2020 Keeling Curve Prize winners announced during virtual awards ceremony

The 10 winners of the 2020 Keeling Curve Prize, an Aspen-based program that awards money annually to innovative global warming mitigation projects, were announced during a virtual awards ceremony Monday evening.

From a company that captures carbon dioxide and turns it into stone to an environmental campaign that aims to create a more sustainable food system through its evidence-based model, the winners include a variety of projects related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions or promoting carbon uptake, and were chosen by a panel of expert judges from around the world from a list of 20 finalists announced earlier this year.

“These projects — like our former winners — were vetted by top climate experts as having significant potential to help curb global warming,” said Jacquelyn Francis, executive director of the Global Warming Mitigation Project, the Aspen nonprofit that runs the annual Keeling Curve Prize competition, in a prepared statement.

“I hope my peers in the philanthropic community join the Keeling Curve Prize in supporting these projects so that they can scale up further and help us get the climate crisis under control.”

The Keeling Curve Prize awards $25,000 annually to 10 new or ongoing climate change mitigation projects across a wide range of categories like finance, transport and mobility and social and cultural pathways. The prize is named after Charles David Keeling, the scientist and climate science researcher who created the Keeling Curve graph that’s tracked the concentration of global atmospheric carbon dioxide from 1958 to present day.

There were more than 300 applications submitted from 68 countries for the 2020 prize, which was double the number of applications submitted last year, according to a program news release.

During the Monday evening virtual ceremony, a handful of climate leaders and celebrities helped recognize the 2020 Keeling Curve winners. CBS News meteorologist Jeff Berardelli and supermodel, actress and entrepreneur Amber Valletta hosted the ceremony, which featured award presentations by Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org; and Chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen; a special performance of “Suddenly I See” by singer-songwriter KT Tunstall; and reaction videos from each winning project team.

But beyond celebrating the 2020 winners, the ceremony also was a call to action, encouraging viewers to engage in the conversation around climate change solutions and do what they can to help make a difference.

“Just watching this program tonight is not quite enough. Get informed, get inspired and be proactive,” Valletta said to viewers during the virtual ceremony. “And make sure you get all of your friends and family involved as well.”

For more information on the Keeling Curve Prize and Global Warming Mitigation Project, visit globalwarmingmitigationproject.org.