Image:
Credit: The Earthshot Prize
Firms seeking to protect Andean forest and marine ecosystems, innovate in water-based Lithium-ion battery production, and drive land restoration and circularity in agriculture have been announced as 2023 Earthshot Prize Award winners by Prince William at a ceremony in Singapore.
Chosen from 15 finalists, Acción Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies, and Boomitra will each receive £1m to help scale their solutions and accelerate their growth and impact.
Acción Andina, a grassroots initiative to protect native high Andean forest ecosystems, scooped the Earthshot Prize to Protect and Restore Nature after being nominated by tech giant Salesforce, while Hong Kong-based GRST, which builds and recycles lithium-ion batteries using “water-based” technology, won the prize to Clean Our Air.
The Earthshot Prize to Revive Our Oceans went to the US-headquartered WildAid Marine Program, which aims to deliver marine enforcement measures to end illegal fishing and strengthen ocean conservation in 16 countries including China, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico and the Philippines. The Program hopes to grow from 96 to 250 marine areas by 2028.
The Earthshot Prize to Build A Waste-Free World went to India’s S4S Technologies for its rollout of solar-powered dryers and processing equipment to combat food waste, enabling small-hold farmers to preserve crops and turn produce that might otherwise go to waste into valuable products.
Finally, the Prize to Fix Our Climate went to Boomitra, which was nominated by logistics giant DPWorld, Impact Entrepreneur, and the UN World Food Programme for its work to remove emissions and boost farmer profits by incentivising land restoration through a verified carbon-credit marketplace.
Speaking at this year’s ceremony, the Prince of Wales said the last year had further underscored the urgent need to accelerate climate action globally. “[It has been] a year in which the effects of the climate crisis have become too visible to be ignored,” he said. “And a year that has left so many feeling defeated, their hope, dwindling.
“However, as we have seen tonight, hope does remain. The light of optimism is burning bright in our Earthshot Finalists.
“From Boomitra, S4S, and Acción Andina, to GRST and WildAid Marine Program, our Winners and all our Finalists remind us that, no matter where you are on our planet, the spirit of ingenuity, and the ability to inspire change, surrounds us all.”
The nine-month search for the 2023 Winners began in December 2022, and culminated in a global panel of 59 scientific, academic, and subject-matter experts choosing this year’s class of 15 Prize Finalists from more than 1,100 nominations vetted by The Earthshot Prize’s implementation partners at Deloitte.
This year’s winners were selected by Prince William and the Earthshot Prize Council chaired by Paris Agreement architect Christiana Figueres as well as actor and campaigner Cate Blanchett, Sir David Attenborough, designed Stella McCartney, and former NBA all-star Yao Ming.
The five Winners and all 15 Finalists will receive mentorship, resources, and technical support from the Prize’s year-long Fellowship Programme.
Nominations for the Prize’s next cohort of innovations and entrepreneurs is now open and will close on 15 December.
Keep up to date with all the latest green business news by signing up to the free Daily and Weekly BusinessGreen Newsletters.