{"id":681,"date":"2026-04-21T21:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/?p=681"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:17:13","slug":"apex-paper-is-national-champion-for-frontier-planet-prize-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/2026\/apex-paper-is-national-champion-for-frontier-planet-prize-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"APEX National Champion for Frontier Planet Prize 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-7xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-7xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 60%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        APEX National Champion for Frontier Planet Prize 2026\n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n                    <div class=\"cu-textmedia-bgimg flex-1 rounded-xl bg-no-repeat bg-cover \" style=\"background-image: url(https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/103\/2026\/04\/fpp_comp.jpg); background-position: 50% 50%; transform: scale(1);\"><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p>Carleton University\u2019s Ahmed Abdulla has been named Canada\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersplanetprize.org\/editions-fourth-edition\">2026 National Champion by the Frontiers Planet Prize<\/a> for his research on direct air capture, a technology that removes carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) from the air to address climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Abdulla, a professor in the <a href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/mae\/people\/ahmed-abdulla\/\">Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering<\/a>, is one of just 25 National Champions selected worldwide. The prestigious prize recognizes research focused on keeping humanity within the planet\u2019s \u201csafe operating space.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three International Champions will be named in January 2027 in Davos, Switzerland, and awarded $1 million USD each to scale their research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Advancing Deep Decarbonization<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Abdulla\u2019s work focuses on designing future energy systems that are reliable, affordable, and deeply decarbonized. At Carleton, he co-leads APEX (Alternative Pathways for the Energy Transition), an initiative that tackles and solves the deployment challenges of low-carbon energy technologies to support global climate goals. The initiative focuses on reducing risk and uncertainty, eliminating deployment bottlenecks, and improving policy design to advance clean energy solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2410824121\">award-winning research with alumnus Patrick Shorey, published in&nbsp;<em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em>, examines how environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, air pressure and carbon dioxide concentration influence the performance of direct air capture systems<\/a>. The findings show that performance can vary significantly by location, with implications for energy demand, water use and overall net carbon removal.&nbsp;<br><br>Abdulla said the work highlights the importance of grounding climate modelling in real-world conditions.<br><br>\u201cNations are not decarbonizing fast enough to stabilize climate. Our in-depth, global analyses of the performance of a main capture technology paint a picture of carbon removal\u2019s role in our future,\u201d said Abdulla.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research also informs&nbsp;<em>From Science to Policy: Planetary Solutions in Action<\/em>, a global policy report developed with the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The report explores how scientific evidence can better inform climate policy and international cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the Frontiers Planet Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Frontiers Planet Prize is the world\u2019s largest science competition on planetary health, involving more than 700 universities and research institutions worldwide. National Champions are selected through an independent review by international experts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Canada\u2019s National Champion, Abdulla will represent Carleton internationally, contributing to discussions that connect scientific research with policy and real\u2011world application.&nbsp;<br><br>The recognition comes as countries increasingly look to carbon removal technologies as part of broader net-zero strategies, though researchers note that real-world performance varies significantly depending on local environmental conditions and energy system constraints. Abdulla\u2019s work contributes to ongoing efforts to ensure&nbsp;that assessments of the technology&#8217;s role in net-zero emission plans are aligned with physical and economic realities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on Abdulla&#8217;s research, email him at <a href=\"mailto:ahmed.abdulla3@carleton.ca\">ahmed.abdulla3@carleton.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carleton University\u2019s Ahmed Abdulla has been named Canada\u2019s 2026 National Champion by the Frontiers Planet Prize for his research on direct air capture, a technology that removes carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) from the air to address climate change. Abdulla, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is one of just 25 National Champions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[74,44,81,38,39],"class_list":["post-681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-direct-air-capture","tag-energy-engineering","tag-frontier-planet-prize","tag-net-zero","tag-sustainable-energy"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":689,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions\/689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/apex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}