Prince William announces 15 Finalists for inaugural year of the £50 million Earthshot Prize
17.9.2021 20:01:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
The Earthshot Prize announces today its first-ever shortlist of 15 Finalists, each with a chance of winning £1million to support their innovative environmental solutions to the greatest challenges facing the planet.
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.”
Launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in October 2020, The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious global environment prize in history. Like President John F. Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot’ did almost 60 years ago, the Prize aims to unleash an unprecedented wave of innovation and leadership to tackle our greatest environmental challenges. The Earthshot Prize will be awarded every year for the next decade, discovering a total of 50 Winners.
Five of these 15 Finalists will be awarded The Earthshot Prize and will win £1million in Prize 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. The Winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on 17th October from London’s Alexandra Palace, broadcast in the UK on BBC One and globally on Discovery+.
The Earthshot Prize Finalists for 2021 are:
Protect and Restore Nature:
- Pole Pole Foundation, Democratic Republic of Congo
An inspiring community-led model of conservation that protects gorillas and local livelihoods.
- The Republic of Costa Rica
A pioneering scheme paying local citizens to restore natural ecosystems that has led to a revival of the rainforest.
- Restor, Switzerland
A ground-breaking online platform connecting and empowering local conservation projects.
Clean our Air:
- The Blue Map App, China
China’s first public environmental database enabling citizens to hold polluters to account.
- Takachar, India
A pioneering technology to create profitable products from agricultural waste and put a stop to the burning of crops.
- Vinisha Umashankar, India
A 14-year-old innovator and activist who has designed a solar-powered ironing cart with the potential to improve air quality across India.
Revive our Oceans:
- Coral Vita, Bahamas
A truly cutting-edge breakthrough in coral farming that can restore our world’s dying coral reefs.
- Living Seawalls, Australia
Innovative and replicable seawall panels bringing marine life back to coastal sea defences.
- Pristine Seas, USA
An unprecedented global conservation programme protecting 6.5 million square km of the world’s ocean.
Build a Waste-Free World:
- The City of Milan Food Waste Hubs, Italy
A city-wide initiative that has dramatically cut waste while tackling hunger.
- Sanergy, Kenya
A circular sanitation solution that converts human waste into safe products for local farmers.
- WOTA BOX, Japan
A tiny water treatment plant that turns 98% of wastewater into clean water.
Fix our Climate:
- AEM Electrolyser, Thailand/Germany/Italy
An ingenious green hydrogen technology developed to transform how we power our homes and buildings.
- Reeddi Capsules, Nigeria
Solar-powered energy capsules making electricity affordable and accessible in energy-poor communities.
- SOLbazaar, Bangladesh
The world’s first peer-to-peer energy exchange network in a country on the front-line of climate change.
All 15 Finalists will receive support from The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Members, an unprecedented network of global businesses, who will help scale their solutions for even greater impact.
Of these 15 Finalists, the five Winners will be selected by The Earthshot Prize Council, a diverse team of influential individuals which includes: HRH Prince William, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Sir David Attenborough, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Indra Nooyi, Shakira Mebarak, Christiana Figueres, Luisa Neubauer, Cate Blanchett, Yao Ming, Daniel Alves Da Silva, Ernest Gibson, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Jack Ma, and Naoko Yamazaki.
In the run-up to the prize-giving ceremony on 17 October, BBC and Discovery will release a 5-part documentary series THE EARTHSHOT PRIZE: REPAIRING OUR PLANET, featuring Earthshot Prize Council Members including Prince William, Shakira Mebarak, Daniel Alves Da Silva and Sir David Attenborough.
