Shortlist whittled down from nearly 2,500 nominations, with successful finalists now in the running for five £1m prizes
The Earthshot Prize yesterday celebrated its most successful year to date, as it unveiled the fourth cohort of Prize Finalists at an event at New York Climate Week.
The 15 finalists were selected from nearly 2,500 nominees submitted by the Prize's network of more than 430 nominators from 75 countries. The cohort includes the first finalists from France, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Nepal, as the high profile innovation competition continues to expand its reach.
The 15 finalists were chosen by The Earthshot Prize based on assessments undertaken by its selection partners and Expert Advisory Panel, a global group of more than 100 subject-matter experts with backgrounds in conservation, science, technology, business, finance, academia, and policy.
Each of the 15 finalists are now in the running to receive five £1m prizes which will be awarded at The Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa on 6th November.
The latest cohort means the Prize - which was launched by Prince William in 2020 in a bid to raise the profile and accelerate the development of green solutions - has now honoured 60 finalists and helped unlock more than £75m in direct and in-kind support for shortlisted companies and projects.
The finalists will now compete in five categories: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build A Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate.
The projects competing in the Protect and Restore Nature category include an alliance of 30 indigenous nations in Ecuador that plans to protect 86 million acres of critical Amazon rainforest, UK biodiversity monitoring start-up NatureMetrics, and the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative in Kazakhstan, which is working to enable the recovery of the Saiga antelope.
Finalists in the Clean Our Air category include a project in Ghana to promote a zero waste model, d.light's work across Africa to replace polluting lamps and stoves with domestic solar systems, and MYCL's project in Indonesia to turn crop waste into an alternative to leather.
The oceans category brings together the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People and its campaign to protect 30 per cent of land and sea, UK start-up MiAlgae which aims to offer a sustainable alternative to Omega-3 fish oils, and Coast 4C in the Philippines and its work to build the world's largest supply of regenerative seaweed.
In the Build a Waste-Free World category the finalists include Natural Fiber Welding from the US, which aims to replace plastics with natural fibres, Ferment'Up from France which is working to upcycle skins and seeds from fruits and vegetables to create nutritious ingredients, and Kenya's Keep It Cool, which is providing solar powered refrigeration solutions across Africa.
Finally, the Fix Our Climate category has recognised US-based ocean carbon removal specialist Equatic, waste heat technology specialist Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems, and Build Up Nepal, a social enterprise that has developed an earthquake-resilient brick with 75 per cent lower carbon emissions compared to traditional clay-fired bricks.
The five winners of this year's Prize will now be selected by Prince William and the Earthshot Prize Council, which is chaired by former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and includes Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Cate Blanchett, Sir David Attenborough, Indra Nooyi, Stella McCartney, José Andrés, Wanjira Mathai, Nemonte Nenquimo, Luisa Neubauer, Naoko Yamazaki, Ernest Gibson, and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The announcement comes after children's TV show Blue Peter announced it had teamed up with Prince William to launch an Earthshot Competition for children aged five to 15. Viewers have been invited to submit ideas for solutions that can help tackle environmental challenges in one of the Earthshot Prize's five categories ahead of a 28th October deadline.
You can now sign up to attend the fifth annual Net Zero Festival, which will be hosted by BusinessGreen on October 22-23 at the Business Design Centre in London.
