Goldman Prize Honors Six Women Forging a New Era of Climate Justice

SAN FRANCISCO – April 20, 2026 – The Goldman Environmental Foundation today celebrated six grassroots activists as recipients of the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize, the prestigious award often called the “Green Nobel.” In a historic first for the prize’s 37-year history, every recipient is a woman, a powerful testament to the indispensable role of female leadership in the global fight for environmental protection.

The winners—hailing from Nigeria, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea, the United States, and Colombia—are being honored for achievements that range from securing landmark legal precedents against fossil fuels to compelling corporate accountability for decades-old pollution and protecting vital ecosystems from destruction.

“While we continue to fight uphill to protect the environment and implement lifesaving climate policies—in the US and globally—it is clear that true leaders can be found all around us,” said John Goldman, vice president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. “The 2026 Prize winners are proof positive that courage, hard work, and hope go a long way toward creating meaningful progress. I am especially thrilled to honor our first-ever cohort of six women, as this is a powerful reflection of the absolutely central role that women play in the environmental community globally.”

A Historic Cohort on the Environmental Frontlines

This year's all-female roster of laureates is more than a symbolic milestone; it reflects a global reality where women are disproportionately impacted by climate change and are increasingly stepping into leadership roles to combat it. Women often bear the primary responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel, making them acutely vulnerable to climate-induced scarcities. Yet, this proximity to the crisis has also positioned them as powerful agents of change, bringing unique perspectives and ancestral knowledge to the forefront of conservation and climate resilience.

The six winners exemplify this trend. Their work is deeply rooted in their communities, defending the health, livelihoods, and cultural heritage of the people most affected by environmental degradation. From the rainforests of Nigeria to the courtrooms of South Korea, their victories underscore the power of local, persistent, and strategic activism in confronting some of the world's most formidable environmental challenges.

Forging Precedents: Legal Victories Reshaping Policy

Two of this year’s winners have achieved groundbreaking legal victories that are set to have ripple effects far beyond their national borders. In the United Kingdom, Sarah Finch led a decade-long campaign that culminated in a monumental Supreme Court decision.

Finch and the Weald Action Group challenged an oil development in Surrey, arguing that its environmental impact assessment was flawed because it ignored the “downstream” emissions produced when the extracted oil is ultimately burned. After a five-year legal battle, the UK Supreme Court ruled in their favor in June 2024. The resulting “Finch ruling” establishes a powerful precedent: authorities must now consider the full climate impact of a fossil fuel project before granting approval. This game-changing decision has already been cited in halting other carbon-intensive projects across the UK and is expected to influence environmental law across Europe.

Across the globe in South Korea, Borim Kim and her organization, Youth 4 Climate Action, secured the first successful youth-led climate litigation in Asia. In August 2024, the South Korean Constitutional Court found the government’s climate policy unconstitutional, ruling that its failure to set binding emissions targets beyond 2030 violated the rights of future generations. The court mandated the government to create legally binding reduction targets through 2049 to align with its net-zero pledge. This watershed moment, echoing a similar 2021 ruling in Germany, firmly establishes climate change as a constitutional rights issue and sets a powerful example for climate activists throughout Asia.

Defending Homelands: Corporate Accountability and Indigenous Rights

Other laureates have distinguished themselves by holding powerful corporate and state actors accountable for threatening irreplaceable ecosystems and Indigenous ways of life.

In the United States, Yup’ik leader Alannah Acaq Hurley spearheaded a multi-decade campaign to stop the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. As executive director for the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, Hurley unified 15 tribal nations with commercial fishers and environmental groups to oppose what would have been North America’s largest open-pit mine. Their relentless advocacy, which generated over a million public comments, culminated in a historic EPA veto in January 2023. This victory protects the world’s largest wild salmon runs and the 25-million-acre watershed that is the cultural and economic heart of the region’s Indigenous communities.

In Papua New Guinea, Theonila Roka Matbob achieved a landmark victory for corporate accountability. She led a campaign compelling Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest mining company, to address the catastrophic environmental and social devastation caused by its Panguna copper mine, which it abandoned 35 years ago. The mine had poisoned rivers and fueled a brutal civil war. Through sustained pressure and a human rights complaint, Matbob brought the corporate giant to the negotiating table. In November 2024, Rio Tinto signed a memorandum of understanding, formally acknowledging the harm caused and committing to a collaborative remediation process—a rare and significant step toward justice for the people of Bougainville.

From Bats to Fracking Bans: The Spectrum of Grassroots Action

The diversity of the winners' work highlights the myriad fronts on which the battle for the planet is being fought. In Nigeria, conservation biologist Iroro Tanshi launched a community-led campaign to save the endangered short-tailed roundleaf bat, a species she rediscovered. Identifying human-set wildfires as the primary threat, she organized and equipped local fire brigades. Between 2022 and 2025, her teams successfully responded to over 70 fire outbreaks, protecting the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and the fragile habitat of this rare species.

In Colombia, Yuvelis Morales Blanco mobilized her Afro-Colombian community in Puerto Wilches to successfully prevent the introduction of commercial fracking into the country. As a young leader, she founded a committee to defend the vital Magdalena River ecosystem from two proposed drilling projects. Despite facing threats that forced her into temporary exile, her movement led to the suspension of the projects in 2022. Her work was vindicated in August 2024 when Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled the projects had violated the community's right to free, prior, and informed consent, effectively halting fracking nationwide and upholding the rights of Afro-descendant communities in decisions over their territory.