Welcome to the Tyler Prize
The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is the world’s most prestigious annual environmental prize. The prize honors individuals and organizations who have made exceptional contributions to understanding and protecting our planet and advancing solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Leading Voices, Inspiring Excellence
Established in 1973 by the late John and Alice Tyler, the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement was the first prize of its kind to recognize achievement in environmental science. For more than fifty years, the prize has been awarded to scientists, policymakers, and thought leaders whose groundbreaking work has advanced environmental science, conservation, and sustainability worldwide.
Recipients of the prize (known as our Laureates) work across diverse fields within environmental science including conservation, public policy and economics on issues including health, air, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and energy. The $250,000 prize is awarded to any individual or organization from any part of the world that has worked to deliver global solutions for environmental impact.
The Tyler Prize is administered by The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
Tyler Prize Winner 2024
The Tyler Prize celebrated Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Potsdam at several events honoring him as the winner of the 2024 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. Congratulations Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström!
Watch the 2024 Laureate video here.
“We need to listen to scientists like Johan Rockström,” Harrison Ford said in response to the win. The vice chair of Conservation International—an environmental organization where Rockström also serves as chief scientist—Ford called Rockström “a trailblazer, a brilliant mind, a remarkable person.”
The Tyler Prize Executive Committee awarded the USD$250,000 Prize to Rockström for his “science-based approach to sustainable development for people on a stable and resilient planet.”
One of the most-cited researchers in the world, Rockström’s Planetary Boundaries framework identifies the natural systems supporting human life on Earth and the changes that can be safely made within them without severely altering life on the planet as we know it.
ABOUT THE PLANETARY BOUNDARIES
First published in 2009, the Planetary Boundaries integrate nine systems that determine the functioning and the state of the planet. They provide life-support to humans, and include systems we all rely upon, such as clean water, a stable climate, and vibrant biodiversity. This framework has helped shape public response to climate change and sustainable development, including the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.