Excellence in Climate Research

Erika Coppola, a research scientist in ICTP’s Earth System Physics section, has been awarded the 2025 Motumundi Prize by the association Cinzia Vitale Onlus. The award recognises Coppola's role as Coordinating Lead Author of a chapter in the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Seventh Assessment Report; she is the only Italian to be chosen for this role.

Coppola, whose work focuses on regional climate and high-resolution climate models, will contribute to the chapter on regional climate projections and extreme events in the report of Working Group I, which is responsible for assessing the physical aspects of climate change.

In 2020, the award was given to another ICTP scientist involved in climate change research, physicist Filippo Giorgi.

The prize was awarded as part of the Motumundi festival, an international event conceived and promoted by Vitale Onlus, which this year runs from 16 to 18 October in Siena with the patronage of the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, and the collaboration of the European Commission.

The Motumundi award is presented annually by the cultural association Vitale Onlus to individuals committed to protecting the environment and safeguarding the health of the planet.