October 12, 2000

Gothenburg: Indian environmental scientist Amulya K.N. Reddy has been awarded the prestigious Volvo Environment Prize 2000, an honor considered akin to a Nobel prize for environment.

Reddy, Brazilian Jose Goldenberg, Sweden's Thomas B. Johansson and American Robert H. Williams were jointly awarded the prize by the Volvo Environment Prize Foundation for espousing and working on theories based on the assumption that energy and environmental issues are closely, and inseparably, linked.

The prize is worth 1.5 million Swedish Kronor or Rs 7.5 million.

Reddy, 70, is the third Indian to receive the award, instituted in 1989. The previous Indians to win it are Geeta Sen from Bangalore, who received it in the first year and M.S. Swaminathan, who received it in 1999. Sen is now on the jury committee that awards the prize.

"This year the prize has been awarded to an international team of four of the world's most well-known and respected researchers," Leif Johansson, the chairman of the Volvo Environment Prize Foundation and president and chief executive officer of Swedish automobile giant AB Volvo, told IANS.

"Though based in India, Brazil, the US and Sweden, the researchers have been in close collaboration since the early 1980s and have achieved ground-breaking work in their field. Their work on global energy sources, energy availability, future trends and the measures that are necessary for sustainability has inspired policy makers the world over. Together they have produced a unique report on the current situation," said Johansson.

Reddy and the other joint awardees will receive the prize at a gala ceremony to be held at the School of Economics and Commercial Law in Gothenburg on October 17.

Based in Bangalore, where Volvo and several other Swedish multinationals have their Indian headquarters, Reddy is at the moment devoting his concentration to transportation issues: "Solving transport problems in the developing countries, first and foremost by developing the bus network, is an important part of the world's environmental program," maintained the environmentalist. "Improving public transport would reduce both emissions and accidents dramatically," he added.

Actively involved with environmental and energy issues outside India since early 1970s, Reddy felt it was imperative that he returned home: "I hope to be able to give something back to the people of India," he said.

The four winners had met by chance a couple of decades ago at Princeton University in the US and realized that they closely shared concepts in their fields of work even though they came from radically different social, cultural and environmental backgrounds and hitherto had different kinds of experience.

As Reddy put it: "The earth's population is depending on energy but producing energy is conducive to environmental problems. If it is possible to have a positive impact on the use of energy, this will also improve the environment."

His other three colleagues share identical thoughts. However, their varied knowledge of the problem and how it affects their individual regions of the world help complement each other optimally.

"The energy and environment issues just cannot be resolved by individual regions of the world. Global interaction is of primary importance," Reddy said.

Perhaps their single most pragmatic contribution has been to highlight that if developing countries make the same mistakes as industrial countries in the energy exploitation area, this would lead to enormous environmental problems. They reasoned that it would be preferable to aim for technological gains by missing out the intermediate stage and focusing directly on new technology.

Jointly, they have systematically reviewed the situation and recommended various solutions for providing energy to the peoples of the planet. They have written several books about their work and their theories have made a considerable impression on politicians and scientists throughout the world.

Reddy recently stepped down as chairman of the international energy initiative (IEI), a path-finding international organization where he has worked for the past 10 years. "I thought it was time to hand over to someone younger," he said.