The prize for climate change communication, which is awarded annually by the UN Information Center in Prague and the Learned Society of the Czech Republic, was won this year by Czech Radio climate reporter Jan Kaliba. He started his journalism career as a sports reporter, worked as a correspondent for public radio in the United States from 2017-2023, and now focuses mainly on events related to climate change. This year, the organizers also awarded the “Inspiration from Abroad” award for the first time, the laureate of which was Anna Holligan, the BBC correspondent in the Netherlands.
The award ceremony in the Václav Havel Library in Prague was honored by the attending of H.E. Mr. Stéphane CROUZAT – Ambassador of the Republic of France, and H.E. Mr. Daan Feddo HUISINGA – Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Grand prize
“The Climate Change Communication Award 2024 is awarded to Jan Kalib for the high level of climate reporting from home and around the world, which is accessible to a wide range of listeners and at the same time does not lack depth and contextuality; and for establishing climate change as a cross-cutting topic that is gradually becoming part of the education of media workers,” reads the nomination committee’s rationale.
At the presentation ceremony in the Václav Havel Library in Prague, the Learned Society awarded the prize winner with a monetary donation of 30,000 CZK. The UN Office in the Czech Republic symbolically handed over a tree seedling. This is a continuation of the tradition from previous years when the following were awarded: climatologist Radim Tolasz (2019), Ondráš Přibyla and the Fakta o klima team (2020), climatologist Miroslav Trnka (2021), polar ecologist Marie Šabacká (2022) and the Climate Association for International Issues (AMO) (2023).
Honorable mention
This year, for the first time, the organizers awarded the honorary award “Inspiration from Abroad”. It was awarded to Anna Holligan, British journalist and broadcaster for the BBC in the Netherlands, author of the News from the Cycle Path project and co-founder of The Bike Bureau, for “extraordinary efforts to communicate authentically and promote innovative and sustainable solutions in news production, while maintaining the highest standards of journalism.”
In previous years, the organizers awarded an honorary award for lifetime contribution to the ecologist, university teacher, and former Minister of the Environment Bedřich Moldan (2021) and geneticist and molecular epidemiologist Radi Šrám (in memoriam 2022); for an extraordinary achievement to the head of the TEREZA educational center Petar Daniš for the book “Climate is an opportunity” and sociologist Vojtěch Peck for the book “Factory of lies: production of climate disinformation” (both in 2023).
Czech Radio Plus editor Daniela Vrbová accompanied the program in the Václav Havel Library. The recording of the ceremony, including the awardees’ lectures and their discussion with the 2021 laureate Ondráš Přibyla, founder and director of the Climate Facts organization, is available on YouTube: https://bit.ly/cenaklima24
The award for climate change communication is intended for scientists and experts who work in the Czech public space. This is not a journalistic award; it is just a coincidence that both of this year’s laureates work in the media. In the communication of this topic, they fulfill high professional criteria of understanding complex issues and working with data.
The project is jointly organized and covered by the UN Information Center in Prague and the Learned Society of the Czech Republic. The winner of the main prize is decided by a nomination committee made up of representatives of important Czech institutions dealing with climate change. Committee membership is honorary and personal. The aim of the award is to contribute to the enlightenment and cultivation of a reliable, factual and current knowledge-based discussion about one of the world’s most serious threats. The award is also intended to contribute to bridging differences of opinion and to foster a culture of critical discussion between different disciplines.
Background
“Human-induced climate change is leading to large-scale and rapid changes in the atmosphere, oceans, cryosphere, and biosphere, and is causing a large number of extreme weather events. Global greenhouse gas emissions increased by 1.2% in 2021-2022 to reach 57.4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. 2023 was by far the hottest year on record. The volume of heat in the oceans reached record values, while the Arctic and Antarctic glaciation was at an all-time low. Temperatures in the first half of 2024 were also record high.
People on every continent have experienced extreme weather events, from searing heat across much of Asia and drought in southern Africa to record flooding in southern Brazil and unprecedented Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean. The increasingly frequent occurrence of dangerous weather extremes and their devastating impacts on the population highlights the need for urgent and ambitious climate action,” states the latest United in Science summary report 1.
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Jan Kaliba, ČRo reporter : “Climate change has thousands of forms and offers thousands of stories, it speaks to us through floods, frozen apple harvests, canceled Jizerská fifty or people’s efforts to warm their homes. Every journalist is therefore a bit of a climate journalist these days. But it’s not easy to admit it, it’s not easy to find your way around it, it’s not easy to deal with the complexity of this topic and the climate myths and misinformation that abound in the public space. It is not easy to wrap climate change into understandable and digestible stories. Therefore, I accept the award with great respect for all my journalist colleagues who have been working on the topic of climate change in the Czech Republic for a long time, and with thanks to Czech Radio for deciding to establish the position of climate reporter and to help this urgent topic become more familiar in the Czech public debate and to reporting on it has become mainstream.”
Anna Holligan, BBC correspondent in the Netherlands: “Telling authentic stories has a transformative effect on climate communication. By sharing experiences from my personal journey, I aim to shift the narrative of despair to hope and open the way to a more sustainable future. Let’s inspire each other to take meaningful action for our planet!”
Jan Dusík, Deputy Director General for Climate at the European Commission and member of the nomination committee for the award: “Today it is increasingly difficult to navigate which information is true and substantiated, and which is purposefully colored. Whether for reasons of economic or political benefit, or simply as targeted disinformation. The topic of climate change, which is generally perceived as the most fundamental civilizational challenge, is fertile ground – and especially in the Czech Republic – for purposeful dissemination or editing of information. It’s good that the winner of the Climate Change Communication Award has been announced for the sixth time, and the even better news is that it held its own against strong competition from others. It gives me hope that the attitude of Czechs and Czechs to this fundamental challenge can be based on quality and understandable sources!”
Radim Tolasz, climatologist of the ČHMÚ, Czech representative in the IPCC, first laureate of the award (2019): “In recent years, it has been increasingly confirmed that deficiencies in communication reduce the importance and acceptance of scientific results in the public. Not only in climatology, it has general validity. That is why I consider the climate change communication award a remarkable and important undertaking. Above all, I wish the awardee an understanding audience.”
Pavel Jungwirth, Learned Society of the Czech Republic : “Science provides a clear and increasingly accurate picture of climate change and the human contribution to it. However, if these findings are not clearly and convincingly communicated to the general public, who can then also influence political decision-making, we will remain half way. That’s why the Climate Communication Prize is here as an encouragement to take further steps in the right direction.”
More details you can find at: https://osn.cz/
Photo : UNIC Prague