Environmentalist Elizabeth Wathuti featured on TIME100 Next 2022 list

Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti at the Opening Ceremony of the World Leaders Summit at COP26. [Courtesy]

Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti, a Kenyan environmentalist, has bagged yet another achievement. She was on Wednesday published in Time Magazine's 2022 TIME100 Next List.

Elizabeth Wathuti, 27, while acknowledging the recognition said she was honoured.

"It is a great honour to be included in this year's TIME100 Next list. Today I especially wish to celebrate the tireless efforts of my friends in the global youth climate movement, who are also fighting every day for a safe future. Together, we are an unstoppable movement of millions, and we will not tire, we will make change happen," said Wathuti.

An expansion of the TIME100 list of the most influential people in the world, TIME100 Next highlights 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, health, science and activism, and more.

The 2022 list features musicians as well as medical professionals, government officials, movement leaders, and high-profile whistle-blowers alongside top CEOs.

Apart from Wathuti, women who are featured on this year's list include Lily Collins, Jennette McCurdy, Trinity Rodman, Hannah Davis, Francia Marquez Mina, Annalena Baerbock, Ayo Edebiri, Ifeoma Ozoma, and Simone Ashley, among others.

In 2021, the young climate leader and environmental activist compellingly asked world leaders to open their hearts at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Earlier this year, Wathuti launched an international campaign calling for the upcoming COP27 climate change negotiations in Egypt to establish a dedicated loss and damage finance facility to help those least responsible for causing the climate crisis to cope with its impacts.

Wathuti leads important grassroots work at home in Kenya, where she is the Founder of the Green Generation Initiative (GGI), a tree-growing initiative that enhances food security for young Kenyans, inspired by the work of the late Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai.

She is also the head of campaigns and founding director of the African Youth Climate Leaders Hub at the Wangari Maathai Foundation.