Thai co-founder of youth-led energy transition community wins REvolutionaries Award from GWEC, Greenpeace and REN21

27 November 2024, Incheon | The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), joined by Greenpeace and REN21, is delighted to announce Jitsai Santaputra as the winner for the REVolutionaries award.

The award aims to empower the winner to further their work in driving the clean energy revolution, Jitsai Santaputra said she would continue her work in “hard-to-reach regions” in southeast Asia, and help ensure a “just transition for rural areas as well as urban.” The prize package includes €4,000 as a monetary prize, funded travel to attend a regional GWEC or GWEC-affiliated event, as well as opportunities to promote the recipient’s thought leadership to a global network. 

The winner was decided by a jury composed of people close to Steve, including members of Steve’s family and personal network, GWEC, REN21 and Greenpeace International. The panel focused on five key criteria: leadership, renewable energy, innovation, scalability, and diversity. 

Ben Backwell, CEO of GWEC, said: “Steve Sawyer was passionate about promoting the work of young people who shared his and GWEC’s commitment to delivering clean energy as a solution to climate change. Jitsai Santaputra showed that passion and we are excited to support her work in southeast Asia. The pillars of the award reflect Steve’s work: leadership, renewable energy, innovation, scalability and diversity, and it is inspiring to find someone like Jitsai showing those same passions for the energy transition. GWEC, Greenpeace and REN21 are delighted to announce Jitsai as the winner of this year’s prize.” 

Jitsai Santaputra, Winner of the Southeast Asian edition of the REvolutionaries: The Steve Sawyer Memorial Award, said: “To honour Steve Sawyer’s legacy as a champion for renewables, this award holds significance for the world. As we combat carbon emissions and transition towards low carbon society, such awards stand as a beacon of hope, in the recognition it gives to the winners, and in its principles to which younger generations can aspire to.”

With the Award prize, I will be deploying more capacity building and awareness programs in hard-to-reach regions of Southeast Asia, it is my commitment, and that of Youth for Energy Southeast Asia, to reach more underprivileged communities and support the just energy transition for rural areas as well as urban.”

Kelly Rigg, Steve Sawyer’s wife and Director of the Varda Group environmental consultancy, said: “Jitsai’s leadership qualities shine through her groundbreaking work with young people in the region. I have no doubt she will become an increasingly powerful advocate for the Asian renewable energy transition. Steve would have been so pleased to know her, and I hope this award inspires her to build on his legacy.”

About Steve Sawyer 

Following a distinguished career in environmental and climate activism at Greenpeace International, Steve became GWEC’s first Secretary General in 2007. During Steve’s tenure at the head of GWEC, global wind installations grew from 74 GW to 539 GW and became one of the world’s most important energy sources. 

He contributed significantly to the development of the wind industry in places such as India, China, Brazil and South Africa. He later became a Senior Policy Advisor to GWEC. 

Steve passed away in July 2019. Read more about Steve here.