Who is Supriya Sahu? Tamil Nadu IAS officer gets UN's highest environmental honour

TAMIL Nadu IAS officer Supriya Sahu was presented with the 2025 UN Champions of the Earth award for inspiration and action, the United Nations' highest environmental honour. She was recognised as a recipient of the 2025 Champions of the Earth award by the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi on Wednesday.

Sahu was recognised for her pioneering and long-standing leadership on critical environmental challenges in India, including plastics and wildlife conservation, a press release said on Wednesday.

Supriya Sahu, the winner of Champions of the Earth 2025 for Inspiration and Action, said, “My inspiration comes from people who stood by me from the local village, working with me to clean up the mangroves as their own. My inspiration also comes from those children who look up to you with a blink in their eyes.”

Who is Supriya Sahu?

Supriya Sahu has served as Tamil Nadu's additional chief secretary in the Environment, Climate Change and Forests Department for the past four and a half years.

According to her profile shared by the UN, Sahu’s love for nature started in her early childhood, when her family travelled around the country for her father's job.

She adores elephants, and her Instagram account is filled with posts about them. Sahu likes to say that elephants can teach us about resilience, family bonding and leadership.

Throughout her 30-year career as a public servant, Sahu has developed a growing fascination with India's rich biodiversity.

However, she has also become acutely aware of the severe damage that irresponsible human behaviour can inflict.

"I saw animals eating plastic garbage, and I realised that our planet is choking. That experience became transformational for me," Sahu said as she recalled her time as the District Collector in the Nilgiris District.

Why was Supriya Sahu awarded UN's highest environmental honour?

According to the United Nations, Supriya Sahu was recognised for her groundbreaking leadership in subnational climate action, restoring ecosystems and scaling sustainable cooling innovations across Tamil Nadu.

Her initiatives showcased how integrated governance and nature-based solutions, along with a mix of low- and high-tech interventions, can protect vulnerable communities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Her work has created millions of green jobs and positioned the state as a model for science-based, community-driven climate resilience," the UN said.

Sahu's sustainable cooling and restoration initiatives also expanded forest cover and improved resilience for 12 million people.

Supriya Sahu's key works and initiatives

In 2000, she launched a campaign called "Operation Blue Mountain" aimed at eliminating single-use plastic in Nilgiris. The issue of plastic pollution was still under the radar at the time.  

In recent years, Sahu introduced the Tamil Nadu Green Climate Company, a not-for-profit focused on coastal resilience, and a variety of projects to tackle urban heat and rising cooling demand.

Sahu also led the Cool Roof Project, one of the passive cooling initiatives, which is being implemented in 200 public “green schools.”

She also led efforts to plant over 100 million trees and establish 65 new reserve forests in Tamil Nadu. Under her leadership, the state has doubled its mangrove cover, expanded its wetlands from 1 to 20, and launched the US$60 million Endangered Species Conservation Fund, the United Nations stated.

In Chennai, Sahu is applying this nature-first approach to urban planning.