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Rabat – King Mohammed VI announced the establishment of a new prize called the “International Award for the Climate and the Environment” to award the world’s top climate defenders, according to Salaheddine Mezouar, Morocco’s former Foreign Minister and the president of the ongoing COP22 conference in Marrakech.
The new award comes as Morocco leads efforts to protect Africa from the effects of drought and famine, while appropriating significant amounts of capital and energy for renewable energy projects, such as coastal wind farms and the Noor solar power complex.
The Moroccan Monarch will provide a $1 million cash prize with the award to the winner.
Hakima al-Haite, Delegate Minister for the Environment, compared the award to the Nobel Peace Price because there is no prize for climate advocates under the Nobel banner.
King Mohammed VI will present the first edition of the award at the end of the United Nations-led COP22 conference tomorrow.
Al-Haite and French diplomat Laurence Tubiana, both in charge of the continuation of the terms of the 2015 Paris climate change agreement during the current COP conference, have both urged all countries to ramp up efforts to cut emissions and adopt renewable energies as current commitments “are not enough.”
The rise of Donald Trump as president-elect of the United States has the rest of the world concerned for the future of the landmark treaty ratified by over 100 countries. Trump had promised to “cancel” the agreement while campaigning for the highest public office in the U.S.
