A Nobel Cause. The Nobel family wants to use its legacy to promote the development of renewable ener

The inheritors of the Nobel legacy are championing a new award that is designed to promote renewable energy and tackle global warming.

The four great-grandchildren of Ludvig and Robert Nobel, the two elder brothers of Alfred, inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prize, set up the Nobel Charitable Trust (NCT) in the hope of leveraging the prestigious family name.

The
NCT has three core objectives, including the creation of an international award bearing the Nobel name to honour
those individuals or groups most proactive at tackling climate change, the holding of an alternative energy conference and the funding of scholarships in alternative energy development.

In an interview with GCEM, Gustaf Nobel explained the NCT's origins and objectives further.

Mission statement
The opening of the NCT's mission
statement gives a clear idea of some of
the concerns that led the trust's founders
down their chosen path.
"The economic and social health of our
civilisation as a whole directly depends
on the availability and consumption of
freely accessible and relatively
inexpensive energy. Almost 90% of this
is being met by non-renewable sources,
of which over 60% derives from
hydrocarbons, with an assurance of an
increase in the years to come. Alternative
renewable energy sources, on the other
hand, only account for a small percentage
of the worldwide energy usage today and
for the foreseeable future."
The statement continues: "The four
founders ... have with great concern seen
the resulting depletion of oil and gas
resources as well as other non-renewable
supplies. This over-consumption has
been accompanied by increases in the
average global temperature and the
pollution of land, water and air."
This awareness of an approaching
energy crisis coupled with grave
environmental changes prompted Gustaf,
along with brothers Philip and Peter and
cousin Michael, to muse on the question:
"What can we do to help in the present
[environmental"> crisis?"
This musing gave birth to the trust, on
whose board of trustees all four sit,
alongside David Lee and David
Matsumoto.
Award
The annual award would consist of a
medal, a diploma and (at this stage) a
small sum of money.
Its recipients would fall into four
categories. The first would be those
individual scientists and/or institutions
who had "made important discoveries in
the renewable energy field or whose
discoveries could lead to the reduction in
pollution and global warming,"
according to the mission statement.
The next class would comprise those
"corporate leaders or companies who
have demonstrated successful efforts in
finding new commercial solutions in the
energy field in order to reduce the
consumption of non-renewable energy
and its resulting side-effects."
The third group would include
politicians or "policy-makers who have
distinguished themselves by
implementing policy actions in order to
reduce non-renewable energy
consumption, pollution and warming of
the earth's atmosphere."
The fourth and final category, deemed
the most innovative, would consist of
"public advocacy representatives" -
celebrities - "who, by using their
position as public figures and opinion
leaders, substantially helped influence
the public of the need for alternative and
renewable energy sources, as well as
encourage attempts at efforts in the
reduction of global warming."
Nobel told GCEM that in order to
provide encouragement to young
innovators in the renewable sector in
particular, the aim was to make
recognition more immediate wherever
possible, so that awards being handed out
merely for "long service" could be
avoided.
A jury of "neutral" distinguished
experts, who would also be responsible
for determining the selection criteria,
would select the worthy candidates and
an eventual winner.
Initially, the four Nobels might be
involved in choosing the first members
of the panel. The financial component of
the award would not be that significant in
the early stages, but there remains an
opportunity for potential sponsors to
become involved and if this were to
happen then that situation could change.
As far as timing and location were
concerned, the first medals could be
presented as early as next year, although
the location of the ceremony is yet to be
decided.

Conference
The NCT is also tasked with the
organisation of an annual or biennial
energy conference. It might be named
"The Ludvig Nobel Energy Conference"
in honour of the memory of Nobel's
progenitor.
It would have "a focus on renewable
energy sources, ways of combating
energy pollution and global warming,
with participants from major suppliers
and consumers of such energy sources as
well as scientists and legislators. It will
look into the future rather than describe
the present."
The location of the first conference
might well be Baku, Azerbaijan, given
the family's history and strong
association with the country. Indeed,
given that connection it may also prove
the perfect setting for the first Energy
Award ceremony.
Scholarships
The third NCT objective will be the
establishment of alternative energy
development scholarships.
The group hopes to channel any
additional funding left over from the
establishment of the first two to "young
scientists who have, within the fields of
renewable energy, and pollution and
global warming reduction, made
significant discoveries but who lack the
necessary resources to develop their
innovations."
Nobel was keen to stress the equal
weight the NCT would attach to
academic endeavour and innovations
made in a commercial environment.
Nobel vs. Nobel?
In these days of jealous guardianship of
commercial advantage, even the use of a
well-known family name can provoke
hostile reaction from others organisations
that also carry the same name.
It is therefore important to clarify that
the activities of the NCT are in no way
connected with those of the Nobel
Foundation, whose remit covers the
annual award of the five prizes catered
for in Alfred Nobel's will. (The sixth
prize for economics carries the Nobel
name, but is actually awarded by the
Swedish National Bank.) In other words,
the award being proposed by the four
Nobels is not another Nobel Prize.
The closing words from the mission
statement sum up the Nobels' attitude:
"By [setting up the NCT and its
objectives"> we, the founders, will attempt
to contribute to the solution of some of
the most urgent and important problems
of the energy crisis facing mankind and
our planet in the centuries to come. It
behooves each of us to try to help
alleviate the problems of decreasing
energy supplies, global warming and
pollution of the earth, and it is the
founders' hope and belief that their
efforts will contribute to that."