How We Chose the 2025 TIME Earth Awards

Each year TIME honors individuals whose actions have had an indelible impact on global efforts to address one of the most pressing crises facing our planet: climate change. This year marks TIME’s third annual Earth Awards, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

In 2024, the planet breached 1.5°C of warming above pre-industrial temperatures, an ominous milestone—and a reminder of the urgency with which the world must tackle this challenge. And although climate action faces headwinds from the rising tide of populist politics around the world, this year’s group of honorees remain steadfast in championing sustainability and shaping a greener future.

There is the Environmental justice leader Catherine Coleman Flowers, who has a legacy of advocating for marginalized communities, particularly Black and rural families affected by untreated sewage. She has gone on to work with Democrats and Republicans alike in an effort to bring about lasting change.

Alongside, we honor Jay Inslee, the Governor of Washington from 2013 to 2025, and a leader in local climate action. As co-founder of the U.S. Climate Alliance he has brought together two dozen states to drive progress towards a clean economy.

There is former New York Mayor and U.N. Special Envoy Michael Bloomberg, who is steadfastly dedicated to supporting innovative solutions. In January, when President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Bloomberg Philanthropies stepped up to coordinate an effort to continue funding the nation’s climate goals.

In Ghana, chef Selassie Atadika, the founder of Midunu—an experiential restaurant that highlights the region’s culinary heritage—and Midunu Chocolates, uses her food to advocate for sustainable agriculture and showcase the power of the African kitchen. In 2024 she was announced as Yale’s inaugural Global Table Fellow in an effort to highlight the connection between sustainability, health, and culture. 

Back in the U.S., Former Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Frist is calling for climate change to be recognized as a public health crisis. He serves as the global chair of The Nature Conservancy which last year launched the Senator Bill and Tracy Frist Initiative for Planetary Health.

And actor Rainn Wilson is on a mission to better communicate the urgency of the climate crisis. With that goal in mind, in 2022 he co-founded Climate Basecamp, an organization that brings scientists and trendsetters together to make talking about the reality of climate change more accessible.

Buy a copy of the Earth Awards 2025 issue here