Prize Winners

Curriculum Vitae

He holds a PhD in Atmospheric Physical Chemistry from the University of East Anglia (UK) and a degree in Chemistry from the University of Castilla-La Mancha. He is currently a Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and director of the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate group at the Blas Cabrera Institute of Physical Chemistry (IQF-CSIC). He is also an affiliated scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the United States.

After conducting research at internationally renowned institutions such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Harvard University, he returned to Spain in 2009 to establish the Department of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate at the IQF-CSIC, pioneering a line of research in Spain on the influence of atmospheric chemistry on the climate system.

His work has made a decisive contribution to understanding how certain chemical reactions that take place in the atmosphere affect the global climate. His research has revealed the fundamental role of elements such as iodine, bromine, and chlorine in regulating greenhouse gases, the formation and destruction of ozone, and the natural mechanisms that help mitigate global warming.

Author of nearly 300 scientific publications, many in top-tier journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Climate Change, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), his discoveries have been incorporated into international climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other leading global organizations.

A member of the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Spain and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, he has received recognition from institutions such as NASA, the American Meteorological Society, the European Geosciences Union, and the American Geophysical Union.

Jury ruling

The jury of the Rei Jaume I Prizes  has unanimously decided to award Alfonso Saiz-López in Protection of the Enviroment for his pioneering contributions to understand the impact of atmospheric chemical reactions on climate change. His unique multidisciplinary approach, combining theory, laboratory and field measurements, and models has enabled the analysis of the influence of molecular-scale chemical processes on global phenomena, such as atmospheric ozone and climate.
His contributions have far-reaching scientific and societal impacts, including the implementation of the cooling effect on the climate models used to inform the UN´s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and World Climate Research Programme.