This category recognises urban and rural institutions demonstrating leadership in addressing climate and environmental challenges through innovative, inclusive and sustainable interventions. It is assessed in two sub-categories, Institutional Leadership in Urban Climate Action and Institutional Leadership in Rural Climate Action, with emphasis on institutional commitment, effective governance, community participation and measurable climate outcomes.
Assessment of forms in this category follows a structured two-stage process, beginning with basic eligibility checks and followed by a detailed evaluation of the strength and impact of the initiative.
Applications must first meet essential eligibility conditions:
Organisation eligibility – The applicant must be a recognised government institution, such as a ULB, development authority, SPV, state department, Gram Panchayat or block or district body, and its organisation type must be consistent with the sub-category applied for.
Relevance of initiative – The initiative must fall under at least one of the thematic areas in the category description.
Completeness – All mandatory fields in the form must be completed.
Evidence of implementation – The initiative must have already commenced and not remain at the concept stage.
Only applications that pass these checks will proceed to detailed evaluation.
| Eligible applications are assessed against six weighted criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 (weak) to 5 (strong). |
| 1. Climate action integration (20%) |
| Assessed through the initiative description and the actions, infrastructure or policies implemented. |
| Focus on how systematically climate mitigation or adaptation is integrated into the institution’s interventions, in its urban or rural context. |
| 2. Impact and evidence (20%) |
| Based on data, evidence, and examples of outcomes such as emissions reductions, renewable energy integration, resilience building, or socio-economic benefits. |
| 3. Institutional leadership and governance integration (15%) |
| Looks at how climate priorities are embedded into governance, planning, budgeting, and operations. |
| 4. Innovation and distinctiveness (15%) |
| Examines how local knowledge, research or data inform the approach, and the distinctiveness of the institutional model. |
| Examines uniqueness of the model. |
| 5. Scalability and replicability (20%) |
| Considers whether the solution or institutional framework can be scaled or adapted to other urban or rural contexts. |
| 6. Partnerships, coordination and community participation (10%) |
| Evaluates collaboration across levels of government and with partners, and how communities are involved in planning, implementation and monitoring. |
