Lancet Countdown report named as UK National Champion for Frontiers Planet Prize 2025

This recognition celebrates scientists who offer scalable solutions to help humanity remain within planetary boundaries.

The Frontiers Planet Prize, the world’s largest award for transformative, science-based breakthroughs, grants three prizes of $1 million each year to research with the highest potential to address the ecological crisis.

Dr. Romanello’s winning article was The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms.

The Lancet Countdown, funded by Wellcome and hosted at UCL’s Institute for Global Health, is a global collaboration of over 300 experts from academic institutions and UN agencies. This team includes climate scientists, engineers, energy specialists, economists, political scientists, public health professionals, and doctors. Their annual findings, published in The Lancet, aim to inform the UN climate change negotiations.

Dr. Romanello stresses the urgency of addressing planetary boundaries, stating, “As human activities repeatedly breach planetary boundaries, the cost is being measured not just in environmental degradation, but in human lives—through worsening health, rising mortality, and deepening inequalities.”

The Frontiers Planet Prize Award Ceremony will be held on June 17, 2025, at the Villars Symposium in Villar-sur-Ollon, Switzerland. Each National Champion will present their research and engage with key figures from academia, policy, business, and non-governmental organisations.

Links

• Frontiers Planet Prize webpage
• Dr Marina Romanello thought piece
• Dr Marina Romanello UCL Profiles
• Lancet Countdown report 2023