Anyone entitled to an honorary doctorate from TU Graz not only enjoys an excellent reputation in their department, but has also achieved outstanding achievements in science and research or technical and scientific innovation that have a lasting impact on society. Climate researcher and former president of the CCCA Helga Kromp-Kolb meets these requirements for one of the highest academic awards at the Graz University of Technology. She was awarded on November 30, 2022 in recognition of her scientific achievements in sustainability and climate protection accepted into the circle of honorary doctors of the TU Graz.
“Helga Kromp-Kolb’s honor is an acknowledgment of her impressive and tireless commitment to the climate protection and a sustainable society. Both topics have been strongly promoted at ETH Graz in recent years in research, teaching and third mission and have significantly advanced us in our developments,” he emphasizes Rector Harald Kainz in his speech at the honor ceremony in the auditorium of the ETH Graz. In this way, the ETH Graz pursues the goal of sustainability CO2-Reduction in all areas and is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
Helga Kromp-Kolb stressed that cooperation instead of competition is needed to tackle the challenges of climate change, and he also used his words of thanks to give roses to the Graz University of Technology: “I find it encouraging that Graz University of Technology has recognized the signs of the times and that goes beyond the necessary framework.
Die Meteorologin Helga Kromp-Kolb is an internationally renowned climate researcher. After the habilitation at the University of Vienna, she stations at the Central Institute for weather and Geodynamics (ZAMG) and at San José State University in California. She headed the field of environmental meteorology at ZAMG and the University of Vienna before accepting the call to the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. She is the author of the “Black Book on Climate Change” (2005) and “Plus Two Degrees: Why We Should Warm Up to Save the World” (2018). Even after her retirement in 2017, Helga Kromp-Kolb is tirelessly and continuously involved in teaching and in efforts to transform universities and society, for example as a board member of the Climate Change Center Austria, as a founding member of the Alliance for Sustainable Universities and as one of the initiators of the project “Universities and Sustainable Development Goals (UniNETZ)”.