For more information about the Finalists and The Earthshot Prize, visit: www.earthshotprize.org, email Claire Straw: TEPmedia@freuds.com, download media pack here.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210917005454/en/
Contact information
Claire Straw:
TEPmedia@freuds.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Volue Welcomes TA Associates as New Strategic Investor13.2.2026 12:15:00 EET | Press release
Volue, a global leader in electrification and energy technology, today announced that TA Associates (“TA”), a leading global private equity firm, has joined as a new strategic investor alongside Advent International (“Advent”), Generation Investment Management (“Generation”) and Arendals Fossekompani. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260213436945/en/ Over the past 18 months, Volue has undergone a strategic transformation to sharpen its focus on the energy sector. During this period, Volue divested non-core activities and invested in targeted R&D innovation and strategic acquisitions to further position Volue as a leading provider of integrated technology solutions for power trading and generation, grid optimization, and energy market intelligence. Operating at the center of one of the most mission-critical markets of our time, Volue provides technology that enables utilities, grid operators, traders, and energy
ABB strengthens electrical engineering advisory capabilities in Europe with Premium Power acquisition13.2.2026 11:30:00 EET | Press release
ABB today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Premium Power, a leading electrical engineering consultancy headquartered near Dublin, Ireland. For more than two decades, Premium Power has established its reputation as a trusted advisor to large customers, particularly in data centers, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other mission-critical sectors where electrical resilience, uptime and regulatory compliance are essential. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260213161407/en/ Paula O'Neill, Managing Director, Premium Power (L) and Owen Flood, Local Division Manager, ABB Electrification Service (R) As demand for electrification accelerates and power systems become more complex due to digitalization, renewable integration and grid constraints, customers increasingly require specialist advisory suppo
EnergyAustralia, Enerven and NHOA Energy Mark Financial Close and Project Launch of the 245 MWh Hallett Battery in South Australia13.2.2026 09:00:00 EET | Press release
NHOA Energy, global provider of utility-scale energy storage systems, today marked together with EnergyAustralia and Enerven the official project launch of a 245 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Hallett, near the town of Canowie, in South Australia, following the achievement of financial close and the project’s transition into the delivery phase. The milestone was announced today during a project launch ceremony held at the Hallett Power Station, attended by representatives of EnergyAustralia, Enerven, NHOA Energy, government, Traditional Owners and local community stakeholders. Owned and developed by EnergyAustralia, the Hallett BESS is being built alongside the existing Hallett gas-fired power station and represents the first stage of a broader site development. As delivery partner for Stage 1 of the project, NHOA Energy will supply a Battery Energy Storage System delivering 245 MWh of guaranteed usable energy capacity (50 MW with five hours of storage) at Beginning of Lif
Echoworx Encryption Arrives on AWS Marketplace: Frictionless Security for a Global World13.2.2026 08:00:00 EET | Press release
Echoworx, the trusted name in email encryption, is now live on AWS Marketplace—fully deployed on AWS infrastructure. For global businesses, this means securing sensitive communications just got a whole lot easier, starting from purchase. Why AWS Marketplace? Why Now? Echoworx’s mission has always been to make secure communications as easy and accessible as possible. By joining the AWS Marketplace, Echoworx is taking this mission a step further, ensuring that customers can procure its encryption solution with the same ease and efficiency they experience when using it. Cross-border compliance, taxes, and billing headaches slow teams down. With AWS Marketplace, Echoworx customers bypass the usual red tape: automated tax and regulatory handling, simple multi-currency billing, and support for Private Offers. That translates to custom pricing and contracts in local currencies, less foreign exchange guesswork, and a procurement process built for modern enterprise. "Our partnership with AWS Ma
Align Partners Issues Formal Shareholder Proposals to Gabia13.2.2026 02:37:00 EET | Press release
Align Partners Capital Management Inc. (“Align Partners”), a shareholder of Gabia, Inc. (“Gabia” or the “Company”), has submitted formal shareholder proposals for inclusion in the agenda of Gabia’s upcoming 27th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) and issued a call for strengthened governance practices to address the Company’s persistent undervaluation. Align Partners noted that, as shareholder proposals will be presented at this year’s AGM, Gabia should follow the Korea Exchange (KRX) Corporate Governance Key Indicators by publishing the AGM convocation notice at least four weeks prior to the meeting date. Align Partners emphasized that last year’s AGM notice was issued only 16 days before the meeting, limiting shareholders’ ability to adequately review the agenda and exercise informed voting rights. Gabia is widely recognized as a leading Korean IT services and cloud infrastructure company with solid operating performance. Despite these strengths, Align Partners believes the Company conti
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom