Meet Emmy Scott, WWF's 2025 Youth Conservation Leadership Award winner
By
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Claire Fogarty
© Quiet Desert Photography
WWF is excited to announce the selection of climate justice leader Emmy Scott (she/they) as the recipient of the WWF-US Youth Conservation Leadership Award for 2025. Each year, this award recognizes an exceptional young person whose work is driving meaningful environmental impact. It provides a monetary award as well as access to a global platform and experts. At just 25 years old, Scott has already inspired communities worldwide by blending community building, place-based education, and climate justice leadership to build a more inclusive and sustainable future.
Roots in the Arizona outdoors
Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Scott’s earliest lessons about nature came from her grandpa, who took her and her brother outside to explore. Those days were simple but formative, feeding horses and chickens at a local farm, hiking desert trails, camping beneath wide open skies.
“He made it extremely enjoyable,” Scott said. “It wasn’t like he was a scientist or an activist. He was just showing me how to be curious about nature and how to relax and have fun outdoors.”
As she grew older, she saw Arizona’s rapid development firsthand. The farm she visited as a child was replaced by a parking lot and fast-food chains. Old trails and a campground became unfamiliar as waterways dried up and springs became polluted, leaving an impression that would stay with her.
Discovering her calling
Scott didn’t always imagine a future in environmental work, though, saying her path was “anything but linear.” As a kid, her world revolved around music, creativity, and dreams of performing on Broadway. Then, she saw a documentary about America’s food systems in high school, and her whole perspective changed.
“I became really passionate about trying to find solutions to the mass farming industry,” she said. “I became a vegetarian, and I started to realize the responsibility wasn’t just on the consumer, but also on corporations and governments.”
That realization changed the trajectory of her life. By the time she reached college, she knew she wanted to study environmental systems more deeply.
“It felt like I couldn't pursue my music and creative interests until the climate crisis was solved,” Scott said. “Going to school for environmental studies just felt like a no-brainer.”
© Courtesy of Emmy Scott
Forging a path at the University of Northern Colorado
At the University of Northern Colorado, Scott immersed herself in environmental leadership, including serving as grant coordinator and president of the Student Leadership for Environmental Action Fund and founding and leading an Earth Guardians Crew.
Her Earth Guardians crew focused on reducing fossil fuel drilling near schools, including advocating against oil pads being built next to an elementary school. Scott’s classes and extracurriculars were predominantly focused on environmental activism until her sophomore year, when she credits her mother for encouraging her to expand her studies.
“My mom didn’t come from this world of activism, and she always reminded me that I needed something stable and tangible,” she said. “That balanced perspective helped shape the way I approach this work.”
In her sophomore year, she added business management as a second degree, ultimately earning dual degrees in environmental sustainability studies and business management, along with a communications minor.
“I tell environmentalists, if you're really passionate about the environment, get really good at finances,” she said. “I realized I’m actually passionate about Excel sheets, system processes, and ethical management practices.”
Leading with purpose at Earth Guardians
© Emmy Scott
Today, Scott is the executive director of Earth Guardians, a global nonprofit that supports young people in developing anti-racist, anti-colonialist environmental and climate initiatives. Her background makes her a strong, dynamic leader.
Earth Guardians operates using a regenerative ecosystem model. Youth, 30 and under, enter as participants, receive training and mentorship, and are eventually encouraged to return as mentors themselves.
“A big part of the ecosystem that I find really important is that those on the ground really shape the programming that we do globally,” she said.
Scott is a product of that very model. She began as a student crew leader, later became Earth Guardians’ financial director, and at age 23, rose to become the organization’s youngest executive director.
“To me, being an environmental leader means being connected to nature, your community, and yourself,” she said. “It means being resilient, resourceful, ethical, and an advocate—and also knowing when it’s time to step back so others can lead.”
Driving global conservation impact
Of all her accomplishments, Scott is most proud of Earth Guardians’ work on the Sierra Leone Mangrove Conservation and Beekeeping Training Project, which planted 150,000 mangroves on Bonthe Sherbro Island and trained 286 community members using Earth Guardians’ climate justice curriculum and leadership model through their Crews program.
Because deforestation in the area is often tied to economic survival, the project also introduced a conservation-positive alternative: beekeeping. More than 300 beehives were established, creating long-term opportunities for sustainable honey production.
Meeting challenges with inclusivity and hope
One of the most difficult realities Scott faces is the lack of funding for youth-led environmental work. Less than 1% of global philanthropy supports these efforts.
To help bring awareness to the importance of youth climate engagement and conservation in general, Scott speaks about environmentalism in an inclusive, accessible way, so people see themselves within the movement rather than outside it. Her warm, approachable communication style is influenced by Earth Guardians’ Indigenous youth and mentors.
“If they can say ‘I’m going to treat everybody like a relative,’ then I can do the same.”
Finding strength in community
© Santeena Pugliese
For Scott, community is both her motivation and her anchor.
“There are times when I feel like I’m the only one thinking this way, but when I connect with Earth Guardians’ crews in person, I get so inspired,” she said. “I believe there are more people wanting to make ethical change than not.”
She credits several leaders who inspire her work, including Suzie Hicks (The Climate Chick), who promotes “anything can be a solution”: Aimée Christensen and Pamela Wellner (Christensen Global), super connectors and mentors who helped Scott build confidence in her approach, as well as her team and board at Earth Guardians.
A regenerative, community-centered future
Scott is also encouraged by her faith in Gen Z, who she believes is smart, active, engaged, and ready to be leaders.
“I have a lot of optimism about [Gen Z],” said Scott. “With Earth Guardians, we see that Gen Z is really excited to be leaders, and a lot of times they just don't get that opportunity.”
Scott envisions a world where people embrace their differences and use them to spark meaningful change. She sees a future where communities are self-aware, responsible, sustainable, and connected beyond technology.
“Right now, technology rules everything,” she said. “In the future, I hope we have more of a mindset that what we have right in front of us is all that we need.”
Her personal goal for 2026 is to start a home garden in Phoenix, inspired by Earth Guardians’ crew members who grow enough food to feed their families.
Whether encouraging people of all ages to take their first step into activism or leading global conservation programs, Scott believes small actions are never small.