An Indian is among the three entrepreneurs awarded the UNEP Young Champions of the Earth prize

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and American cleantech CEO Chris Kemper announced today the selection of three environmental entrepreneurs from India, Kenya and the United States as the 2025 Young Champions of the Earth.
 

Winners are recognized for groundbreaking contributions that advance a global circular economy and improving environmental outcomes by treating wastewater, expanding access to clean water, tackling plastic pollution, and creating sustainable alternatives to conventional materials. Award recipients will receive seed funding, mentoring, communications support, and a global platform to showcase and scale their solutions.

The Young Champions program, which UNEP founded in 2017, was re-launched this year in partnership with Mr. Kemper, who in 2023 was designated as UNEP’s Advocate for Partnerships to mobilize resources and action around today’s most urgent environmental issues. Mr. Kemper is the Chairman, Founder and CEO of U.S. climate tech company Palmetto and a climate philanthropist. Through the support of The Christopher Kemper Foundation, this year Mr. Kemper co-founded Planet A, a new YouTube channel to drive environmental awareness and action. 

This year’s Young Champions of the Earth winners each received US$20,000 at today’s event. Then tomorrow, the three will have an opportunity to compete in the first-ever Planet A pitch competition for a business growth grant of US$100,000 and a possible seed investment of US$1 million committed to a future fundraising round. Planet A is filming the competition, and the Young Champions’ leading up to it, to be released on Planet A’s YouTube channel in October.

The 2025 Young Champions of the Earth are:

●      Jinali Mody (28, India): Jinali is a biochemistry graduate from St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai and the Yale School of Environment. She founded Banofi Leather, an India-based women-led company aiming to make the fast fashion business by producing leather alternatives made from banana crop waste. Compared to conventional leather, Banofi drastically reduces water use, toxic waste, and CO₂ emissions.

●      Joseph Nguthiru (27, Kenya): A climate-tech engineer, Joseph’s company HyaPak converts the invasive species hyacinth in Lake Naivasha into packaging bags and biodegradable seedling wrappers. By replacing single-use plastic products, HyaPak makes agricultural lands healthier and offsets CO₂ emissions.

●      Noemi Florea (24, US): Climate innovator Noemi has founded Cycleau, a compact water reuse system, in consultation with dozens of marginalized communities. The company transforms greywater into drinking water. Retrofitted under sinks, showers, and laundry units, Cycleau significantly reduces wastewater, using much less energy than alternative systems.

 “The lives of our children and our children’s children are already being dramatically impacted by the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste. I commend these inspiring Young Champions of the Earth for their innovations, for the benefit of this and future generations,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

The Young Champions of the Earth prize is UNEP’s flagship initiative on youth engagement. Since 2017, it has recognized 30 young trailblazers – activists, entrepreneurs, and environmental innovators under the age of 30 – for their outstanding ideas to protect the environment.

Jinali Mody

Jinali Mody is the founder and CEO of Banofi Leather. The material-science startup is turning banana crop waste into a plant-based leather alternative. Made from banana stem fibre blended with natural binders and starches, the material looks, feels and even smells like animal leather. It reduces water use by 95 per cent, cuts carbon emissions by more than 90 per cent and eliminates toxic waste. The company now employs a team that is 60 per cent women and partners with around 100 smallholder banana farmers, providing additional income from stems that would have previously been burned or left to rot. Banofi products are attracting the attention of global fashion houses, proving that agricultural waste can be transformed into durable, high-performance alternatives for a sustainable future. 

Mody completed her undergraduate studies in biochemistry at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai and earned a master’s degree at the Yale School of Environment. She has been recognized internationally for her leadership in sustainable fashion, winning the 2023 Hult Prize of US$1 million, the Sustainable Material of the Year Award in India and the WEGE Prize. She has received recognition from the World Economic Forum, and support from the MIT Climate and Energy Prize. 

NOTES TO EDITORS

The stories of the three Young Champions and accompanying assets including newswire video package and photographs are accessible through the following link (password: Action2025!). Each Young Champion has self-filmed their own video news package, capturing their work and vision in their own words and images. To support them, UNEP and Planet A provided smartphone video kits and mentorship.

About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.