In the Global Sustainability Challenge, students invent solutions for energy and climate adaptation

On Feb. 13, the Global Sustainability Challenge transformed a corner of Stanford University into a hub of innovation as 21 teams from across North and South America presented prototypes and ideas for sustainability solutions to judges and peers.

Led by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, the competition invited students to develop solutions focused on advancing clean, accessible energy systems and building community capacity to withstand climate impacts. More than 3,000 college and university students across 91 countries responded to the call.

About 200 teams progressed to regional semifinals hosted in China, India, Germany, and the United States. The 21 teams from the Americas – with projects ranging from digital platforms to technological solutions – competed for six spots at the Global Finale to be held in Munich in April 2026. Winners of the finale will receive cash prizes and an invitation to participate in a new program from Stanford Ecopreneurship that helps students take sustainability solutions to scale.

‘Olympians for the climate’

The daylong Americas final hosted at Stanford’s Li Ka Shing Center included networking, presentations, judging, remarks from Stanford leaders, and a tour of the university’s energy operations. Before revealing the winning teams, Arun Majumdar, dean of the Doerr School of Sustainability, welcomed one of the school’s foundational launch partners to the stage, Khan Academy chair Ann Doerr. “I view each of you as an Olympian for the climate,” Doerr said before event staff announced the winners:

Energy

• Junipero Energy (Stanford University): a dual-phase fuel cell for low-cost generation of energy in the aftermath of a flood
• AmpliFi Energy (Columbia University): a platform to aggregate energy access projects in developing countries
• Sea2Energy (University of Puerto Rico): a technology to transform marine pollution into a sustainable source for the production of carbon energy materials

Adaptation and resilience

• Electrocean (Stanford University, Purdue University, UC Berkeley): a seawater electrolysis technology to sequester carbon to stimulate shellfish growth and restore coastal ecosystems
• FloodMAP (Stanford University): a network of solar-powered sensors for localized, real-time flood data
• ResiliNet (Stanford University): a platform to connect hospitals so they can share critical resources during disasters

For many participants – whether they’re advancing to the finals or bringing home a certificate of achievement from one of the regional events – the challenge has been a critical step toward sustainability solutions.

“I think that by just being here and seeing that people are inspired to work on bigger problems in their communities – it is already a win for everybody,” said Angela Cruz-Lugo, a student at the University of Puerto Rico on team Sea2Energy.

The Global Sustainability Challenge, organized by Parul Gupta, managing director of mobilization at the Doerr School of Sustainability, is a collaboration with Technical University of Munich, IIT Bombay, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Zhejiang University, Imperial College London, and several nonprofits. The competition has brought multidisciplinary thinking and new perspectives to many participants through its network of like-minded peers, interactive workshops, and support from more than 100 mentors from different sectors. 

Gabriel Boyd, a senior at Purdue University on team Electrocean along with UC Berkeley student Jason Qin and Stanford sophomore Faith Qin, said he joined the competition in part to learn how to scale the team’s technology. 

“We ended up with a patentable piece of new IP because of the pressure – the good pressure – that the competition put on our team to move forward toward achieving our objective of helping the [Chesapeake] bay’s oyster farmers,” said Boyd, who first connected with his teammates in high school in Virginia, where they learned about how ocean acidification was affecting oyster production.

Meaningful connections

Following a morning of ice-breaker activities and introductions, the students showcased their work with posters, prototypes, and conversations. They were pulled into private rooms with judges from academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations to answer detailed questions about functionality, cost, data, stakeholders, references, and more.

While the judges deliberated, the students toured Stanford’s Central Energy Facility, a major component of the university’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The afternoon continued with a fireside chat on mobilizing change with Sarah Soule, dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Dave Weinstein, associate dean of external education and mobilization at the Doerr School of Sustainability.

In addition to selecting finalists, the jury gave a “Partner Challenge Award” to team Redshift from Cornell University for their idea to slow water flow from urban buildings using lightweight vertical columns. The award gives the team an opportunity to work with the American Red Cross to test their concept in practice.

For participants whose projects weren’t selected for the Global Finale, Gupta’s team has created a platform to continue the exchange of ideas and build on the momentum from this year’s competition.

“This is really the first step in their journey, and hopefully they’ll take this commitment and this passion to the rest of their lives,” Gupta said.