Hala Sharafeddine, a 16-year-old innovator from Beirut, founded "Code for Earth" and won the international "Eco-Hero award." (Photo sent by Sharafeddine to L'Orient Today)
Lebanese student Hala Sharafeddine, 16, has become the first Lebanese winner of the International Young Eco-Hero Award, taking second place in the 15-16 age category for a project combining coding and environmental education.
Sharafeddine, a Grade 12 student at International College in Beirut, was recognized by Action For Nature, a San Francisco-based U.S. nonprofit that has presented the International Young Eco-Hero Awards since 2003 to recognize young people working on environmental projects. “This is my first time winning at this international scale,” Sharafeddine told L’Orient Today.
Her winning project, “Code for Earth,” is a free virtual program that teaches girls coding skills and encourages them to use technology to address environmental problems. In August 2025, Sharafeddine independently organized and led a three-day virtual workshop for 50 girls selected from more than 130 applicants across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
The participants had no previous coding experience. They learned HTML and CSS on the first day, heard from environmental experts on the second, and worked on team projects on the third.
The girls were divided into six teams and created awareness websites addressing plastic pollution, marine conservation, and renewable energy. Their projects also included digital petitions and interactive quizzes.
Sharafeddine provided support in Arabic and English and answered technical questions from participants in different time zones. The program had a 92% completion rate, according to Action For Nature.
“Not only did Code for Earth improve my time-management and multi-tasking skills, but it also confirmed exactly why I put in as much effort as I did,” Sharafeddine said in her Eco-Hero profile.
In February 2026, while looking for opportunities to showcase her work, Sharafeddine came across an application for the International Young Eco-Hero Awards.
“I found an application to be an Eco-Hero,” she said. She applied with Code for Earth and was named a second-place winner in the 15-16 age category. The 2026 awards received 476 applications from 50 countries, with 16 young people selected as winners.
Sharafeddine received a $400 cash prize and a certificate, which was mailed to her. On Aug. 29, she joined the other winners at a virtual Eco-Hero Awards Conference, where they presented their projects and took part in a live question-and-answer session.
'I love the environment so much since I was a kid'
Sharafeddine began learning to code in seventh grade through school and extracurricular activities. Her interest in environmental issues goes back to childhood.
According to Action For Nature, she became interested in sustainability at age eight and later ranked sixth globally in an international essay competition focused on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal on life below water.
“I got ideas and wanted to combine my two passions,” Sharafeddine said. “I love the environment so much since I was a kid, [and] I was involved in SDGs and environmental competitions, and AI and tech.”
In December 2024, while in Grade 10, Sharafeddine launched Code Her Way, an independent initiative offering girls free opportunities to learn coding.
'I wanted to build a space where girls could feel confident being curious and ambitious'
“This win means really a lot,” Sharafeddine said. “Not only [because] my work was recognized on a global scale, but also because I was able to combine tech to benefit the environment.”
Sharafeddine hopes to study environmental engineering or industrial engineering and continue working at the intersection of technology and environmental issues.
She also plans to continue developing Code Her Way and create more opportunities for girls to learn coding. “I wanted to build a space where girls could feel confident being curious and ambitious, and where they could see that their interests can lead to meaningful change,” she concluded.
