But most important of all:

“John Kerry was present in the corridors and hallways during the negotiations of the Paris Accord, and he convinced reluctant countries to sign. I believe much of the honor for the creation of this Accord is down to him”, Grimsson said.

The physical award itself is an iceberg sculpture – a symbol of the glaciers, the ocean ice and a reminder about what we risk losing.

The former Secretary of State had caught a bad cold yet entered the stage in Reykjavik to give his acceptance speech. He revealed that he had had to see a doctor in order to regain his voice.

“This is a great honor. Not only because it is a beautiful award and comes with a beautiful statement, but also because I get it at a convention like this from people who are in that battle. Thank you for that”, he said and continued:

“We are facing a threefold threat. Economy, green evolution and the climate changes. But it is all interconnected and we cannot solve one without solving the others”.

Pole to pole

He further told the 2,000 conference attendees from 60 countries about a trip he made to Svalbard with then-Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende:

“The scientists we met at Svalbard told me: “If you really want to understand what is going on, you have to go to Antarctica. So I did, on election day in 2016, actually. I almost chose to stay when I saw how that went”, he said jokingly.

“It was magical and a wilderness like none I have ever seen. I even saw and was taught about alarming evidence of what happens to our globe. Antarctica truly is “Ground Zero” for climate changes.”

He believes that public persons and world leaders carry a special responsibility to serve the people in a good way and to demonstrate the principle of being precautious.