Prof. GU Baojing wins inaugural Frontiers Planet Prize

The International Champions of the Frontiers Planet Prize 2023 were announced during the Awards Ceremony at the Frontiers Forum Live on April 27. Prof. GU Baojing from the Zhejiang University College of Environmental & Resource Sciences was one of the four recipients of the 1st edition of the Frontiers Planet Prize.

GU Baojing engages in interdisciplinary research into resource and environmental management. His research article, entitled “Abating ammonia is more cost-effective than nitrogen oxides for mitigating PM2.5 air pollution”, was published in the journal Science in 2021. This paper highlights that abating ammonia emissions is an integral component of PM2.5 reduction and that the societal benefits of abatement far outweigh the costs. Reducing ammonia emissions could therefore serve as a cost-effective complement to nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide controls.

“The Frontiers Planet Prize inspires scholars around the world to protect the health of the Earth’s ecosystem through scientific inquiry, which is of immense significance to the sustainable development of our planet. Our research focuses on how to mitigate nitrogen emissions. Not only is this bound up with food security, but it is also one of the most vulnerable aspects within the safe planetary boundary. The interdisciplinary analysis of ammonia abatement, sustainable development and global changes is therefore of supreme importance to the sustainability of the Earth’s ecosystem and mankind,” said GU Baojing.

The Frontiers Research Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2006 with the mission of accelerating scientific solutions for living healthy lives on a healthy planet. In 2022, the Frontiers Research Foundation launched the Frontiers Planet Prize to celebrate breakthroughs in sustainability science, rewarding solutions that show measurable potential to help humanity remain within the boundaries of the Earth’s ecosystem. Renowned sustainability scientists make up the Jury of 100, voting first for one National Champion from each country, and then for the three prize-winning International Champions.

Photo credit: The Frontiers Planet Prize