William awards debut Earthshot Prize
Winners from Costa Rica, Italy, the Bahamas and India receive £1 million each for their climate-related projects
Prince William of Britain presented the inaugural Earthshot prizes at a ceremony in London on Sunday, with projects from Costa Rica, Italy, the Bahamas and India picking up prizes.
The new annual awards were created by Prince William to reward efforts to save the planet in the face of climate change and global warming.
Five winners were announced, each receiving a million pounds ($1.4 million).
The build-up to the televised event — featuring the renowned naturalist David Attenborough and performances by Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and others — was marked by royal displeasure at world leaders’ inaction on climate change.
William hopes it will help propel the fight against climate change leading up to the COP26 summit, which opens in Scotland at the end of the month, calling those on the shortlist “innovators, leaders and visionaries”.
In a short film recorded for the ceremony in the London Eye and released ahead of the event on Sunday, William warns that the “actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand”.
“A decade doesn’t seem long, but humankind has an outstanding record of being able to solve the unsolvable,” he says.
“The future is ours to determine. And if we set our minds to it, nothing is impossible.”
The future is ours to determine. And if we set our minds to it, nothing is impossible. Prince William British prince
We receive this recognition with pride but humility, what we have achieved in this small country in C. America can be done anywhere. Carlos Alvarado
Costa Rica President
The Republic of Costa Rica was one of the winners on Sunday picking up the “Protect and Restore Nature” award for its efforts to protect forests, plant trees and restore ecosystems.
“We receive this recognition with pride but humility, what we have achieved in this small country in Central America can be done anywhere,” said Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.
Indian company Takachar won the “Clean our Air” prize for the creation of a portable machine which turns agricultural waste into fertiliser so that farmers do not burn the waste and cause air pollution.
The other winners included Coral Vita, from the Bahamas, for a project to grow coral in tanks, 50 times quick than coral normally grows. The northern Italian city of Milan won the “Food Waste Hubs” award for collecting unused food and giving it to people who need it most. The “Fix our Climate” laureate went to a joint Thai-germanitalian team for the AEM Electrolyzer, which uses renewable energy to make clean hydrogen by splitting water into its constituent elements. Each of the finalists — chosen by experts from more than 750 nominations — will be given help from companies to develop their projects. Prince William announced that the 2022 edition of the Earthshot Prize will be held in the US. —