The inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony was held at the iconic Alexandra Palace in London. Hosted by Clara Amfo and Dermot O’Leary, the event was introduced by Prince William and featured a powerful message from Sir David Attenborough about the significance of The Earthshot Prize and his optimism regarding humanity’s capacity to overcome the most pressing environmental challenges.
The ceremony was highlighted by memorable performances from globally renowned artists such as Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, KSI, Yemi Alade, and Shawn Mendes. Notably, Coldplay’s performance, which took place outside Alexandra Palace, was powered by energy generated by 60 cyclists.
2021 Winners
The five Earthshot Prize 2021 winners are:
Protect and Restore Nature: The Republic of Costa Rica
With the assistance of a groundbreaking scheme offering remuneration to local citizens to restore natural ecosystems, the Republic of Costa Rica is said to have nearly doubled the sizes of its forests, reversing decades of deforestation and injecting $4 billion into the national economy and a boom in eco-tourism.
Clean our Air: Takachar, India
New Delhi-based company Takachar has devised trailblazing technology to eliminate crop burning – a major contributor to India’s severe problem of air pollution. Their economic, small-scale, portable technology can be affixed to tractors in remote farms in order to convert crop residues into marketable goods such as fuel and fertiliser.
Revive our Oceans: Coral Vita, Bahamas
Based out of the Bahamas, Coral Vita is an organisation that creates high-tech land-based coral farms to restore depleting coastal coral by means of replanting. Coral Vita also works with local communities, public officials, and private companies to improve education and create new employment avenues within the realm of environmental protection.
Build a Waste-free World: The City of Milan, Italy
Milan’s Food Waste Hubs programme was initiated in 2019 with the aim of cutting the city’s food waste by 2030, recovering food from local supermarkets and restaurants and working with local NGOs to distribute those in need. As the first major city to implement a city-wide food waste policy encompassing public agencies, food banks, charities, NGOs, universities and private businesses, each of Milan’s Food Waste Hubs recovers about 130 tonnes of food per year or 350 kg each day, equivalent to approximately 260,000 meals.
Fix our Climate: AEM Electrolyser, Thailand/Germany/Italy
A compact hydrogen generator developed to revolutionise how we power our homes and buildings, the AEM Electrolyser from Enapter turns renewable electricity into emission-free hydrogen gas. This green hydrogen technology has been developed to function far more economically and quickly than ever before. At present, Enapter’s vision for 2050 is to account for 10 per cent of the world’s hydrogen generation.
Chosen from among 750 nominations – screened by the Prize’s implementation partner Deloitte – the 15 finalists at the awards ceremony were first assessed by an expert advisory council.
The entire selection and shortlisting process was structured over five steps. A diverse team of influential individuals constituted this year’s Earthshot Prize Council. Among them were: Prince William, Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Indra Nooyi, Shakira Mebarak, Christiana Figueres, Luisa Neubauer, Cate Blanchett, Yao Ming, Daniel Alves Da Silva, Ernest Gibson, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Jack Ma, and Naoko Yamazaki.
Following its immensely successful first outing, the Earthshot Prize will move to a new city each year, with the 2022 awards ceremony scheduled to be held in the United States, and nominations set to open in January 2022.
Source: Earthshot Prize
