Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy
Honoring World Leaders in Environmental Law and Diplomacy
The Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy is the world’s most prestigious award in the field of environmental law recognizing the innovation, skill, and accomplishments of lawyers, diplomats, international civil servants and other advocates who work to create the world environmental order. The Award has a distinguished history since 1979 shaped by progress in the field of environmental law and policy, and through collaborations with the Universite libre du Bruxelles and the International Council of Environmental Law. Chosen annually by an esteemed jury, the Award honors the late Elisabeth Haub, a noted philanthropist and environmental advocate.
2025 Call for Nominations
The nomination period for the 2025 Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy has closed. Following deliberations by the Award Jury, the announcement of a 2025 Laureate will be forthcoming this summer.
The 2024 Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy was jointly awarded to Singapore’s Ambassador for International Law, Rena Lee, and Senior High Seas Adviser to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Kristina Maria Gjerde, for their unwavering commitment to ocean conservation and their instrumental roles in the 2023 UN Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement).
2024 Ceremony Video
Watch the 2024 Haub Award ceremony and panel discussion on Safeguarding Biodiversity in the High Seas with the laureates, Ambassador Rena Lee and Prof. Kristina Maria Gjerde, along with Dr. David Freestone, Executive Director of the Sargasso Sea Commission and Visiting Scholar at the George Washington University Law School, and moderated by Professor Smita Narula, Haub Distinguished Professor of International Law and Co-Director of the Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University.
About Elisabeth Haub (1899–1977)
Elisabeth Haub was a tireless environmental advocate and philanthropist with an extraordinary legacy supporting the progress of environmental law, with particular emphasis on activities that impact policy, promote a balanced approach to sustainable growth and reflect the global nature of environmental issues. She devoted much of her life to the stewardship of sustainability, forming the first foundation dedicated to establishing laws for nature conservation and environmental protection. The Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy, as it is known today, was named in her honor.
