Al Gore Honors Researcher Fernanda Matos With Climate Reality’s Green Ring Award

Washington D.C. (August 31, 2022) – Yesterday, the founder and chair of The Climate Reality Project, former US Vice President Al Gore, presented the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award to researcher Fernanda Matos during the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Virtual Brazil Training. The training gathered climate advocates from around Brazil online to provide attendees with the practical skills and knowledge to build an equitable and inclusive movement for climate action and climate justice in their communities.

 The award, named after the former branch director of The Climate Reality Project Brazil, Alfredo Sirkis, honors Climate Reality Leaders who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to their roles as climate communicators and activists. Trained at the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, Fernanda Matos is a researcher in postdoctoral residency in business administration at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. She focuses on governance, water and gender research and has generated scientific articles that have been published both in Brazil and abroad. She is the only Brazilian of a group of gender experts providing information and feedback on work and preliminary results to the UN-Water Integrated Monitoring initiative for Sustainable Development Goal 6. The initiative is currently developing approaches to “gender contextualization” within global indicators to support gender-relevant, evidence-based policymaking in countries around the world.

 “We are very excited to honor Fernanda Matos with the Alfredo Sirkis Memorial Green Ring Award,” said Phyllis Cuttino, president and CEO of The Climate Reality Project. “A Climate Reality Leader who has been working on climate research for years, in the branch led by the award’s namesake, Fernanda has been a pivotal mentor and example for climate leaders in the region and around the world.”

 The Climate Reality Leadership Corps Virtual Brazil Training is the 50th Climate Reality Leadership Corps training and a continuation of the organization’s successful virtual trainings. Participants learned directly from scientists, experts, Indigenous leaders, and grassroots organizers in live and prerecorded sessions and came away from the training with proven strategies to effectively mobilize their communities in the fight for a just and sustainable future.

 Upon completion of the training, participants join Climate Reality’s global network of activists around the world, including business leaders, elected officials, entrepreneurs, concerned citizens, educators, and students dedicated to bold, ambitious climate action.

 For more information about the Climate Reality Leadership Corps program, and to learn how to participate in the next training, please visit: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/training.

ABOUT THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT

Founded by Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore, The Climate Reality Project is working to catalyze a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every sector of society. With a global movement more than 5 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Reality Leader activists, it is spreading the truth about the climate crisis and building popular support for clean energy solutions. For more information, visit www.climaterealityproject.org or follow Climate Reality on Twitter at @ClimateReality