CCAC Congratulates Crafoord Prize Laureate Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Pioneer of SLCP Science

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition warmly congratulates Distinguished Professor Veerabhadran (Ram) Ramanathan on being awarded the 2026 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The Prize recognizes his fundamental contributions to our understanding of how aerosol particles and other climate pollutants influence the atmospheric energy balance and the Earth system. Professor Ramanathan laid the scientific foundation for today’s understanding that climate change is driven not only by carbon dioxide, but also by short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) that strongly affect warming, air quality, and human health.

As a founding member of the CCAC's Scientific Advisory Panel, Professor Ramanathan is a long-time colleague, co-author, and inspiration to much of the Coalition. He was the first to discover that halocarbons such as CFCs are powerful “super” greenhouse gases, work that ultimately helped lead to the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol. He played key scientific roles in the NASA ERBE missions, the INDOEX campaign, and the Maldives Climate Superobservatory, and was the first to directly measure the atmospheric greenhouse effect, including the critical role of clouds.

He has also been a driving force behind the concept of short-lived climate pollutants, now a dedicated chapter in IPCC Working Group I assessments and recognized as a legal provision under the UNFCCC climate framework. These landmark advances were grounded in rigorous observational science.

Beyond his scientific leadership, Professor Ramanathan has tirelessly brought climate science to opinion-builders, policymakers, and other stakeholders worldwide, most recently through advancing the Climate Resilience concept. As a founding scientific force behind the CCAC, his work continues to shape global climate and air-quality action, protecting public health and the world’s most vulnerable communities.