On 11 October 2017 ScottishPower’s Glasgow Headquarters was the venue for a special event when the ScottishPower Foundation, in conjunction with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS), hosted the presentation of the prestigious Shackleton Medal.

The recipient, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, is a former Minister of the Environment in the Peruvian government and currently the Leader of Climate and Energy Practice at WWF International.

The Shackleton Medal is one of the RSGS’s newer awards, introduced in 2008, and is awarded for leadership and citizenship in the geographical field. With the issue of Climate Change becoming of ever greater relevance and requiring unprecedented levels of cooperation from today’s global society, it was of little surprise that the RSGS chose to recognise Manuel Pulgar-Vidal. The award recognises his leadership as a Minister and of the successful Paris COP21 Climate Conference along with his colleagues, Christiana Figueres and Laurent Fabius. The Medal was presented on the night by Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of RSGS and their Chair, Professor Roger Crofts.

Mr Pulgar-Vidal spoke about his experiences in negotiating the Paris agreement and the need for transparency with all participating governments, large and small. He also stressed that the messages around Climate Change needed to be positive and particularly be focused on how we could create future jobs in all parts of the globe.

Mike Thornton, Chair of the Foundation introduced the evening and there were contributions from both Kerry-Anne McKay, Vice Chair of the 2050 Climate Action Group (which is partly financed by the Foundation), and Dr Francesco Sindico, Co-Director of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance.