What is the Earthshot Prize?!

The Earthshot prize is inspired by John F Kennedy's Moonshot prize, which involved people uniting together and achieving the goal of setting foot on the moon. We are more powerful when we work together. The Earthshot prize is a decade of action to discover and scale impactful climate change solutions. It will inspire, motivate and celebrate people all over the world to work together and repair our planet. Did we mention it was launched by Prince William and the Royal Foundation?!

Five, one million-pound prizes will be awarded each year for the next ten years, that's 50 solutions to the world's greatest environmental problems by 2030?!

Winners of the 2021 round:

Photo via: Earthshotprize.org

1. Protect & Restore Nature: 

Winner: Republic of Costa Rica

Action: In 2020 more trees were cut down than ever before. Causing 10% of global warming, yikes! The people of Costa Rica and their Ministry for Environment made a plan to save them. It's plan involved paying citizens to protect forests, plant trees, and restore ecosystems. It resulted in Costa Rica's forests DOUBLING in size. Thriving forests led to a boom in ecotourism with a boost of $4 billion to the economy.

Future: They believe 30% of land and ocean on earth can be protected in the same way! So winning the Earthshot Prize allows them to share knowledge and practices globally.

2. Clean Our Air

Photo via: Earthshotprize.org

Winner: Takachar (India)

Action: Each year we generate $120 billion of agricultural waste worldwide! What farmers don't sell is often burnt, which has serious impacts on human health and the planet. Takachar has developed an affordable and portable tractor attachment that converts crop residue into bioproducts (fuel and fertiliser) that can be sold. It reduces smoke emissions by up to 98%, which improves air quality and life expectancy of exposed communities by roughly 5 years.

Future: When scaled it will cut a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

3. Revive Our Oceans

Photo via: Earthshotprize.org

Winner: Coral Vita (Bahamas)

Action: Global warming and acidification is predicted to destroy over 90% of reefs by 2050. Which is devastating for the marine life that rely on them for food and shelter. Coral Vita grows coral on land to be replanted into the ocean! Their method grows coral up to 50 x faster than traditional methods with a better resilience to climate change. Alongside restoring reefs, the two founders Teicher and Halpern work with local communities and companies to educate and spread awareness. 

Future: A single farm can supply coral for an entire nation. They hope to scale it a network of farms in every nation that has reefs. Winning the Earthshot prize will help make this vision a reality!

4. Build A Waste-free World

Photo via: Earthshotprize.org

Winner: The City of Milan Food Waste Hubs (Italy)

Action: One third of food produced globally is wasted, eeep! The global food system contributes to 25-30% of the worlds total greenhouse gases, yet millions of people are hungry!

The City of Milans Food Waste Hubs aim to halve food waste by 2030. Each of their hubs recovers food from supermarkets and companies and then distributes it to NGOs that feed those in need! Milan currently has three food waste hubs that recover 130 tonnes of food per year (350kg per day), thats 260,000 meals! Wow! 

Future: They have created a blueprint that can be scaled globally to solve the problem of food-waste and hunger!

Did you know one of our donation partners is Foodbank Australia who have a very similar model for Australians?! Read more here.

5. Fix Our Climate

Photo via: Earthshotprize.org

Winner: AEM Electrolyser (Thailand/Germany/Italy)

Action: 30% of our energy is already renewable, yay! However there is still a huge 70% remaining. Enapter provides a clean alternative by using its AEM Electrolyser technology to turn renewable electricity into emission-free hydrogen gas. The development process was so quick and affordable that it already fuels cars and plans, powers industry and heats homes.

Future: Funding from the Earthshot Prize will help scale mass production, expand the team and fund further research. They hope to account for 10% of the worlds hydrogen generation by 2050.

How you can make an impact... 

From switching to a renewable energy plan, starting a compost, or reducing your waste, there are so many things you can do on an individual level to lower your footprint.

Subscribe to our newsletter, and check out our blog and social media channels (Facebook & Instagram) for tips, products and resources that will help you be part of the change. Spread the word and never give up, we've got this!!