IPBES and IPCC Chosen to Share 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity

Lisbon, Portugal – It was announced today that IPBES and IPCC have been jointly awarded the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. The news was shared by Dr. Angela Merkel, the former Chancellor of Germany, in her capacity as President of the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity jury. Selected from a field of 116 nominations, from more than 40 countries, the Jury highlighted how the selection recognizes “the role of science on the front line of tackling climate change and the loss of biodiversity.” “Evidence based science”, the Jury considered, “has been fundamental not only to advancing many of the political and public actions but also the need to attribute the ‘nature of urgency’ to the ways in which the political agenda approaches the question of combatting the climate crisis”. The prize includes an award of 1 million euro to advance the work of the selected winners.

Reacting to the announcement,  the IPBES Executive Secretary Dr. Anne Larigauderie said: “The decision to award the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity to both IPBES and IPCC is a powerful statement confirming that the global loss of species, destruction of ecosystems and degradation of nature’s contributions to people together represent a crisis not only of similar magnitude to that of climate change, but one which must be addressed with at least similar urgency. We thank the Jury and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on behalf of the thousands of scientists and knowledge-holders, including those from indigenous and local communities, who have contributed their expertise so freely to the work of IPBES over the past ten years. The unified message from both of our expert communities is that either we tackle and solve the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis together – or we will fail on both fronts.”

The Prize will be formally awarded to Dr. Larigauderie and Dr. Hoesung Lee, the Chair of IPCC, at a ceremony to be held in the evening of 13 October, in the Grand Auditorium of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The award ceremony will be attended by António Feijó, President of the Gulbenkian Foundation, Dr. Angela Merkel, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic, ending with a concert by the Gulbenkian Orchestra. The award ceremony may be viewed live online at: https://gulbenkian.pt/en/ from 19:00 CEST on 13 October 2022.

This is the third year in which the prize has been awarded. The first winner, in 2020, was Greta Thunberg, and in 2021 it was awarded to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.”