Mohamed Adow, the Director of Power Shift Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, and Nicole Rycroft, the Executive Director of Canopy in Vancouver, Canada, were recently announced as winners of the Climate Breakthrough Award.

The award is run by the Climate Breakthrough Project, which seeks out extraordinary climate strategists to give them the time, space and resources to develop bold new approaches to tackle climate change. Adow and Rycroft will each be awarded a $3 million unrestricted grant over the next three years, as well as tailored support to help develop and implement bold new ideas in climate mitigation.

‘The Climate Breakthrough Project finds exceptional leaders capable of pursuing strategies that would affect entire industries or countries and materially change the lives of millions of people. Mohamed and Nicole have the drive and the rare ability to make change at an immense scale,’ said Climate Breakthrough Project Executive Director Savanna Ferguson.

Adow founded Power Shift Africa, a nongovernmental organisation and thinktank in 2018 to mobilise climate action in Africa and shift climate and energy policies to zero carbon. With the Climate Breakthrough Award, Mohamed plans to pursue a striking vision to centre African leadership to guide the world toward more ambitious global climate policies.

Rycroft has successfully engaged hundreds of the world’s leading fashion, publishing, and consumer brands to transform production chains, spur new game-changing innovations, and safeguard forests through her work as the founder and director of Canopy. She plans to use her Climate Breakthrough Award to catalyse investment in creating commercially viable, low-carbon fibre alternatives that will rapidly shift paper, packaging, and clothing production away from forests.

Launched in 2016, the Climate Breakthrough Project has selected eleven outstanding awardees to date, hailing from Australia, China, Canada, Argentina, Vietnam, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Kenya.