Earthshot Prize finalists announced
Prince William has revealed the 15 finalists for the inaugural and ambitious Earthshot Prize.
The Earthshot Prize is described as the most prestigious global environment prize in history and is designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years.
The first ever list of finalists includes a schoolgirl, a city and a country. There are three finalists in each of the prize’s five categories.
The five final winners will be announced next month and will each receive just under two million dollars (one million pounds) funding for the best solutions of the five Earthshot goals: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean our Air; Revive our Oceans; Build a Waste-free World; and Fix our Climate.
Five, one million-pound prizes will be awarded each year for the next ten years, providing at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030.
The Earthshot Prize is described as the most prestigious global environment prize in history.
The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is currently running The Earthshot Prize until it becomes its own entity by the end of this year.
The team behind the initiative says it “aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by highlighting the ability of human ingenuity to bring about change, and inspiring collective action.”
The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is currently running The Earthshot Prize.
In announcing the finalists Prince William said, “Over half a century ago, President Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot’ programme united millions of people around the goal of reaching the moon. Inspired by this, The Earthshot Prize aims to mobilise collective action around our unique ability to innovate, problem solve and repair our planet.
“I am honoured to introduce the 15 innovators, leaders, and visionaries who are the first ever Finalists for The Earthshot Prize. They are working with the urgency required in this decisive decade for life on Earth and will inspire all of us with their optimism in our ability to rise to the greatest challenges in human history.”
The team says each of the Finalist’s solutions “excelled in the rigorous screening process and were assessed on their potential to create game-changing impact around the world, their ability to help us reach our Earthshot goals while also positively impacting people, communities and the natural world.
“All 15 Finalists will receive tailored support and resources from The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Members, an unprecedented network of private sector businesses around the world who will help scale their solutions to realise an even greater impact with their ground-breaking work.”
Finalists shortlist in each of the five specified categories are:
Protect and restore nature category: the Pole Pole Foundation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a community-led conservation initiative protecting gorillas and local livelihoods; the Republic of Costa Rica for a pioneering scheme paying local people to help revive rainforest: Restor, Switzerland, an online conservation platform.
Clean our air category: the Blue Map app, China, an environmental database; Takachar, India, which creates products from agricultural waste; Vinisha Umashankar, India, a 14-year-old activist who has designed a solar-powered steam-ironing cart.
Revive our oceans category: Coral Vita, Bahamas, for restoring dying coral; Living Seawalls, Australia, for helping bring marine life back to coastal sea defences: Pristine Seas, US, a global conservation programme.
Build a waste-free world category: the city of Milan food waste hubs; Sanergy, Kenya, for converting human waste into safe products for local farmers; Wota Box, Japan, water treatment plant turning waste water into clean water.
Fix our climate category: AEM Electrolyser, Thailand, Germany and Italy, for developing green hydrogen technology; Reeddi Capsules, Nigeria, bringing affordable electricity to energy-poor communities; Solbazaar, Bangladesh, peer-to-peer energy exchange network.
Nominations opened in November 2020 and entries were submitted by over 200 official Earthshot Prize Nominators from every region of the world. Nominators were selected for their experience in environmental research, policy, advocacy and grassroots action, as well as their global networks with individuals, teams and organisations who are leading on solutions to these environmental challenges.
Over 750 nominations were screened as part of an independent assessment process run by Deloitte, the Prize’s implementation partner, who ensured that all nominations were assessed fairly and thoroughly, by an experienced sustainability team.
Longlisted nominations were then assessed by a global Expert Advisory Panel. The 2021 Finalists were nominated by the following Official Nominators.
African Conservation Foundation
African Leadership Group
Ashden
Australian Marine Conservation Society
C40 Cities
Clean Air Fund
Conservation Optimism
Darwin College, University of Cambridge
Echoing Green
Goldman Environmental Prize
New Energy Nexus
Oceano Azul Foundation
PDIE Group
REV Ocean
Royal African Society
Salesforce
Solar Impulse Foundation
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony in London on 17th October. To see more about the initiative watch the video below.
