The Nobel Committee and Royal Swedish Academy of Science has been urged to establish a climate and planetary health prize, in honour of Alfred Nobel next year.
The online search engine Ecosia is leading the calls for a new prize, with backing from prominent figures, including representatives from the think tank Club of Rome, climate activist Luisa Neubauer and prominent Brazilian indigenous leader Álvaro Tukano.
Ecosia has also deposited €1 million ($1.17 million) with a notary in Berlin, reserved solely to help create the endowment for the prize.
The search engine said it is open to funding a long-term foundation so that climate solutions always have a place in the Nobel family of prizes, or to sharing administration and funding with other organisations committed to climate justice.
It said the proposed prize is intended particularly to highlight contributions in the design and implementation of effective regulations and institutions that enable sustainable investments, accelerate the energy transition, and strengthen societal stability
The German climate scientist and president of the German Society of the Club of Rome, Professor Dr. Mojib Latif, Club of Rome said in view of the urgency of global environmental problems, it is imperative to establish a Nobel Prize for outstanding commitment to the protection of our natural resources, in a statement.
The Professor added this would be entirely in line with Alfred Nobel’s wishes.
“He wanted his money to be used after his death to award prizes to people who had ‘conferred the greatest benefit to mankind,” said Latif.
Climate activist Neubauer said an award for climate and planetary health would encourage people worldwide to build solutions, improve policy and mobilise communities to take action, in a statement.
Neubauer added it is long overdue for the Nobel tradition to finally recognise “the greatest crisis of our time”.
And Tukano said the world’s most prestigious award needs to recognise the most dramatic problem facing the planet.
At present, the Nobel Prize has six categories – physics, chemistry, physiology & medicine, literature, peace and economics.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi for creating innovative materials, which efficiently trap gases like carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
These materials, called metal–organic frameworks, can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyse chemical reactions.
“Metal–organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” said, the chair Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Heiner Linke.
The Nobel Peace Prize has also recognized contributions to climate awareness in the past.
In 2007, the prize was jointly awarded to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore for “their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.
Other notable international climate awards include the Earthshot Prize, which was established by Prince William and the Royal Foundation in 2020 to champion positive action in the environmental space.
The 2025 Earthshot Prize winners were announced last month (November) at a star-studded Awards Night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This year’s winners include the city of Bogotá, the High Seas Treaty, and Lagos Fashion Week.
And the United Nations Global Climate Action Awards are spearheaded by UN Climate Change’s Momentum for Change initiative and showcase some of the most practical and replicable examples of what people across the globe are doing to address climate change.
Ecosia said the proposed prize would not replace or compete with existing categories and instead build on the Nobel tradition by elevating climate leadership.
The search engine’s chief executive Christian Kroll said it believes the new prize will “spotlight, reward and inspire the groundbreaking innovations and dedicated individuals who are working tirelessly to ensure our survival for generations to come”.
