Innovative Finalists Revealed For Prince William’s 2024 Earthshot Prize

Prince William’s Earthshot Prize to find solutions to combat the climate crisis is now in its fourth year. And today, 15 finalists across five categories were revealed during an Earthshot Innovation Summit in New York. Ranging from an alliance of 30 indigenous nations protecting the Amazon rainforest to a French company that upcycles skins and seeds from fruits and vegetables, the finalists all have the innovation and optimism that the Prince wants the Prize to champion.

“Today, we celebrate the incredible achievement, unwavering dedication and urgent optimism that drives our fourth class of Earthshot innovators,” Prince William said in a statement. “The passion of these finalists is a testament to what can be achieved when we tap into the enormous creativity, ingenuity, and optimism of communities around the world.”

This year’s Earthshot Prize will be held on November 6 in Cape Town with the Prince in attendance. Five winners, one from each category, will be awarded £1 million to fund and upscale their solution.

Earthshot Prize Finalists 2024

Protect And Restore Nature

• Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, Ecuador: An alliance of 30 indigenous nations that stand together to protect 86 million acres of Amazon rainforest.

• NatureMetrics, UK: A global intelligence start-up in environmental DNA sampling on a mission to make biodiversity monitoring accessible to all.

• Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative, Kazakhstan: An organization that has recovered the Saiga antelope from the brink of extinction.

Clean Our Air

• GAYO Ghana: A youth-led organization that uses its “zero waste model” to drive behavioural change in waste management practices across Africa.

• d.light, Pan-Africa: A company on track to transform the lives of one billion people by providing affordable and clean solar home systems that provide electricity and replace polluting kerosene lamps and dirty stoves.

• MYCL, Indonesia: A company tackling crop-waste burning and harmful leather production, both which pollute the air and damage quality of life.

Revive Our Oceans

• High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, Global: An alliance of 119 countries aiming to protect 30% of the land and oceans by 2030, by identifying technical, financial and knowledge gaps and connecting governments with technical assistance and funding.

• MiAlgae, UK: A company offering a circular economy solution to the problem of sourcing marine Omega-3s from fish oil, which requires catching wild fish to feed farmed fish.

• Coast 4C, Philippines: A social enterprise that aims to build the world’s largest supply of regenerative seaweed, benefiting marginalized coastal fishing communities.

Build A Waste-Free World

• Natural Fiber Welding, USA: A company that creates biodegradable natural fibers and ingredients to replace plastics with wide applications in fashion, footwear, automotive and more.

• Ferment’Up, France: A company that upcycles skins and seeds from fruits and vegetables using dry fermentation to create ingredients from food waste.

• Keep It Cool, Kenya: A company that is tackling problems with proper refrigeration and cold-chain logistics across Africa by offering solar-powered refrigeration solutions and connecting smallholder farmers and fishers to a centralized online marketplace.

Fix Our Climate

• Equatic, USA: This company uses a process called seawater electrolysis to remove carbon dioxide from the ocean 99,000 times faster than nature alone.

• Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems, USA: A company that takes excess heat from heavy industrial processes, like creating cement and steel, and converts the heat waste into electricity.

• Build Up Nepal, Nepal: A social enterprise that has developed an earthquake-resilient brick with 75% lower carbon emissions compared to traditional clay-fired bricks.

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