The Earthshot Prize, one of the world’s most ambitious environmental initiatives, is marking a pivotal moment this year as it announces its 2025 finalists and prepares for a landmark awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro. Five years into its decade-long mission, the prize—established by Prince William in 2020—has rapidly evolved into a global beacon for environmental innovation, drawing nearly 2,500 nominees from 72 countries for this year’s competition alone, according to BBC and The Independent.
Prince William, who will travel to Brazil for the ceremony at Rio’s Museum of Tomorrow on November 5, has described the shortlisted innovators as “heroes of our time.” In a video message reflecting on the journey so far, he noted, “Back then, a decade felt a long time. George was seven, Charlotte five and Louis two; the thought of them in 2030 felt a lifetime away. But today, as we stand halfway through this critical decade, 2030 feels very real.” He emphasized the urgency of the next five years, saying, “2030 is a threshold by which future generations will judge us; it is the point at which our actions, or lack of them, will have shaped forever the trajectory of our planet.” (BBC, The Independent)
The Earthshot Prize, launched ahead of the COP26 Climate Conference, was inspired by the scale and ambition of President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot program. Its goal is simple but audacious: to catalyze and scale solutions that can repair and regenerate the planet by 2030. Each year, five winners receive £1 million to advance their projects, selected from a diverse pool of global innovators. The categories—Revive Our Oceans, Fix Our Climate, Build a Waste-free World, Protect and Restore Nature, and Clean Our Air—reflect the interconnected challenges facing humanity and the environment.
This year’s finalists span continents and disciplines, from government-led climate leadership to start-up ingenuity. Among the most high-profile nominees is Barbados, recognized for its Bridgetown Initiative—a $700 million loss and damage fund for the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations—and its commitment to becoming fossil-free by 2030. The island has also secured G20 commitments to channel $100 billion to developing countries, reflecting its outsized role in climate diplomacy. (The Telegraph)
In the “Clean Our Air” category, the Chinese city of Guangzhou stands out for electrifying its entire public transport fleet in just eight years, deploying 12,000 electric buses and 10,000 electric taxis. The city has also found innovative ways to repurpose retired bus batteries for renewable energy storage. Meanwhile, Bogotá, Colombia, has reduced harmful particulate matter by 24% through a combination of expanded electric bus fleets, new bike lanes, urban greenery, and tighter truck regulations. Gujarat, India, is pioneering an emissions trading scheme, incentivizing factories to reduce pollution by allowing them to trade unused emission allowances. (BBC, The Telegraph)
Innovation in waste reduction is also front and center. Sydney’s Quay Quarter Tower, for example, is the world’s first fully “upcycled” skyscraper. Originally slated for demolition, the tower was instead transformed, doubling its floor space while saving 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions—an approach that could set a precedent for aging city skylines worldwide. (BBC, The Independent)
On the technology front, British company Matter has developed Regen®, a washing machine filter designed to capture microplastics before they reach the oceans. The company aims to prevent 15,000 tonnes of microplastics from entering waterways by 2030. Adam Root, Matter’s founder, told The Independent, “Being a finalist for the Earthshot Prize and representing Matter at the awards ceremony in Rio is like winning an Olympic gold medal in innovation. Matter’s mission is to create impact at a size and scale that meets the enormity of the microplastic pollution challenge.”
Other notable finalists include Lagos Fashion Week, which now requires designers to prove their use of sustainable materials and methods, and China’s ATRenew, which uses artificial intelligence to process up to 100,000 used electronic devices daily, making it easier and more desirable to trade in and buy second-hand gadgets. These efforts, as Cate Blanchett, Earthshot Prize Council member and actress, noted, are “challenging our expected views and behaviours—the way we enjoy fashion, how we buy electronics, protect forests, even wash our clothes could be fundamentally different by 2030 because of them.” (The Telegraph, The Independent)
In the “Revive Our Oceans” category, the finalists include Bonds for Ocean Conservation, which restructures national debt to free up resources for marine protection. A $450 million deal in the Galapagos enabled Ecuador to establish a vast marine reserve, with similar models now replicated in the Seychelles, Belize, Barbados, Gabon, and The Bahamas. The High Seas Treaty, another finalist, represents a historic international agreement to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030—a legal framework that could transform the management of over 60% of ocean areas that lie beyond national jurisdictions. (The Telegraph)
Efforts to protect and restore nature are equally ambitious. Brazil’s Re.green is leveraging artificial intelligence and satellite data to identify and reforest suitable areas in the Atlantic Forest, aiming to plant 65 million seedlings by 2032. The Tenure Facility is helping indigenous communities secure land rights, already protecting 34 million hectares—an area the size of Germany—across 20 countries. And the Tropical Forest Forever Facility, led by Brazil, is building a £125 billion global fund to provide permanent income to rainforest nations, with the potential to safeguard over a billion hectares of forest by 2030. (The Telegraph)
The impact of the Earthshot Prize is already tangible. According to the Earthshot Prize Foundation, the 60 previous finalists have collectively protected and restored more than a million square kilometers of land and ocean, prevented more than 250,000 tonnes of waste from reaching landfill, and reduced or captured over 4.8 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Jason Knauf, the prize’s CEO, said, “The Earthshot Prize was founded because we’re in a decisive moment—it’s a ten-year window of opportunity where our actions today will shape life on Earth for generations to come.”
As the world’s attention turns to Rio de Janeiro for the awards—timed just ahead of the COP Climate Conference in Belem, near the Amazon—Prince William’s message is one of hope and determination. “The people behind these projects are heroes of our time, so let us back them. Because, if we do, we can make the world cleaner, safer and full of opportunity—not only for future generations, but for the lives we want to lead now.” (BBC, The Independent)
The next five years will be a test of collective will and ingenuity. As the Earthshot Prize reaches its halfway mark, its “urgent optimism,” as Prince William described it, seems more necessary—and unstoppable—than ever.
