Climate Champion from Western Wins Green Ring Award
NAIROBI, June 20 – Climate activist Risper Asembo from Budalang’i Constituency in Busia County has received the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, in recognition of her grassroots leadership in climate education and environmental conservation.
The award was presented in Nairobi at the close of a three-day training by The Climate Reality Project — the first time the international leadership programme has been held in Kenya.
Asembo, founder of the youth-led organisation Beyond the Trails Kenya, has led climate literacy and reforestation efforts targeting schools and young people.
One of her recent projects, supported by the African Climate Reality Project, trained more than 60 students and teachers in Siaya County in tree planting and composting, and led to the planting of 100 fruit trees in public schools.
She joins a select group of African recipients of the Green Ring Award, named after Brazilian climate leader Alfredo Sirkis.
The award recognizes outstanding commitment to grassroots climate action.
Speaking at the closing session of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training in Nairobi, Gore warned that continued fossil fuel emissions are fuelling a wave of environmental disasters — from floods and droughts to landslides and food insecurity.
“We are nearing a tipping point,” Gore said, urging climate champions across Africa to speak out boldly and push for a transition to clean energy.
Gore founded The Climate Reality Project after leaving office. The initiative aims to build a global network of climate advocates equipped to influence policy and lead community-based solutions.
According to project president and CEO Phyllis Cuttino, the organisation has trained more than 55,000 people and now counts over 3.8 million supporters worldwide.
The Nairobi event, the 59th of its kind globally, brought together participants from across East Africa for sessions on clean energy, green industrialisation, and climate finance. From Nairobi, the 2025 tour that began in Paris, continues to Rio de Janeiro, and Ulaanbaatar.
The award comes at a time of intensifying climate shocks across East Africa. From 2020 to early 2023, the region endured its most severe drought in decades, with five consecutive failed rainy seasons that wiped out crops and livestock— followed by heavy rains and floods in late 2023 that displaced over 700,000 people in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.
NASA data shows that globally, extreme swings between drought and flood have more than doubled in frequency since 2003–2020.
“We need young people to raise their voices and lead the movement for climate justice,” Gore said. “The future depends on them.”
