Harvard Scholar Naomi Oreskes Awarded 2025 Volvo Environment Prize for Groundbreaking Work on Science, Climate Change, and Public Trust

Harvard Scholar Naomi Oreskes Awarded 2025 Volvo Environment Prize for Groundbreaking Work on Science, Climate Change, and Public Trust

(IN BRIEF) Naomi Oreskes, Harvard University professor and internationally recognized historian of science, has been named the 2025 Volvo Environment Prize laureate for her influential research on climate change, scientific consensus, and public trust in science. Known for co-authoring Merchants of Doubt, Oreskes has illuminated how misinformation undermines scientific communication and how rigorous peer scrutiny underpins the reliability of scientific knowledge. She argues that human-caused climate change is a settled fact and that society must now focus on adaptation and resilience. The Volvo Environment Prize Jury praised her leadership in bridging science and public discourse, highlighting her role in confronting misinformation and advancing understanding of collective scientific integrity.

(PRESS RELEASE) GOTHENBURG, 31-Oct-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — The Volvo Environment Prize Foundation has announced Naomi Oreskes, acclaimed Harvard University earth scientist and historian, as the 2025 laureate of the Volvo Environment Prize, recognizing her exceptional contributions to understanding the history of science, climate change, and the formation of scientific consensus. Oreskes is widely known for her influential research on the credibility of science and her landmark 2010 book Merchants of Doubt, which revealed how organized misinformation campaigns have shaped public debates on issues from tobacco to global warming.

Currently the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, Oreskes began her career as a geologist before shifting to the study of science’s historical evolution. Before joining Harvard in 2013, she spent 15 years teaching at UCLA, continuing a career deeply tied to the intellectual legacy of scientific inquiry that dates back to the Scientific Revolution, when figures such as Galileo and Newton transformed humanity’s understanding of the natural world.

Throughout her career, Oreskes has explored how science achieves reliability — not through a single “scientific method,” but through rigorous communal scrutiny. “Most people think science is reliable because of its method,” she explains. “But there is no one scientific method. What makes scientific claims reliable is the process by which they are tested and validated by others.”

Her work has also been pivotal in clarifying public misconceptions about climate science. In Merchants of Doubt, co-authored with Erik M. Conway, Oreskes documented how strategies once used by the tobacco industry to cast doubt on medical evidence were later deployed to challenge climate change research. She emphasizes that debate over whether human activities cause global warming is no longer scientific: “If anything is proven, climate science is proven,” she says. “We now need to focus on adaptation and resilience — it’s too late to undo what we ignored decades ago.”

Despite misinformation campaigns, Oreskes notes that public trust in science remains relatively high. “About 60 to 80 percent of people globally express confidence in science, which is encouraging,” she adds, underscoring her optimism about the enduring respect for scientific institutions.

In awarding her the 2025 Prize, the Volvo Environment Prize Jury stated: “Naomi Oreskes stands as a leading figure in the contemporary history and philosophy of science, shaping our understanding of how scientific knowledge is collectively constructed and addressing the challenges of misinformation in public discourse.”

Established in 1990, the Volvo Environment Prize is among the world’s most prestigious environmental awards, recognizing individuals whose work advances the understanding and protection of the environment. Oreskes joins an esteemed list of laureates whose contributions have shaped environmental thought and policy worldwide.

Volvo Environment Prize

Since its inception 36 years ago, the Volvo Environment Prize has grown to become one of the most respected environmental awards in the scientific community. The award ceremony will be held on December 11, 2025, in Stockholm, Sweden, alongside a seminar. 

For more information about the 2025 laureate and the award, please visit www.environment-prize.com.   

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