora for the Goldman Environmental Prize, with permissionYuvelis Morales Blanco next to the Magdalena River

Theonila Roka Matbob, Papua New Guinea

Theonila Roka Matbob, an Indigenous Nasioi woman from the Basikang clan, grew up minutes down the road from the Panguna mine, implemented by mining-giant Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto abandoned the site after the community’s ongoing protests against mining in the area, but not before dumping 1 billion tons of tailings into nearby rivers for almost 17 years. Roka Matbob, having witnessed the devastation first-hand, led the campaign compelling Rio Tinto to acknowledge the devastation caused to generations of residents along the Jaba and Kawerong river systems.

Goldman Environmental Prize with permissionTheonila Roka Matbob in front of the Panguna mine

Iroro Tanshi, Nigeria

In 2016, Nigerian conservation ecologist Iroro Tanshi discovered roost of short-tailed roundleaf bats, a species for which there had been no recorded sightings of globally for over five years. After discovering the greatest threat to the endangered species was human-caused wildfires, Tanshi led a community-wide system to prevent wildfires across the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary.

Etinosa Yvonne for the Goldman Environmental Prize, with permissionIroro Tanshi in Odukpani, Cross River State

To read more about each of the winners’ incredible work, click here.

To watch the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize Awards Ceremony, click here.