Background to the Prize

The St Andrews Prize is an international initiative of the University of St Andrews in Scotland and the energy company, ConocoPhillips. It is a forum for practical environmental ideas that combines good science, economic reality and political acceptability. Each year, the Prize attracts entries from more than forty countries around the world.

The environmental debate tends to be dominated by strong views, vigorously pursued, but destined to be totally unacceptable to one side or the other. It is important to bring together those having some broad agreement on what is important, what can be done and what can make a difference, to address issues in a way that attempts to reflect various strands and shades of scientific and public opinion. The prize was developed to create a forum to do just that.

The St Andrews Prize and its associated environmental seminar were formally launched by a British Cabinet Minister, the Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP, in 1998. Reflecting the aims of the Prize, the seminar is attended by high-level representatives of three important constituencies: science and academia to assess and evaluate ideas, industry to look at the economics and the practicality of these ideas and government to consider their political feasibility.