December 22, 2015
Jerome de Bontin ’81, P’06, P’15, U.S. board member of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (PA2F); Erika Shelburne, senior philanthropic adviser and director of international giving at Amherst; His Serene Highness Prince Albert Grimaldi ’81; and Bernard Fautrier, vice president and CEO of the Prince Albert II Foundation at an event this past May
Not long after attending the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, Prince Albert Grimaldi ’81 crossed the Atlantic to New York, where U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon bestowed on the environmental activist the 2015 Global Advocate Award in recognition of his crusade for biodiversity and climate change research. The Prince of Monaco received the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) honor—which has also been presented to former President Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson in previous years—at a black-tie gala on Dec. 14.
Fellow Amherst graduates Jerome de Bontin ’81, Anton Katz ’83 and John Turk ’84 showed their support and pride for their college friend by also attending the affair at the restaurant Cipriani-Wall Street.
According to a New York Times story, Prince Albert noted in remarks at the event that “we all share the unbending conviction that time is of the essence. No one can do it alone. So let us do it all together.”
The award recognizes the Prince’s long-standing advocacy for environmental conservation and sustainability. His first act after ascending to the throne in Monaco in 2005 ratifying the Kyoto Protocol demonstrated the importance he places on the issue.
In the years since then, the prince has established the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (PA2F), the official environmental charity of his native country, to address the “planet’s alarming environmental situation.” Dedicated to the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development on a global scale, the PA2F supports initiatives in three fields: research and studies, technological innovation and socially aware practices. Under the prince’s leadership, the organization has supported a range of programs, including implementing renewable energies in developing countries, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Peru, and helping to establish community-led marine protected areas in Madagascar. (The PA2F also partnered with the College this past May to create a new internship program focused on climate change.)
This year’s UN honor recognized this as well as Prince Albert’s environmental work to make Monaco one of Europe’s greenest nations. Some of the changes implemented under his leadership of the principality include:
- Pledging to a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gasses by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
- Converting garbage into energy for municipal uses and treating and recycling all wastewater.
- Mandating that public service vehicles be electric, hydro or operate on biofuel.
- Funding oceanic science conferences, research projects and marine sanctuaries.
“Even if you are a small country, as we are,” he told The New York Times, “that doesn’t prevent you from having big aspirations.”