Hugh Weldon, co-founder of Evocco, one of the winners of the WDCD Climate Action Challenge, is among the seven recipients of the UN Young Champions of the Earth prize. All winners receive $15,000 in seed funding, as well as mentorship and technical support to amplify their big idea.
The Young Champions of the Earth Prize was first started in 2017, offering the prestigious and highly successful Champions of the Earth platform – with laureates including heads of state, inspiring scientists, and environmental visionaries – to brilliant young environmentalists with a vision and a plan for the future.
Hugh Weldon
Evocco, which Weldon founded together with Ahmad Mu’azzam, is a smartphone app which calculates a user’s ecologic footprint based on scanned shopping receipts. Over time, Evocco gives you all the sustainability tips and tricks you need ‘to educate your inner eco-warrior and align your beliefs with what you buy’.
The Young Champions of the Earth prize is the fifth major award for the Evocco team, after it won at the Good Festival in Switzerland, the Climathon in Zürich, the Carbon Footprint Challenge by Unitech International in Great-Britain and the WDCD Climate Action Challenge.
Solutions are within grasp
Among the other Young Champions of the Earth are Shady Rabab, who addresses poverty and waste management in Egypt by making musical instruments from trash and training young people in a band, and Arpit Dhupar, for his ground-breaking technique that filters 90 percent of particulate matter from diesel generators and turning it into ink, without impairing mechanical performance.
‘For all the urgent environmental challenges we face, these Young Champions are a powerful reminder that the solutions to these challenges are within our grasp,’ Head of UN Environment Erik Solheim said. ‘Each of these winners has a unique story to tell. Taken together the message our Young Champions send to the world is even stronger: Together we can innovate the future we want while preserving the environment we need.’
All winners will be recognized at the annual Champions of the Earth awards ceremony on the side-lines of the General Assembly in New York City on 26 September.
Check all the winners at www.unenvironment.org