In early November German President Joachim Gauck paid tribute to the new “outstanding recipients” of the German Environmental Prize from the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) as “Personalities to whom we all owe thanks, who have earned their awards: we will stand with them.” Gauck and DBU Board Chairperson and Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, were in attendance in Essen to personally hand to the climate and ocean researcher Prof. Dr. Mojib Latif (Kiel) and the global activist and sustainability scientist Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström (Stockholm) the most highly-remunerated independent environmental prize in Europe. The Lifetime Achievement Award, previously presented only four times by the DBU, was received by Prof. Emeritus Dr. Michael Succow (Greifswald) for his lifelong commitment to the protection of nature.
