The Cyprus Institute (CyI) has been recognised for the work its has done in addressing the climate crisis and advancing mitigation actions across the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME) region, it was announced on Tuesday with a parliamentary assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) award.

CyI president Stavros Malas accepted the award during a 2024 awards ceremony last week in Braga, Portugal, during the 18th PAM plenary session.

Malas said the distinction was the result of hard work on the part of CyI researchers and their collaborators worldwide under the guidance of former CyI President Costas Papanikolas, who drafted the regional EMME action plan on climate change.

Malas emphasised that EMME countries need to invest much more in research and innovation to address impacts of the climate crisis, which will continue for hundreds of years, even if the goal for climate neutrality is met.

The regional action plan is an initiative of the Republic of Cyprus started in 2019 and presented at the 2022 COP27 Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. During the summit, ten EMME countries declared the initiative’s official launch: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, and the State of Palestine.

Next steps are to be discussed at the international EMME climate crisis conference co-organised by CyI in September in Larnaca.

The conference is to be held under the auspices of President Nikos Christodoulides and will be attended by climate research and policy experts from around the world.