Osnabruck. Once more, the
German Environmental Award of the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU/ German Environmental Foundation) is intended for the sake of climate protection.
Federal President Horst
Köhler will present this with € 500,000 topmost-endowed European environmental award in Aachen on 28th October to the Director of the
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim
Schellnhuber (57), to the founder of the
Konvekta AG, Carl H.
Schmitt (76) and his long-time Development Manager and present Director of the
Institute for Thermodynamics of the
Technical University of Braunschweig, Professor Jürgen
Köhler (53), and to the former long-time Lord Mayor of
Heidelberg, Beate
Weber (63).
Different disciplines - same concern
Schellnhuber is honoured for the major impact he had with his institute on the international political discussion about the solution of the climate problem. Köhler and Schmitt, because they rehabilitated carbon dioxide as substitute for chemical climate killer refrigerants for A/C systems in vehicles, and Beate Weber, because she turned Heidelberg into a leading city in Germany with concern for climate protection and environmentalism.
Schellnhuber - untiring and uniquely qualifiedPresenting the new award winners, DBU Secretary General Dr.-Ing. E. h. Fritz
Brickwedde named Schellnhuber "one of today's most outstanding and creative personalities the German environmental research has to offer". Schellnhuber was characterized by multiple innovative research principles, with which he showed the solution of next century's global environmental problems. With infinite energy and stamina he was among the first who demanded sustainable solutions for the climate problem and with the uniquely scientific reputation of his institute he formed the approaches in the international political climate discussion decisively. Through his untiring work in Potsdam and his activities as academician of most important committees and bodies he was also on international level an "extremely influential scientific advisor".
Modeling climate change scenarios
Schellnhuber's scientific visions and his courage to overcome the classical disciplinary limits were inspiration and role model for many young scientists. Brickwedde: "Particularly with regard to the modeling and simulation methods developed by Professor Schellnhuber we get a much better idea of the ‘climate change phenomenon' and how to face the consequences."