Paris, Dec. 7 (CNA) The first winner of the Tang Prize for sustainable development, Gro Harlem Brundtland, praised the prize's organizer for raising awareness of sustainability while visiting its exhibit at the United Nations' 2015 climate conference in Paris on Monday.
The former prime minister of Norway, dubbed the "godmother of sustainable development," credited the awards, established in 2012 by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin in December 2012, for giving weight to issues concerning sustainable development.
Brundtland also used the occasion to call on signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to sign a legally binding international agreement to control global warming within 2 degrees Celsius, the Tang Prize Foundation said.
In addition, Brundtland urged the UNFCCC signatories to set deadlines for the elimination of bad practices such as fossil fuel subsidies and the use of coal, describing such deadlines as the only way people will turn from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
Brundtland was among four recipients of the biennial awards in 2014, when they were bestowed for the first time on distinguished people in the fields of sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, Sinology, and rule of law.
She made the visit to the Tang Prize exhibit during her stay in the French capital, where she is attending the 21st meeting of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP21) that opened in Le Bourget, suburban Paris Nov. 30 and will run through Dec. 11.
(By Emmanuelle Tzeng and Elizabeth Hsu)
