The University of Utah is aiming to be at the forefront of addressing global climate change with the help of a new, seven-figure prize to find solutions.
The U. announced Friday afternoon the creation of the Wilkes Center Climate Prize, an award worth $1.5 million and meant to support the most innovative ways to address climate change. The prize is one of the largest awards of its kind in Utah, and the country, according to U. President Taylor Randall.
The award was announced during U.S. Rep. John Curtis’ first-ever Conservative Climate Summit at the U. campus. Randall, alongside Scott Anderson, president of Zions Bank, Peter Huntsman, CEO of the Huntsman Corporation, and Christina Huntsman Durham of the Huntsman family.
"The University of Utah and the Wilkes Center are really pleased to be a part of the change in the solutions that we need," Randall said.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) From left, Taylor Randall, Peter Huntsman, Scott Anderson and Christena Huntsman Durham share a laugh as Huntsman relays a life story at the inaugural Conservative Climate Summit, on Oct. 14, 2022.
Money for the award comes from sponsors, including Zions Bank, Huntsman Corporation and Chevron, among others. The award, which will be open to applicants in January, will be housed under the U’s new Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy.
Curtis told those at the summit Friday morning the word “climate” is often viewed as divisive among the right, but again stressed the need for the GOP to have its say in climate talks. He added he thinks the “extremism” of the left often drives Republicans away.
"Sometimes I think we propose ideas that I say 'take the head off to fix the headache' — and that turns off conservatives," Curtis said.
The congressman has leaned into climate issues during his time in Washington, a topic that Republicans have rebuffed in the past. But, like the global climate, conservative politics is also changing.
In 2021, Curtis started the Conservative Climate Caucus, a group that has grown to nearly 80 members.
Among Friday’s featured speakers was former national security advisor Robert O’Brien, who appeared virtually. O’Brien worked under former President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2021 in his advisor role.
During his talk, O’Brien stressed the need for the conservatives to take the lead on addressing climate change. He said conservatives propose “real solutions,” instead of “sham policies that may feel good, or maybe advocated by, you know, some Norwegian teenager, but they won’t do anything to help our climate or environment” — appearing to criticize climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is Swedish.
O’Brien also spoke highly of the former president, saying he supported Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, a 2015 pact that looked to stymie a global climate disaster.
That decision was met with much criticism, but it was the right thing to do,” O’Brien said, “Because the accords did little to help the climate in the environment, and they get a free pass to the world’s biggest polluter: The People’s Republic of China.”
The Friday summit ended with the Wilkes Award announcement and a presentation from Utah state Rep. Tim Hawkes, who outlined the status of the Great Salt Lake and what is being done to try to save it.
State and federal lawmakers met on Thursday during Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson’s second Great Salt Lake Summit to discuss recent and future efforts to save the saline lake.
This summer, and for the second time in less than a year, Great Salt Lake dried to a record-breaking low elevation.
