Prince William is visiting New York on Tuesday during Climate Week, the climate summit that coincides with the United Nations General Assembly, and is announcing the finalists for the Earthshot Prize, his climate-focused charity.
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The 15 finalists for the 2023 Earthshot Prize include the following groups:
- Coastal 500, a group of mayors of and local government leaders from eight different countries working to restore ocean habitats and advocating for coastal protection internationally;
- WildAid Marine Programme, a global nonprofit based in the U.S. that addresses the world’s ocean conservation needs;
- Circ Inc., which created a solution to enable the recycling of polycotton fabrics, which make up half of all textile waste;
- Aquacycl, which uses microbial technology to make the treatment of industrial wastewater more accessible, more efficient, and less polluting; and
- Boomitra, which is removing emissions and boosting farmer profits by incentivising land restoration through a verified carbon-credit marketplace.
Other finalists come from the United Kingdom, Peru, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia.
The prize categories are: Protecting and Restoring Nature; Cleaning the Air; Reviving the Oceans; Building a Waste-Free World; and Fixing Our Climate.
On Monday, William visited Governors Island in New York Harbor to see the efforts of the Billion Oyster Project, which is working to rebuild New York’s once-abundant oyster reefs.
William also met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, according to the U.N.
What is the Earthshot Prize?
In 2020, Prince William launched what Kensington Palace called “the most prestigious global environment prize in history,” known as the Earthshot Prize. William said he was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” pledge to get Americans on the moon.
William’s father, King Charles III, has long championed environmental issues.
Every year from 2021 until 2030, the Earthshot Prize Council will award a prize to five winners offering “evidence-based solutions” for each of the five broad Earthshot objectives:
- Protect and restore nature
- Clean our air
- Revive our oceans
- Build a waste-free world
- Fix our climate
According to Kensington Palace, each of the five annual winners will receive a reward of about $1.3 million, “that will be used to support agreed environmental and conservation projects as well as large-scale public recognition and significant support to scale their solution.”
The awards will be handed out in November in Singapore. Last year’s ceremony was held in Boston.
Watch the story of one of the 2022 winners, on a mission to replace single-use plastic with seaweed, in the video below:
Charlie D’Agata contributed to this report.