Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis 2022

Ugandan climate activist and first recipient of the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize, Vanessa Nakate, offers a negative assessment of the G7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria. “At this critical moment, the G7 had a historic opportunity to honor their previous commitments, end financing for new fossil fuels, and accelerate the transition to clean energy. Today, the G7 released their final communiqué: In it, the G7, led by Chancellor Scholz, decided to ignore the world’s leading climate scientists, the IEA, and even UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and instead call for new investments in natural gas,” Nakate said at the award ceremony at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

According to the activist, “this shameful decision will lock in emissions for decades, while it takes far too long to meet Europe’s short-term energy needs. This decision will also entail further debt for Africa, as the new fossil fuel infrastructure will soon be obsolete.”

In her speech, the recipient of the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize addressed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly: “What will your legacy be as the world struggles with a new series of cascading crises? What will you leave behind, Mr. Scholz?”

In her speech, the 25-year-old also highlighted the risks faced by protesting activists, particularly in the Global South.

“Intimidation, surveillance, sexual violence, and criminalization. In 2020, the human rights organization Global Witness recorded 227 deadly attacks on environmental activists. That’s an average of more than four people per week. Safe spaces for protest are shrinking all over the world,” said the climate activist.

Nakate is doing everything she can to avert the worst effects of climate change: “When I was young, I was terribly shy and fearful. But I heard my father and others talk about the rain.” It would either fail to come at all or lead to flooding. “People in Africa are already suffering some of the most brutal impacts of the climate crisis—and yet the entire African continent is responsible for less than four percent of global emissions,” said the founder of the Africa-based Rise Up movement.

In her speech, the activist also highlighted the pioneering role of Helmut Schmidt, the prize’s namesake: “It was Helmut Schmidt who was courageous enough to call for car-free Sundays in car-loving Germany to bring citizens together and create a shared sense of urgency during the crisis. It was the first time that many people recognized the limits to growth and the necessity of moving away from fossil fuels. It was the moment when research and innovation for renewable energy began in earnest. “

The Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung, the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, and The New Institute launched a new award this year, the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize, which Vanessa Nakate received as the first laureate at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg on Tuesday evening, June 28, in front of approximately 500 invited guests. In the future, the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize will be awarded annually to an international figure who, through their significant work, stands for democracy and the common good.

Vanessa Nakate is the first recipient of the new Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis, which will be awarded for the first time on June 28, 2022, in Hamburg by the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, the Helmut Schmidt Foundation, and The New Institute. The award recognizes innovative achievements in the fields of democracy, society, and technology.

“Vanessa Nakate is one of the leading voices for climate justice, a voice of the younger generation, of the future, and of the Global South. She advocates for Uganda, Africa, and beyond—for a large part of the world that is particularly hard-hit by climate change yet bears the least responsibility for it. She is courageous, innovative, and responsible, and represents many activists who are redefining the global common good. We look forward to learning much more from Vanessa Nakate in the future, and it is with great joy and respect that we award her the 2022 Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis,” stated the jury.

Vanessa Nakate is the founder of the Africa-based Rise Up movement. The 25-year-old began demonstrating for the climate in her hometown of Kampala in January 2019 after witnessing how droughts and floods were devastating communities in Uganda. Today, she leads international campaigns to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change, which are already particularly acute in Africa. In 2020, Vanessa Nakate was named a “UN Young Leader” for the Sustainable Development Goals and was included by the BBC in its lists of the 100 Women of the Year and the 100 Most Influential Young Africans. In 2021, Nakate published her autobiography, “Our House Is Already on Fire: Why Africa’s Voice Must Be Heard in the Climate Crisis.”

About the new Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis: The award will be presented for the first time in 2022 and annually thereafter. The ceremony will take place in Hamburg. Alongside the award ceremony, which will be attended by 500 invited guests from politics, business, culture, and the media, various public events will be held as part of the Future Festival. Helmut Schmidt understood democracy as a debate over the best solutions. He placed great emphasis on getting to the heart of complex problems and examining them thoroughly from various perspectives. Schmidt recognized early on that the questions of the future facing the late 20th century could not be answered within the narrow confines of the nation-state. Rather, he was convinced that European answers and global initiatives were needed.

The jury for theHelmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis consists of Francesca Bria (innovation economist), Carsten Brosda (Senator for Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg), Christoph Gottschalk (The New Institute), Uwe Jean Heuser (Die Zeit), who also chairs the jury, Max Hollein (Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Nina-Kathrin Wienkoop (Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation), and Daniel Ziblatt (Eaton Professor of Government at Harvard University).

The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. in the Small Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. The Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis is endowed with 20,000 euros.

Read our Schmidtletter on this topic here.