LONDON — Prince William announced 15 inaugural finalists Friday for the Earthshot Prize, his ambitious global environmental award that aims to find new ideas and technologies to tackle climate change, air pollution and the Earth’s most pressing challenges.
A 14-year old student proposes to use solar energy to power millions in India’s roadside ironing machines; a coral farm on the Bahamas that will restore dying coral reefs; and a community project to protect gorillas in Congo. There is also an enterprise in Kenya that uses organic waste to produce fertilizer and insect proteins for farmers.
Next month, five winners from the 15 finalists will be selected and each will receive $1 million ($1.4 million) in grants. Additionally, 14 companies and brands around the globe, including Walmart, Unilever, Ikea, Walmart and Microsoft, have committed to scaling the finalist’s ideas.
“When we launched the prize last year, our ambition was to find the most innovative solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges,” the Duke of Cambridge, 39, said in a pre-recorded video announcing the finalists.
He said the award received over 700 nominations this year, and that the ambition and quality of the submissions “should fill us all with optimism and hope that our goals for this decisive decade are achievable.”
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William and his charity, The Royal Foundation, launched the Earthshot Prize last year, inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “Moonshot” speech that challenged and inspired Americans to go to the moon. William said he wanted to capture that “spirit of human ingenuity, purpose and optimism.”
The prize is billed as the most prestigious of its kind, with a 50 million-pound prize pot to be awarded to five winners every year until 2030.
Vidyut Mhan, a Delhi-based inventor who has created a portable technology to quickly transform crop residues from being burned into bioproducts like fertilizer and fuel.
Mohan (30 years old) said he was inspired by seeing his hometown covered in black smog made from forest and agricultural waste. It put his health and that of his family at risk.
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“It really felt nice that the problem that we are working on and mission that we are working on is now going to be projected on a global scale and the problem is going to be highlighted,” he said.
Vinisha Umashankar, a teenage girl from India, hopes to use solar energy as a substitute for charcoal to power millions of ironing stations used by street vendors who press clothes every day on the streets.
“Whatever suited people in the past doesn’t suit the present generation anymore, and it doesn’t suit our world situation anymore either,” Umashankar says that 14.
The award is the most ambitious project yet launched by William, a future king, who has long supported conservation charities in Africa and led work to tackle illegal wildlife trafficking.
Jason Knauf, chief executive of The Royal Foundation, said William was inspired by the work of both his father, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, and his grandfather, the late Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, on conservation and the environment, and wants to leave a “personal” legacy with the award.
“It’s like if you know that this is the 10 years that really matters, it’s the legacy: ‘What am I going to be able to say to my children in the future about what my contribution was during this decisive decade?'” Knauf said.
The winners will be chosen by a committee including veteran wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough, Australian actor Cate Blanchett and World Trade Organization director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
On Oct. 17, the winners will be announced at a ceremony.
James Brooks contributed to this report from Copenhagen, Denmark.
