CarbonZero 2026 Leadership Award Criteria

To be eligible for this individual honor, nominees must meet the following baseline requirements:

• Role & Impact: Open to executives (C-suite, Board members), sustainability directors, technical managers, lead engineers, researchers, policymakers, or industry advocates who have demonstrated exceptional personal leadership in decarbonization.

• Sector Affiliation: The nominee must operate within or directly serve the cement, concrete, construction, infrastructure, or clean-technology sectors.

• Verifiable Legacy: The nominee must have a proven track record of implementing successful initiatives, with significant milestones or breakthroughs achieved or scaled between 2024 and 2026.

• Geographic Scope: Global. Leaders from any region (Americas, EMEA, MEA, and APAC) are eligible, reflecting the global necessity of industrial transformation.

Nomination & Evaluation Criteria

The independent judging panel evaluates individual nominees based on five core pillars of leadership. Strong nominations will provide concrete examples of how the nominee’s personal actions, decisions, or innovations led to measurable change:

1. Visionary Leadership & Strategic Impact (Weight: 30%)

• Driving Change: How has the nominee successfully shifted their organization’s or the industry’s trajectory toward Net Zero? (e.g., spearheading a corporate transition strategy, reallocating capital toward green technologies, or pioneering low-carbon product lines).

• Overcoming Inertia: Evidence of the nominee’s personal resilience in overcoming technical, financial, or cultural resistance to sustainability within a traditionally conservative sector.

2. Tangible Industry Contributions (Weight: 25%)

• Measurable Results: What are the hard metrics tied to the nominee’s leadership? (e.g., thousands of tonnes of CO2​ abated under their tenure, a significant drop in their company’s clinker-to-cement ratio, or the successful integration of alternative fuels).

• Innovation Champion: Personal involvement in deploying cutting-edge technologies, such as large-scale CCUS initiatives, Industry 5.0 automation, or advanced circular economy frameworks.

3. Advocacy, Influence & Thought Leadership (Weight: 20%)

• Sector-Wide Impact: How does the nominee use their platform to inspire and educate the wider industry? (e.g., publishing breakthrough research, speaking at key global forums, or mentoring the next generation of diverse industry leaders).

• Policy & Standards: Evidence of the nominee actively working with regulatory bodies, academic institutions, or industry alliances to shape future decarbonization standards and policies.

4. Commitment to Collaboration & Circularity (Weight: 15%)

• Building Bridges: How effectively has the leader broken down industrial silos to foster cross-sector partnerships? (e.g., collaborating with waste management sectors for co-processing or forming alliances with tech providers to accelerate green vectors).

• Ecosystem Thinking: Promoting a holistic view of sustainability that balances environmental goals with social responsibility, safety, and human-centric industrial performance.

5. Professional Integrity & Long-term Vision (Weight: 10%)

• Beyond Compliance: Proof that the nominee is pushing for solutions that go beyond current regulatory mandates, setting new benchmarks for what “sustainable leadership” looks like in heavy industry.

 How to Submit a Nomination

Submissions are handled directly by the Industry Link coordinating committee. You may nominate yourself or a peer who embodies these leadership qualities.

• Required Documentation: A formal nomination dossier (PDF) including a biography of the nominee (max 300 words), a detailed submission addressing the criteria above with clear metrics and examples of their impact, and up to two letters of recommendation from industry partners or colleagues.

• Submission Email: Send all nomination materials directly to contact@industrylink.eu.

  Deadline: September 10

• Key Date: The winner will be announced live during the CarbonZero Global Awards gala dinner on October 28, 2026, at the Tangla Hotel in Brussels, Belgium.

Tip for Applicants: Focus the narrative on the individual’s personal agency. The judges want to see how this specific person made a difference where others couldn’t, backed by the metrics of the projects they spearheaded.

Register now and congratulate the Winner on site! Book your ticket with 20% off by subscribing to our newsletter – www.industrylink.eu/#signupnow, then email Mariana.gheorghe@industrylink.eu and ask for your reduced rate.

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