Cognita has been named the winner of the ESG & Impact category at the EducationInvestor Awards 2026. Having been shortlisted as a finalist for two consecutive years, this year’s win marks a significant milestone. The award was presented at a ceremony at the Hilton on Park Lane, London, and accepted on the night by Jamie Delaney, Head of ESG and Group Ethics & Compliance Officer , alongside Jayne Pinchbeck, Group General Counsel, and Oli Williams, CFO for Europe.

The EducationInvestor Awards celebrate organisations across the education sector delivering meaningful progress in sustainability, social responsibility, and innovation. The ESG & Impact category recognises those demonstrating the most compelling, measurable commitment to these principles.

A year of meaningful impact

In 2025, Cognita made significant strides across three core pillars of ESG:

Impacting Global Education: The formal launch of Cognita Impact marked a defining step in how the organisation approaches education partnerships. This groupwide framework coordinates school-led community work into a coherent, measurable model — with a clear ambition: for every child educated within Cognita, to positively impact another life beyond its schools, reaching 100,000 children by 2035.

Long-term partnerships are already delivering results. Work with The Sparkle Foundation in Malawi has strengthened early years teaching capacity, with Standard 1 pass rates for programme alumni rising from 43% to 86%. In Temuco, Chile, collaboration with local public schools has more than doubled students’ weekly English learning time since 2023.

Nurturing Responsible Learners: More than 90% of Cognita schools reported an active student council in 2025, providing structured opportunities for students to lead environmental and social initiatives. Through CNN International’s Call to Earth Day, the annual Cognita Student Challenge, and Global Be Well Day — which engaged over 100,000 students across more than 100 schools — learners across the network are applying sustainability principles to real-world challenges in their communities.

Creating Sustainable Learning Environments: Cognita’s Sustainability Action Framework is driving measurable environmental progress at school level. In 2025, the British School of Barcelona achieved a 4.6% reduction in energy consumption across its campuses; CHIREC International School in India reduced electricity use by 11% through a student-led campaign; and St Andrews International School in Bangkok cut food waste by 11% in a single year.
In 2026, Cognita was also identified as an ESG Leader by Sustainalytics, reflecting the strength of the governance structures and partnerships embedded across the group.

Jamie Delaney, Head of ESG at Cognita, said: “This award is a reflection of the work happening every day across our schools – students leading sustainability campaigns, teachers and colleagues building meaningful partnerships with their communities, and a genuine organisational commitment to extending our impact beyond our own walls. We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved, and determined to build on this momentum.”

This award reflects just a portion of the progress Cognita has made across its ESG agenda. Full detail and analysis will be available shortly in Cognita’s most recent Sustainability Report, which will be published soon.