552 applicants from all over the world have been analysed and brought down to 40 shortlisted for the prestigious award expected to be announced on 20 Jan 2014. The short-listed organisations  compete in four categories – large corporation, small and medium enterprise, non-government organization and high schools. There is also a lifetime achievement award for people who contributed to clean and efficient energy. Started in 2008, the Zayed Future Energy Prize has so far rewarded 21 innovators and leading organisations. The award's total budget is US$4 million.

"As energy demand has nearly doubled over the past 25 years, the world has increasingly looked towards the renewable energy industry to provide the solutions and technologies it needs to harness clean energy and optimise energy efficiency," said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, director general of the prize and chief executive of Abu Dhabi?s clean-energy company Masdar.

The candidates were scored on innovation, impact, leadership and long-term vision by international research and analysis company Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The Prize's Selection Committee met to discuss and evaluate over 40 candidates that had earlier been shortlisted by the Review Committee and narrowed the list to twenty-three finalists which are later verified by the  Prize Jury for the final evaluation. Each finalist was evaluated based on the prize criteria of innovation, impact, leadership and long-term vision Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony to take place on January 20 during the annual Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Past year winners included Prof Jose Goldemberg, for using sugar cane ethanol as fuel to promote biofuels, German company Siemens, d.light Design, an American social enterprise, and Ceres, a US group that works for reducing carbon emissions.