Hanqin Tian to receive AGU Bolin Award
Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society Professor Hanqin Tian will receive the Bert Bolin Award and Lecture from the American Geophysical Union, recognizing his groundbreaking research and leadership in global environmental change.
This award and lecture are named to honor the work and life of Bert Bolin, a Swedish meteorologist who served as the first chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Tian will deliver the Bert Bolin Lecture at AGU25, to be held in New Orleans in December.
Tian is director of the Center for Earth Systems Science and Global Sustainability, an Institute Professor in the University's Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, and a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He also directs the newly established Global Carbon Project’s Boston Office, which fosters international collaboration on global carbon and nitrogen cycles, the food–energy–water nexus, and sustainable food systems—providing actionable insights for global sustainability.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the Bert Bolin Award and Lecture,” Tian said. “Throughout my career, I have been inspired by Bert Bolin’s legacy of integrating multiple disciplines to advance our understanding of coupled human–Earth systems. This recognition highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research in addressing global environmental and sustainability challenges, and it underscores how science can guide action for human well-being and the common good.”
AGU, the world’s largest Earth and space science association, celebrates individuals and teams through its annual Honors and Recognition program for accomplishments in research, education, science communication, and outreach. These honorees have transformed understanding of the world, impacted daily life, strengthened communities, and contributed to solutions for a sustainable future.
Tian is a pioneering leader in global environmental change, whose discoveries have fundamentally advanced understanding of biogeochemical cycles and their roles in the climate system. His scholarship is original, rigorous, and impactful, bridging science and policy at the highest levels.
He has published more than 420 peer-reviewed papers with nearly 70,000 citations and an H-index of 119, placing him among the top one percent of highly cited researchers worldwide, according to the Clarivate Web of Science. He is recognized by Reuters as one of the world’s most influential climate scientists and is an elected Fellow of AGU, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.
Over the past decade, Tian has made several landmark contributions. His 2016 Nature paper reframed the role of the biosphere in climate change, while his 2020 Nature paper provided the most comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks—central to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and UNEP’s 2024 Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment—directly shaping international climate negotiations.
More recently, his breakthrough work on the land–ocean interface enabled the first inclusion of previously missing lateral greenhouse gas fluxes, helping to close the global carbon and nitrogen budgets.
Tian joins a distinguished group of scientists, leaders, and communicators recognized by AGU for advancing science and inspiring solutions for a thriving, sustainable, and equitable future.