British Prince William may soon be making his way to the Mother City for the fourth edition of his Earthshot Prize award ceremony, set to take place in South Africa for the first time this November, reports Cape {town} Etc.
Featuring five days of landmark events, the award ceremony aims to celebrate the groundbreaking ways in which this year’s nominees are working to tackle the world’s greatest environmental challenges, bringing together global innovators, entrepreneurs, community leaders and advocates pioneering solutions to restore and protect our planet.
Also read: Earthshot Week 2024 is heading to Cape Town this November
At the third-annual Earthshot Innovation Summit in New York on Tuesday, 24 September, Prince William’s passion project unveiled its fourth cohort of the 15 prize finalists now in the running to receive five £1 million prizes that will be awarded during Earthshot Week 2024.
The award ceremony takes place on Wednesday, 6 November.
The five winners will be awarded across five categories: Protect & Restore, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build A Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate. Each winner will be selected by Prince William and his fellow members of the prestigious Earthshot Prize Council.
In a video message announcing the finalists, Prince William, who was unable to attend, said:
‘I’m delighted to introduce you to this year’s 15 new Earthshot Prize finalists. These solutions are some of the most exciting, innovative and impactful we’ve seen, and the people behind them are true inspirations. I know you’re as passionate as I am about making a difference to our planet, and we can’t wait to share their stories.’
Also read: Cape Town’s ABALOBI nominated for 2023 Earthshot Prize
According to a statement released by the organisation, this year’s finalists were selected from nearly 2 500 nominees submitted by the Prize’s network of more than 420 nominators from 75 countries.
‘The 15 finalists were chosen by The EarthShot Prize based on assessments done by its selection parts and Expert Advisory Panel, a global group of more than 100 subject-matter experts with deep backgrounds in conservation, science, technology, business, finance, academia and policy,’ said the statement.
The organisation added that the 15 finalists will come together in the Mother City from across six continents and include several firsts, including the first finalists from France, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Nepal.
Meet the 15 finalists across the five categories:
Protect and Restore Nature
- Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, Ecuador: An alliance of 30 indigenous nations that stand together to protect 86 million acres of Amazon rainforest and advocate for a regenerative bioeconomy.
- NatureMetrics, UK: A global intelligence start-up in environmental DNA sampling on a mission to make biodiversity monitoring accessible to all.
- Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, Kazakhstan: An organisation that has recovered the Saiga antelope from the brink of extinction.
Clean Our Air
- GAYO Ghana: A youth-led organisation that uses its ‘zero waste model’ to drive behavioural change in waste management practices across Africa that cut greenhouse. gas emissions and particle pollution while bringing additional income to communities.
- d.light, Pan-Africa: A company on track to transform the lives of one billion people by providing affordable and clean solar home systems that provide electricity and replace polluting kerosene lamps and dirty stoves.
- MYCL, Indonesia: A company tackling crop-waste burning and harmful leather production, both which pollute the air and damage quality of life. They take crop waste and use a unique mushroom base to convert it into a leather alternative.
Revive Our Oceans
- High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, Global: An alliance of 119 countries aiming to protect 30% of the land and oceans by 2030, by identifying technical, financial and knowledge gaps and connecting governments with technical assistance and funding
- MiAlgae, UK: A company offering a circular economy solution to the problem of sourcing marine Omega-3s from fish oil, which requires catching wild fish to feed the farmed fish that we consume.
- Coast 4C, Philippines: A social enterprise that aims to build the world’s largest supply of regenerative seaweed, benefiting marginalised coastal fishing communities by transforming their harvest and providing a market to sell the seaweed at profits to lift them out of poverty.
Build a Waste-Free World
- Nature Fibre Welding, USA: A company that creates biodegradable natural fibres and ingredients to replace plastics with wide applications in fashion, footwear, automotive and more.
- Ferment’Up, France: A company that upcycles skins and seeds from fruits and vegetables using dry fermentation to create highly nutritious ingredients from food waste, cutting carbon emissions and drastically reducing water use.
- Keep It Cool, Kenya: A company that is tackling problems with proper refrigeration and cold-chain logistics across Africa by offering solar-powered refrigeration solutions and connecting smallholder farmers and fishers to a centralised online marketplace.
Fix Our Climate
- Equatic, USA: An early-stage company using seawater electrolysis to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean 99 000 times faster than nature alone and produces green hydrogen as a byproduct.
- Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems, USA: A company that takes excess heat from heavy industrial processes, like creating cement and steel, and converts the heat waste into electricity.
- Build Up Nepal, Nepal: A social enterprise that has developed an earthquake-resilient brick with 75% lower carbon emissions compared to traditional clay-fired bricks.
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Picture: Screenshot from video
