The CAC charity was nominated for the award earlier this year by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) for its work in helping to educate Canadians across the country about the importance of air and water quality and the interconnections between climate change and health.

The charity, founded in 2001, uses a number of Olympic, Paralympic and national team athletes as ambassadors for various programmes that aim to educate and inspire people to adopt practices and lifestyles that improve both environmental and personal health.

"We are humbled and grateful to be honoured by the International Olympic Committee with this award," said Deirdre Laframboise, co-founder and executive director of Clean Air Champions.

"For more than 13 years, our team has worked diligently to build a national charity that engages our incredible Canadian high performance athletes as educators and role models, especially for youth.

"Our goal is to inspire Canadians to live more sustainable, active and healthier lifestyles.

"This award is a wonderful recognition of all the hard work our team and all our champions have accomplished to improve our environment and the wellbeing of Canadians."

Around 200 athletes from a range of summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports are involved in delivering programmes under the CAC banner which include the HSBC Clean Air Achievers, High School Climate Change and Air Aware campaigns.

Canadian hockey star and triple Olympic gold medal winner Hayley Wickenheiser is one of the high-profile athletes involved in the charity's work.

"I'm so proud of the work I have done with this wonderful organisation," said the 35-year-old, twice voted as the most valuable player (MVP) at the Olympics and also has seven World Championship titles to her name.

"As champions, our goal is to have our audiences understand how individual, day-to-day lifestyle choices impact not only our health and fitness but that of our environment.

"This personal sharing allows us to use our athletic achievements and sport to inspire and motivate kids and adults to participate in activities that are healthy, positive and good for the environment."

Triple Olympic gold medallist Hayley Wickenheiser is one of the Canadian athletes involved in the work of the Clean Air Champions charity