We are so proud of host-city Cape Town as she brought out all the stops in honour of The Earthshot Prize. A week of meet and greets, innovations on display, and interactions with local communities paved the way for a worthy award ceremony. The star-studded cast presented the award ceremony in a custom-built eco-friendly dome, and Founder Prince William highlighted the innovative climate creativity developed by the continent that has the least impact on climate change – Africa.
Watch Prince William’s welcome speech here.
Why The Earthshot Prize?
Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” challenge in 1962 to land a man on the moon within a decade, The Earthshot Prize was launched by Prince William in 2020 to search for, and scale the most innovative solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges. Urgency + Optimism = Action
Drawing inspiration from the concept of moonshots, which since the moon landing in 1969 has become shorthand to talk about the most ambitious and ground-breaking goals, Prince William announced The Earthshot Prize: an ambitious set of challenges to inspire a decade of action to repair the planet.
“We believe in the power of human ingenuity to prove to us all that the seemingly impossible is possible. Change is not yet happening fast enough or at the scale we need. Levels of climate anxiety and despondency are high, and political interventions are happening too slowly. Despite all these challenges, we need to be optimists and we need to see genuine pathways to an era of regeneration and abundance. We need to unleash the urgent optimism required to accelerate and scale the environmental innovations that will repair and regenerate our planet”.
Extraordinary solutions for our planet
The Earthshot Prize finalists for 2024 offered fifteen extraordinary solutions to take on five Earthshot challenges. The nominees were: Protect and Restore Nature: Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, NatureMetrics Revive our Oceans: Coast 4C, High Ambition Coalition for Nature & People, MiAlgae Clear our Air: d.light, GAYO Green Africa Youth Organisation, MYCL Fix our Climate: Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems, Build up Nepal, Equatic Build a Waste-Free World: Ferment’Up, Keep IT Cool, Natural Fiber Welding (NFW)
The 15 Finalists were in the running to receive a £1 million prize for each category.
Winner: Protect and Restore Nature
The Golden Steppe of north Kazakhstan might look empty, but get a little closer, and you’ll find there are wild animals roaming these plains. These are Saiga Antelope and in 2013, they were a critically endangered species. Now, thanks to the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, the population has risen from 20,000 to a staggering 2.86 million. This is wildlife conservation on an epic scale.
Winner: Clean Our Air
Young people in Ghana are frustrated with the air pollution from burning waste that affects their lives and health. GAYO takes that energy and turns it into action.
Winner: Saving Our Oceans
By connecting countries with organisations, High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC) pushes governments to fulfil their pledges to environment protection and biodiversity conservation. Its toolkit provides all the info governments need to move quickly and protect 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.
Read how other African countries are reducing waste by building boats out of flip-flops.
Winner: Build a Waste Free World
In Africa, nearly 40% of the food harvested is wasted. Tech Entrepreneur, Francis Nderitu of Keep IT Cool, is changing the way we store and market food, especially fish and poultry in Africa by providing cold storage solutions for fish and poultry in underserved African communities.
Winner: Equatic Fix Our Climate
Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems (ATS) is transforming industrial waste heat into clean, renewable electricity—an innovation that could reshape the future of energy! With over 60% of industrial heat going to waste, ATS’s cutting-edge technology captures and converts this untapped resource into usable power. By turning waste heat into energy, ATS is not only improving industrial efficiency but also fighting climate change. Imagine factories and plants fully reusing their heat, drastically reducing emissions and boosting sustainability.
