The Göteborg Award for Sustainable Development celebrates its ten year jubilee in 2009. It is funded by the City together with the Second Swedish National Pension Fund, Carl Bennet AB, Elanders AB, Eldan Recycling, Folksam, Götaverken Miljö, Handelsbanken, Nordea, Peab, Schenker AB and SKF. The Jury’s motivation:
The jubilee prize, one million Swedish crowns, is shared equally between Dr. Tibaijuka, Mr. Peñalosa, Mr Hermansen. Each comes from a separate continent and they are, locally and globally, knowledgeable, engaged and impatient doers. They are ambassadors for one of the most decisive factors for humanity - the battle for sustainable development in the cities and towns around the globe. These urban environments are already home to half the people in the world, they represent 75 percent of all energy consumption and generate 80 percent of all greenhouse gases. The problems are extremely complex and require urgent but long-term stable solutions. The Citations:
Dr. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and since 2000 the Executive Director of the UN-HABITAT, the world organisation’s human settlements program with a mandate to promote socially and environmentally sustainable cities and towns. Under her watch the importance of UN-HABITAT’s active role has grown tremendously. Based on the Millennium Declaration’s goal 2020 to lift 100 million slum inhabitants out of poverty, Dr. Tibaijuka – pugnacious, aggressive and with a prominent African and third world perspective – is leading a successful global undertaking that includes water supplies and empowering women to improve their surroundings. As one of the initiators of Cities in Climate Change Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka is also advancing the practical climate work being carried out in major cities. Enrique Peñalosa, Mayor of Bogotá 1998-2001, successfully transformed Colombia’s capital – one of the planet’s most chaotic urban environments with its slums and smog – into a model of sustainable, democratic city planning. Enrique Peñalosa reformed mass transit, primarily through “TransMilenio”, a modern, efficient bus-based transit system. He also initiated the construction of the world’s longest bicycle path system and further developed the popular ”ciclovia”, which shuts off vehicles from long stretches of roads every Sunday between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.. Both projects are aimed at promoting pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Peñalosa is a charismatic and driving person, who now travels all over the world holding lectures on his visions and strategies on how to create good and liveable cities. Sören Hermansen is the primus motor and focal point of the so-called Samsö Project, in which Samsö, with its some 4,000 inhabitants, won the competition between Danish islands on which one would first become self-sufficient through renewable energy within ten years. Under civic-minded Hermansen’s enthusiastic leadership – founded on a grass roots perspective – the work has resulted so far in eleven land-based, and ten ocean-based, wind generators as well as a number of district heating power plants driven by burning hay or wood chips. Replacing fossil fuelled cars and tractors with biogas, raps oil and electric car technology is already in the pipeline. Sören Hermansen was named one of Time Magazine’s 2008 ”Heroes of the Environment”, and is now in the process of spreading his ideas around the world. The Jury:
Chairman: Stefan Edman, biologist and author; Russel Johnson, former Environmental Manager IKEA; Lars Hallén, Life Academy, Lotta Göthe, Ecoplan; Johan Trouvé, West Sweden Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Yvonne Wallin, Pejling Marketing, and Elin Eriksson, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Previous Prizewinners:
2008 : Theo Colborn, USA, Margot Wallström, Europe, Jan Ahlbom and Ulf Duus, Sweden. All four award winners have made internationally important and acclaimed contributions to detoxifying the world we live in.
2007 : Al Gore, USA For his relentless commitment to put an end to the climate crisis by increasing public awareness about global warming.
2006 : Takeshi Uchiyamada, Takehisa Yaegashi and Yuichi Fujii, Japan.For their outstanding, goal-oriented and vital contributions to the development of Toyota Prius, the world’s first commercial hybrid automobile.
2005 : Abahuzamugambi Coffee Cooperative, Rwanda. For its pioneering work to produce coffee with methods that are sustainable from a social, environmental and financial standpoint.
2004 : Joan Bavaria, U.S.A. and Tessa Tennant, Great Britain. For their work in the field of sustainable investment which is aimed at promoting socially, environmentally and economically responsible investments.
2003 : Hans Eek, Sweden and Wolfgang Feist, Germany. For the technology needed to build houses with passive heating systems.
2002 : Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway. For her visionary and innovative environmental work for sustainable development.
2001 : FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and KRAV for their work with environmental certification and eco-labeling of forests and products.
2000 : Geoffrey Ballard, Canada. For his work with fuel cell technology and its applications. |
