AMBASSADOR EMERITUS PATRICIA ESPINOSA RECEIVES THE GERMAN SUSTAINABILITY AWARD

Ambassador Emeritus Patricia Espinosa received the German Sustainability Award from German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Düsseldorf.

Since 2008, this award has been given annually during the Düsseldorf Sustainability Congress. Its main purpose is to encourage sustainable practices in German towns and companies while raising awareness of sustainable development so that it can take root in society. The congress shows that sustainability not only helps solve environmental and social problems but can also be profitable and improve competitiveness.

Since its creation, the award has included a special category to recognize individuals in either the public or private sector that stand out for their contribution to sustainability in Germany and internationally.
The President of the Council for Sustainable Development, Stefan Schulze-Hausmann, who awards the prize, said the decision to give the award to Ambassador Emeritus Patricia Espinosa "was based on her active work on public climate policy and in particular to her outstanding role as President of the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Cancun in 2010."

At the award ceremony and on behalf of Mexico, Ambassador Espinosa expressed her appreciation for the award so generously given and said that most of the credit is due to Mexico’s people and government, who have made great efforts in recent years to halt deforestation, environmental degradation and to adopt practices more sustainable ways of production and consumption.

She also called on the international community to demonstrate its willingness to act promptly and effectively against the global threat of climate change by making specific commitments.

The German Sustainability Award was also awarded this year to the head of the United Nations Environment Program, Achim Steiner, and the Catalan tenor Jose Carreras.