This week, The Independent will announce its annual Climate 100 List, now in its third year. The list is a celebration of 100 people from around the globe who are positive change makers in their industry and are working towards a greener future amid the climate crisis.
Split into sections, including business and finance, arts and fashion and food and agriculture, to name a few, the list honours the work of the individuals or group included. Each person has been included for their contributions over the past 12 months, or for a lifetime dedicated to the cause. These are as wide as breakthroughs in science, to campaigning governments to quite literally clean up our waters, or calling for a pause on the increasing number of data centres being built both here in the UK and the USA among other places.
But each year, the panel reserves five spaces for the Reader's Choice section. As it sounds, these are nominated by you, the reader, via The Independent's Climate newsletter.
It asked readers to get in touch and explain why their unsung climate heroes should be included. After receiving hundreds of nominations, the five included in the list are revealed below.
Firstly is Kalpana Arias, an urban gardener on a mission to make cities greener with the addition of planting more trees. To do it, she calls on the power of the community to help find areas in need of essentials like shade and habitats. She also combinees the power of technology and launched an app, Glitch, where people can digitally plant trees in areas around them which they think would benefit from it, which notifies the National Trust and sets plans in motion. She recognises the importance of giving local people agency over decisions about the green spaces around them, helping them to engage in them and look after them too.
Also nominated is Faraz Khan, an entrepreneur, investor and climate strategist who has been awarded an MBE by King Charles for his work. He's the founder and director of SEED Ventures (which stands for social entrepreneurship and equity development), which drives social and environmental impact, and he uses his two decades of knowledge and influential voice to unlock climate finance in emerging markets, where it's undoubtedly needed most.
Earning a place in the list for working on an often overlooked sector of the high-energy usage of appliances, is Christine Egan. It's something that we all face with daily use of kettles, toasters, washing machines and fridges to name a few and Egan is the founder and CEO of CLASP, a global non-profit, that helps advise product makers and buyers in more than 90 countries to reduce such waste in our everyday machines. Going one step further, the company also provides appliances to low-income communities and poorer countries to increase their usage and save more energy.
We've also included the work of Pam Warhurst, who is the co-founder of Incredible Edibles, a group of community gardeners growing food on unused public land, known as propaganda or guerilla gardening. She was inspired to create it after becoming frustrated with the government's sustainability efforts, or lack thereof, and so like all inspiring changemakers, took matters into her own hands. It's taken off from its little seed in her hometown of Todmoreden in West Yorkshire, and has since spread across the country.
And finally, turning the usual doom and gloom narrative into something more positive and digestible for children is Cindy Forde, author of the beautifully illustrated Bright New World Building a Better Planet. Instead, she knows that change starts with the stories we choose to tell on a subject, and so she offers solutions, giving hope to a new generation, and hopefully forming positive lifetime habits. It's something we could all use more of.
The full Climate 100 List will be published on 20 September, coinciding with the United Nations' Summit of the Future in New York, part of the 17th annual Climate Week NYC.
The live event will be hosted in New York and will include a keynote speech from former British foreign secretary, David Miliband, who is now the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). It operates in more than 40 countries, many of which are affected by climate shocks and recognises those least responsible for the changing climate are likely to be the least well equipped and most affected. It will be hosted by The Independent's Editor-in-Chief, Geordie Greig.
Climate100 is sponsored in partnership with Octopus Energy
The Independent will be revealing its 2026 Climate 100 List on 20 September
