Words by Abi Scaife
In the spirit of International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting three incredible women who have recently won Ashden Awards for their contributions to climate action.
For over 20 years, the Ashden Awards, run by the environmental charity Ashden, have been uncovering and spotlighting the world’s next climate champions. Through grant prizes of up to £25,000, the awards accelerate climate innovation – helping businesses, charities, governments and others power up their impact.
Sounds great – so who are the winners?
From Borneo, Indonesia, Nur Febriani, has spearheaded innovative community solutions that protect both forest and human health. She is the director of Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI), an NGO, to help take a ‘radical listening’ approach when working with communities in the Borneo rainforest to provide new livelihoods and community support while dramatically reducing rainforest destruction.
From Stockport, UK, Aileen McDonnell is the Founder and CEO of B4Box housing retrofit and construction. Aileen is committed to transforming the UK construction industry to adopt high energy efficiency standards while also supporting local people to gain the skills they need.
She also has a strong focus on employing women in construction, and paying apprentices a fair wage.
From Togo, Astria Fataki, is the founder of Energy Innovation. She is providing young people with a route to work by enabling their visions for clean energy enterprises and is hugely passionate about helping young people tackle the problems facing their generations.
Inspired by an access to energy scheme she witnessed when visiting India, Astria’s goal is to give people the tools and support they need to succeed in sustainable energy.
You can find out more about climate champions around the world on the Ashden Award website. If you’re interested in helping combat the climate crisis, you can do so by getting involved with charities like The Climate Coalition.
This article aligns with the UN SDG Gender Equality, Climate Action.
