On April 29, the Paulson Foundation and Tsinghua University jointly announced the official launch of the application process for the 2024 Paulson Sustainable Development Award (referred to as the "Paulson Award"). The open call for applications will run until June 30, 2024.
In today's world, climate change and biodiversity loss remain two major global challenges facing humanity. Deborah Lehr, Vice Chair and President of the Paulson Foundation, stated, "There is a greater need now than ever before to recognize solutions that heal the Earth." Yang Bin, Vice President of Tsinghua University, emphasized that addressing climate change relies on human efforts to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality through green innovation, while protecting and restoring biodiversity depends on humanity's increased respect for nature, adaptation to nature, and conservation of nature to build a shared community of life between humans and nature.
The Paulson Award features two categories: "Green Innovation" and "Nature Conservation," seeking innovative sustainable development solutions. Experts from various fields such as architecture, economics, finance, energy, ecology, and environmental protection will evaluate projects based on innovation, green and ecological benefits, demonstration and promotion, funding mechanisms, and social benefits, and conduct site visits to selected projects.
The "Green Innovation" category aims to attract and incentivize solutions that actively address climate change, improve environmental quality, promote energy structure transformation and upgrade, and foster green and low-carbon development to build a sustainable future where the environment and economy coexist. This category seeks solutions in energy conservation, resource utilization, circular economy, environmental pollution prevention and control, energy saving, and emission reduction, encouraging innovative models and the application of emerging technologies such as green financial products and services, as well as innovations in technologies like 5G, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence.
The "Nature Conservation" category aims to discover and recognize innovative solutions for protecting and restoring the ecological environment, seeking innovative projects and mechanisms that enhance the sustainability and scalability of protecting and restoring natural ecosystems and improving ecosystem services.
"This year, we also focus on innovative practices that empower sustainable development with new productive forces, including green innovation projects in strategic emerging industries such as hydrogen energy, energy storage, bio-manufacturing, carbon capture, utilization, and storage, and new materials," said Zhuang Weimin, Co-Chair of the Jury and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. "These green innovation practices, tested in the large-scale Chinese market, can provide valuable insights for other countries worldwide."
