Tamil Nadu IAS Officer Supriya Sahu Wins UN Champions of Earth Award for Innovative Heat Mitigation Project

Chennai:

Senior IAS officer Supriya Sahu has been honored as a 2025 UN Champions of the Earth laureate, receiving the world's highest environmental recognition in the Inspiration and Action category. The Additional Chief Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government was presented with this prestigious award at a special UNEP ceremony held in Nairobi.

This distinguished award celebrates individuals and organizations delivering transformative solutions to our planet's most pressing environmental challenges. According to UNEP, this year's recipients exemplify scalable approaches to addressing the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Sahu earned recognition for her groundbreaking environmental leadership in India, particularly her extensive work on plastic reduction, wildlife conservation, and recently, sustainable cooling initiatives—an area UNEP describes as "critical for a warming world."

Central to her recent achievements is Tamil Nadu's innovative Cool Roof Project, which has become a model for heat-stressed cities globally. The Urban Heat Mitigation Project in Chennai piloted cool roof technology at the Lighthouse Project site, applying Silka cool roof paint with a high Solar Reflective Index of 102 to 200 houses across two residential blocks. The results were remarkable: indoor temperatures decreased by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius during peak summer periods, providing an affordable, passive cooling solution that reduces energy consumption while protecting vulnerable communities.

UNEP described the initiative as a "game changer," noting that these community-focused interventions help maintain cooler neighborhoods without contributing to global warming, demonstrating how local innovation can influence worldwide climate action.

During her acceptance speech, Sahu emphasized that while governments have a crucial role in addressing climate change, lasting transformation begins with people taking the lead. "Climate action must become a people's movement," she stated, sharing experiences from her years in service—from witnessing elephants and tigers forced to navigate through plastic waste in the Nilgiris to seeing how mangroves saved numerous lives during the 2004 tsunami. These experiences reinforced her belief that "nature protects those who protect her."

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin congratulated her achievement, describing it as a proud moment for the state. "This UN honour for Supriya Sahu makes Tamil Nadu proud," he remarked, commending her dedication to wetlands restoration, mangrove cover expansion, endangered species protection, and plastic reduction. "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.