The Sky's the limit

EARTHSHOT 2021 PRIZE-WINNERS ANNOUNCED

After an initial welcome from astronauts on board the International Space Station, the first five winners of the new Royal Foundation's Earthshot Prize were announced last night (17th October 2021) at a ceremony held at London's Alexandra Palace. The winners, from around the world, were connected by global broadcast to the event where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined by Sir David Attenborough and a host of stars including actors Emma Watson, Emma Thompson and David Oyelowo, footballers Mo Salah and Dani Alves and performers including Ed Sheeran, Yemi Alade, KSI and Coldplay, whose set was powered by 60 people generating electricity on bikes.

The Earthshot Prize is centred around five 'Earthshots' - underpinned by scientifically agreed targets including the UN Sustainable Development Goals - which are, according to the Royal Foundation, "Simple but ambitious goals for our planet which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for us all, for generations to come."

Selected by The Earthshot Prize Council, a team of 15 influential finalists out of 750 nominations were initially chosen from a wide range of sectors around the world that fitted the Earthshots 5 categories:

Protect and restore nature

Fix our climate

Each of the five category winners was chosen for their ground-breaking environmental projects and received £1million prize money and the future support of professionals to enable them to replicate their work on a global scale. They also received a medal designed by Dutch artist Christien Meindertsma, inspired by the iconic 'Earthrise' photo taken of the Earth from space from the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 and created from recycled materials. The Earthshot Prize (first announced by Prince William back in December 2019), was named after the Apollo Moon landings, nicknamed 'Moonshot' which helped advance mankind's technological achievements. It's hoped these world-changing winning projects will also do the same and the Earthshot Prize will be awarded every year until 2030.

The winners of the first ever Earthshot Prizes are below:-

1. Protect and Restore Nature

This was won by The Republic of Costa Rica, whose forests were devastated in the 1990s, but have now doubled their size and have led to flora and fauna thriving which has also led to boom in ecotourism. Their program involves paying the people of Costa Rica to regenerate the forest and look after their environment through planting trees and restoring ecosystems. The government is now taking their approach to urban areas.

2. Clean our Air

Social enterprise Takachar, run by Vidyut Mohan, won the prize for their cheap, small-scale portable machine that attaches to tractors and converts farm waste into useful fuels and fertiliser that can be re-used or sold by farmers in India. This technology avoids the unnecessary smoke emissions by up to 98% caused by farmers burning their waste and increases life expectancy but, if scaled could cut a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

3. Revive our Oceans

Ocean warming and acidification are set to destroy over 90% of reefs by 2050 but best friends Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern, from the Bahamas have developed a way of restoring the world's coral reefs which have been damaged by pollution and climate change. Their company, Coral Vita, grows coral on land to replant in oceans, up to 50 times faster than traditional methods, giving new life to dying ecosystems that desperately need it.

4. Build a Waste-Free World

A third of all food is wasted globally yet the global food system generates 25-30% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions and hundreds of millions suffer from food insecurity.The City of Milan in Italy have won the prize for enforcing a city-wide food waste policy, encompassing public agencies, food banks, charities, NGO's, universities and private businesses. They collect unused food in the city and giving it out for free to those in need - helping both people and the environment by cutting down on landfill. Their blueprint can be shared around the world.

5. Fix our Climate

Born on a South Pacific Island, affected by climate change, Vaitea Cowan co-founded green technology group Enapter to 'turn back the tide'. Their 'AEM Electrolyser' turns renewable electricity into emission-free hydrogen more quickly and cheaply than ever before, and can transform the ways people power homes and buildings, and fuel transport. The Earthshot Prize will help their growth into mass production, whilst funding further research and development.

"The natural world on which we entirely depend is declining at a rate faster than at any time since the end of the dinosaurs," Sir Davide Attenborough said at the event. "We know where this story is heading and we must now write a different ending. This is what the Earthshot Prize was created to achieve. The 15 Earthshot Prize finalists tonight build optimism by finding innovative and brilliant solutions to the world's challenges, and they give us hope, which we are told, springs eternal."

At the end of the event, Prince William took to the stage to tell the audience, in London and watching around the world via the BBC: "I want to say something to the young watching tonight. For too long, we haven't done enough to protect the planet for your future. The Earthshot is for you. In the next 10 years, we are going to act. We are going to find the solutions to repair our planet. Please keep learning, keep demanding change and don't give up hope. We will rise to these challenges."

Nominations for the 2022 Earthshot Prize will open in January 2022 and next year the awards ceremony will come from the United States of America. To find out more click HERE.