Challenge winners pioneer eco-friendly sanitary pads and climate resilience in medicinal plants

Researchers win Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge for creating innovative solutions for waste management in India and crop resilience in South Africa

Dr Pooja Singh of India found a way to transform an invasive aquatic plant into biodegradable sanitary products.

Dr Mokgadi Hlongwane of Pretoria, South Africa, found a way to use beneficial bacteria to enhance the growth and resilience of medicinal plants used to treat wounds, diabetes, cancer and more.

These researchers won the 2025 Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge, which seeks solutions rooted in chemistry that can help mitigate the climate crisis. Each will receive a $25,000 prize to conduct their proposed projects.

This year, the Challenge received 213 applications from 60 countries. Five finalists presented their proposals to the scientific jury at the 9th Green and Sustainable Chemistry Conference March 4-6 in Pune, India.

“Again, we had many applications of very high quality this year,” said Prof Dr Klaus Kümmerer, Chair of the Challenge’s scientific jury and the Green & Sustainable Chemistry Conference. “This made it both hard to select the winners and a pleasure to do this and to read all these promising ideas and proposals full of dedication to contribute to sustainability.

“We had an even broader list of suggested topics, which is another remarkable feature of this year’s challenge.”

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