MOSCOW, March 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Global Energy Prize has completed its 2020/2021 nomination cycle, setting new records despite the pandemic.      

Thirty-six countries are represented on the long list of nominees, three times the number in 2019 (12 countries) and nearly twice the 2020 number (20 countries).  The list includes academics from North America and Western Europe, but also for the first time from such nations as Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Gambia, Hungary, Jordan, Latvia, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Togo, Uruguay and Zimbabwe. Stringent rules and the highest academic standards have been upheld. 

For the first time in the prize's history, there are four women candidates – from India, Kazakhstan, the United States and Zimbabwe. 

The prize's expanded geography underscores broadened prestige, stimulated by cooperation with the World Energy Council in London and active promotion of the U.N. sustainable development goals agenda. 

There was also the expanded international stature of the Board of Trustees – including the General Director of the Association of Power Utilities of Africa, Abel Didier Tella, as well as the former president of Uruguay, Julio Maria Sanguinetti Coirolo, and the founder of the London-Brussels group Influence, Peter Wilding. 

Out of the 106 nominations, 34 are devoted to conventional energy, 45 to non-conventional, and 27 to new ways of energy application, including a "management" subcategory. This is in line with global energy trends and the International Energy Agency's forecast of a boom in renewable energy sources in wealthy countries and growing fossil fuel demand in the Asia-Pacific region.  

Independent experts will consider candidates, with criteria including "newness", scientific and practical value. A short list of 15 candidates will be created on the basis of those receiving the highest number of average points in each category. 

The short list will be considered by the International Committee - 20 academics from 14 countries. This year, the committee will meet during the Tatarstan Oil and Gas Forum in Kazan (6th-7th September). The award presentations will take place during the Russian Energy Week International Forum in Moscow in the autumn of 2021. 

The 2020 presentation (postponed by the pandemic) will take place in conjunction with the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (2nd-5th June), organised by the Roscongress Foundation.

The Global Energy Association is a non-commercial organisation with headquarters in Moscow. Members of the Association include Gazprom, Surgutneftegas and Rosseti FGC UES.