Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner, former Co-Chair of IPCC’s Working Group II received the prestigious 2023 Planetary Health Award from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation on 27 October at the ceremony held in Philadelphia.
Addressing the 2023 laureates, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco said that the Foundation’s Awards for Planetary Health recognize “their remarkable achievements in favor of conservation, science, and sustainable innovation”, adding that this recognition also celebrates the individual paths they have chosen and the importance of a multi-player approach in tackling environmental issues.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude for being awarded with the Planetary Health Award of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation” said Hans-Otto Pörtner, accepting the prize. He stressed that he was receiving the award on behalf of the entire team of authors contributing to the IPCC Working Group II report released in 2022 and the Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere released in 2019.
“The IPCC’s sixth assessment cycle has come to an end, and I am happy to say that the 2019 Ocean and Cryosphere Special Report has made a significant contribution to this cycle. It has also been a stepping stone on the way to making the Ocean more visible in the climate negotiations at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which now has a formal Ocean Dialogue at each of its meetings”, said Pörtner.
As co-laureate, Dr. Pörtner was awarded alongside UK-based climate justice activist, storyteller, writer, and advocate for slow fashion, Dominique Palmer, and U.S-based mycelium technology company Ecovactive. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner co-led the IPCC’s Working Group II during the sixth assessment cycle and was jointly responsible for the IPCC’s three special reports on 1.5 °C Global Warming, Land, and Ocean and the Cryosphere. From 2007 to 2014, he was a Lead Author and Coordinating Lead Author of the Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports. In October 2015 he was elected Co-Chair of IPCC’s Working Group II.
Dr. Pörtner has been conducting research as a physiologist and ecologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany for more than 25 years. Together with his team, he investigates how ocean warming, ocean acidification, and the increasing lack of oxygen are affecting vital biochemical processes in marine life. He is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC) and a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).
Since 2008, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Planetary Health Awards have been recognizing individuals and organizations who have shown outstanding commitments toward the preservation of the Earth.