Call for Applications: 2025 Global Sustainability Challenge (up to $35,000 Monetary Prizes awarded)
Closing Date: 3 November 2025
Call for Applications: 2025 Global Sustainability Challenge (up to $35,000 Monetary Prizes awarded)
Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is partnering with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and leading global institutions to support the 2025 Global Sustainability Challenge.
The Challenge is calling for university students worldwide to submit theirr innovative, real-world solutions focused on two key pillars:
- Sustainable Energy — advancing cleaner, fairer, and more accessible energy systems for all.
- Adaptation & Resilience — enabling communities to thrive amid environmental change.
About the Global Sustainability Challenge
An annual global challenge where students design, implement, and showcase real-world sustainability solutions—supported by a Stanford-led collective of leading educational institutions and experts worldwide.A global collaboration of leading organizations and experts
Global Scale
Student teams worldwide build solutions to real-world issues using multidisciplinary and global knowledge.
Grassroots Impact
Solutions to meet real needs with local relevance and tangible outcomes.
Expert-Guided
Teams work with mentors, judges, and experts to transform early ideas into tested, impactful solutions.
About the challenge and how it works
The challenge is designed to move bold and innovative ideas to real-world solutions. It offers students support and visibility at every step, from early research and design to building, testing, and sharing their work worldwide.
Phase 1: Ignite
Late August – Early November 2025
Team up, tune in, and design forward. Form your team, choose a theme, and explore problems through research and stakeholder engagement. Create your concept and submit your application.
Key Deliverables: Team registration, problem statement, solution concept, and early mockup
Phase 2: Build
Late November 2025 – January / Early February 2026
Build, test, and showcase. Develop working prototypes, conduct user testing, and refine your solution. Present your progress at regional showcases with live demonstrations.
Key Deliverables: Working prototype, testing documentation, and 10-minute live presentation
Phase 3: Shine
February – April 2026
Refine and present at the Global Finale. Incorporate feedback, improve your solution’s scalability, and pitch to a global jury. Top teams receive awards and ongoing support.
Key Deliverables: Final presentation, demo, and implementation plan for global impact
Guidance. Feedback. Community.
Behind every team is a network of mentors, judges, and peers who guide, challenge, and support the work as it grows.
Mentorship
Students can access general guidance and support from experienced professionals as they work on their projects.
Judging & Feedback
Projects are evaluated at multiple stages by a combination of expert judges and AI-supported review.
Regional Ambassadors
Ambassadors support outreach, coordination, and local connection. They help build regional networks, and ensure every team is seen and supported.
Beyond the Challenge
All teams benefit from new experiences, lasting connections, and a supportive community that continues after the challenge.
Challenge Themes
Every team in the challenge chooses a theme — a broad area of work that grounds their project. Themes help focus the research and shape how teams define impact. This year, the challenge invites solutions in two key areas: Sustainable Energy, and Adaptation & Resilience.
Solutions Approach
Solutions should aim for real-world impact, right-sized to what a student team can meaningfully achieve in an academic year. Participants are encouraged to work across disciplines and contexts — technology, policy, finance, data, or even storytelling — to design solutions that are practical, responsive, and adaptable. The most compelling projects will demonstrate thoughtful design, stakeholder understanding, and a pathway to implementation that is both locally relevant and globally scalable.
01 Sustainable Energy
Develop scalable and impactful solutions that reduce emissions while improving affordability and reliability in the energy sector. Solutions may address clean energy solutions covering generation, transmission, distribution, or storage.
02 Adaptation & Resilience
Develop a solution that enhances the resilience and ability of people, infrastructure, or natural systems to withstand and adapt to the intensifying impacts of climate change. Solutions may address disaster preparedness, resilient infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, water security, or other critical adaptation needs.
Awards & Recognition
Celebrating innovation with meaningful recognition
Stanford University has earmarked significant funding to recognize and reward the most impactful sustainability solutions. Its prize structure celebrates excellence across both challenge themes.
Total Prize Pool: $35,000
1st Place: $10,000
First place winners in each category
2nd Place: $5,000
Second place winners in each category
3rd Place: $2,500
Third place winners in each category
Beyond Monetary Prizes
- Global recognition and visibility
- Networking opportunities with industry leaders
- Mentorship and guidance for implementation
Stanford EcoGlobal Program
6 GSC winners (3 from each theme) will gain exclusive access to Stanford’s EcoGlobal Program, designed to equip ecopreneurs to scale sustainability ventures worldwide.
Click Here To Apply
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