Blue Planet Prize The Laureates

Born in 1944
Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego

Professor Ramanathan has spent decades investigating the climate effects of non-CO₂ pollutants, including the role of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs): methane, tropospheric ozone, halocarbons (HFCs^*1), and black carbon^*2. His contributions include the discovery of the super greenhouse effect of halocarbons (CFCs^*3), and clarifying the climate effects of black carbon through an international field project he led on Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs). He showed that reductions in SLCPs can rapidly reduce warming and significantly improve air pollution. He later took the initiative in global actions to reduce SLCPs.

*1 Hydrofuorocarbons (CFC alternatives), no ozone depletion potential but much greater global warming potential than CO₂.
*2 Commonly known as soot; formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass.
*3 Chlorofluorocarbons, large ozone depletion potential and much greater global warming potential than CO₂.

• For more Details

Born in 1945
Founder Chairman, Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND)

Professor Munasinghe pioneered the integrative, transdisciplinary 'Sustainomics' framework which views development issues from environmental, social, and economic perspectives. Innovative concepts like 'balanced inclusive green growth (BIGG)' and 'millennium consumption goals (MCGs)' emerged from Sustainomics. BIGG calls for each country to take a sustainable development path in accordance with its development stage, while the MCGs ask the affluent, who consume most global output, to adopt consumption goals to reduce the burden on the planet. He has been developing practical activities using environmental economics and policy to implement these concepts worldwide.

• For more Details