Climate One is delighted to present the 2025 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown. 

Project Drawdown is the world’s leading science-based guide to climate solutions. According to Foley, it aims to be the Consumer Reports for Climate Change. “We synthesize every paper ever written in science, engineering, technical, economic literature, all the data, and bring it together and say, Hey, does this actually work? And if so, how much would it cost? And how long would we have to wait for it?” 

Foley is not just an expert on the intricacies of hundreds of potential climate solutions; he’s also an expert at explaining complex ideas in easily digestible terms. As he said on a past Climate One episode, “The great news about addressing climate change is we also build a better world in the process. Imagine going to the doctor and they're like, Wow, you're really sick and I'm gonna give you this medicine, but, and its side effects are, you're gonna feel better . . . Climate solutions are like that.” 

Join Climate One for this special in-person conversation with Jonathan Foley, environmental scientist and executive director of Project Drawdown. 

About the Award 

Established in honor of Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, one of the founding fathers of climatology, Climate One’s Schneider Award recognizes a natural or social scientist who has made extraordinary scientific contributions and communicated that knowledge to a broad public in a clear, compelling fashion. Past winners include Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Ben Santer, Katharine Hayhoe, Robert Bullard, Jane Lubchenco and Michael Mann. Winners receive $15,000. 

About Dr. Schneider 

Dr. Stephen H. Schneider was the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, professor of biological sciences, professor (by courtesy) of civil and environmental engineering, and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. Schneider received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and plasma physics from Columbia University in 1971. He studied the role of greenhouse gasses and suspended particulate material on climate as a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in 1972 and was a member of the scientific staff of the National Center for Atmospheric Research from 1973 to 1996, where he co-founded the Climate Project. In 2002, Schneider was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. 

Internationally recognized for research, policy analysis and outreach in climate change, Schneider focused on climate change science, integrated assessment of ecological and economic impacts of human-induced climate change, and identifying viable climate policies and technological solutions. He also consulted with federal agencies and/or White House staff in the Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations. His work is chronicled at climatechange.net.