The 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize winners were announced on April 20, 2026, marking the first time in the award’s 37-year history that all six recipients are women. This year’s cohort includes Iroro Tanshi, Borim Kim, Sarah Finch, Theonila Roka Matbob, Alannah Acaq Hurley and Yuvelis Morales Blanco. The awards ceremony will be broadcast live tonight on the Goldman Prize YouTube channel. Vanessa Hauc will host the event which features narration by Peter Coyote.
In the United Kingdom, Sarah Finch and the Weald Action Group secured a major legal victory against oil drilling in Surrey. Following a decade of campaigning, a 2024 Supreme Court ruling determined that authorities must assess downstream fossil fuel impacts before approving extraction. This “Finch ruling” has already impacted industrial development across the UK. Meanwhile, in South Korea, Borim Kim and Youth 4 Climate Action won Asia’s first successful youth-led climate litigation. The Constitutional Court ruled in August 2024 that the government must set binding emissions targets for 2031-2049.
In Africa, Iroro Tanshi led efforts to protect the short-tailed roundleaf bat in Nigeria. Her community fire brigades prevented major wildfires in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary between 2022 and 2025. In Papua New Guinea, Theonila Roka Matbob reached an agreement with Rio Tinto regarding the Panguna mine. The company signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2024 to address long-standing environmental damage.
Alannah Acaq Hurley led a coalition of 15 tribal nations in Alaska to block the Pebble Mine project. This resulted in a 2023 EPA veto that protects 25 million acres of wilderness and wild salmon runs. In Colombia, Yuvelis Morales Blanco successfully campaigned against fracking. The Colombian Constitutional Court confirmed in August 2024 that drilling projects in Puerto Wilches had violated the rights of the local Afro-Colombian community.
