Exeter scientist up for award alongside Greta Thunberg

Professor Richard Betts, of the University of Exeter and the Met Office Hadley Centre, is on Climate Outreach’s shortlist for the Climate Communicator of the Year Award.

The three-strong list also contains activists Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, from the Marshall Islands, and Aka Niviâna, from Greenland, who are jointly nominated for the way they have connected the experiences of two communities experiencing climate change.  

The winner will be decided by public vote.

Professor Betts, who has served three times as a lead author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and was appointed MBE in June for “services to understanding climate change”, said: “I’m delighted to be nominated for this award.

“It’s really important that everybody understands the science of climate change, and I try my best to help people gain this understanding.

“The more we are aware of our impact on our world, the better we can look after it – and ourselves.”

The nominations website notes: “Many of the nominations we received for Richard highlighted his willingness to engage in open discussions with people who hold a wide range of views on climate change.”

It says the winner of the award should have been “in the public sphere in the past year, communicating climate change with the public”.

Professor Betts will attend the awards ceremony at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford on November 7. 

Voting closes on Wednesday November 6 11:30pm.