Climate and clean air champions lauded at Global Climate Action Summit:

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Nine individuals, organizations and collaborations were celebrated at this year’s Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco for action they have taken to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (also known as super pollutants) and protect the climate.

They received their awards at a gala ceremony last week at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Opening the awards ceremony Inia Seruiratu, COP 23 Climate Champion and Fiji’s Minister for Agriculture, Rural & Maritime Development, and National Disaster Management, said reducing short-lived climate pollutants like black carbon, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons can prevent up to half a degree Celsius of predicted warming, prevent 2.4 million premature deaths and save more than 50 million tonnes of crops each year.

“This is an opportunity we can’t miss,” Minister Seruiratu said. “We need to achieve the highest level of ambition to keep temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, this is vital for small island communities and other vulnerable regions around the world. The recipients of these awards exemplify what action looks like, they are fast action heroes, they are putting solutions in place through individual efforts, policy and innovation, and these are clear examples of what is needed in the climate action arena.”

Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said: “We have an optimistic message to share here. These awardees from every corner of the world are examples of what can be done to change the world. Citizens and political leadership and business working together is the way we can change the world.”

The Awards Ceremony closed out Super Pollutant Day, a day of knowledge sharing, calls to action and commitments to reduce these pollutants from national, state, and local governments, business, and non-profit organisations. World leading scientists like Veerabhadran Ramanathan and Nobel Laureate, Mario Molina, noted that short-lived climate pollutants are the low hanging fruit when it comes to warming. Solutions exist now, they’re technically feasible, and in many cases can be achieved at no-net cost.

Dr. Molina said: “When it comes to climate change you can either be pessimistic or optimistic. I choose to be optimistic. There’s a lot we can do to rapidly reduce warming.”

The 2018 Climate and Clean Air Awardees are a snapshot of efforts from every corner of the globe, from every level of society, and across numerous sectors taking place right now to reduce near- and-long term warming. The awardees come from diverse backgrounds including local and national government, academia, the private sector and NGOs.

This year’s award winners (by category) are:

Individual Category

Dr Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Distinguished Professor of Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, for his contributions to science and our understanding of super pollutants. His work has been, and continues to be, fundamental to the way we understand and address climate change.

Professor Ramanathan said: “The new science of weather extremes and its documented public health impacts, has significantly elevated the importance of using super pollutants mitigation to bend the warming curve by about 0.60C within 25 years. It is a race against time; but we can win this race since scalable solutions are available with numerous living laboratories where they are being implemented.”

Dr Mario Molina, Nobel Laureate: 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his contributions to science and our understanding of short-lived cliamte pollutants, in particular the impacts of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) at heating the atmosphere. Dr. Molina’s scientific discoveries, and the national and environmental policies it has helped shape, has contributed to the wellbeing of all humanity.