Meet the 2025 Climate Breakthrough Awardees

Text below from Climate Breakthrough.

We’re proud to announce our 2025 Climate Breakthrough Awardees: Alessandra Orofino, Gavin McCormick, Liming Qiao, Ramón Méndez Galain, and a team of three—Giuliana Furci, Merlin Sheldrake, and Toby Kiers. We will provide each of the five Awardees $4 million—the largest climate award for individuals—in multiyear, flexible funding to develop, launch, and scale their boldest new initiatives for large-scale policy, economic, and social transformation to address the climate crisis.

“I’m constantly amazed by the caliber of our Awardees, and the 2025 cohort is no exception,” said Savanna Ferguson, Executive Director of Climate Breakthrough, in a press release. “At a time when global uncertainties and challenges threaten climate action, what we’ve seen with all our Awardees shows that when you give capable people the resources and freedom to pursue their boldest ideas, they can create the transformation the world needs.”

Former US Vice President Al Gore, who has previously collaborated with some of the 2025 Awardees, offered his congratulations: “To solve the climate crisis, we need leaders who are thinking big to help reshape policy, economic, and social systems in order to create a sustainable world.” He added, “This is a moment of full potential, and I cannot wait to see how these 2025 Awardees will rise to the occasion.”