The annual awards were created by Prince William to reward people for trying to save the planet. The five overall winners of 2021 were announced on 17 October at a star-studded ceremony held at London’s Alexandra Palace that was all about sustainability. While guests were encouraged to wear sustainable outfits, the music for live performances by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and KSI was powered by 60 cyclists pedalling on bikes.
With over 750 nominations from around the world, the ceremony ended a ten-month-long search for the winning projects. While 15 finalists were chosen by The Earthshot Prize Council, supported by an expert advisory panel, the five overall winners of the Earthshot Prize Winners for 2021 can look forward to receiving £1m each as well as help from a global network of professional and technical support.
The ‘Revive Our Oceans’ category was won by Coral Vita, a Bahama-based project founded by friends Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern. Coral Vita focuses on growing coral on land before they replant them in oceans to give new life to dying ecosystems. Its special method, it is argued, grows corals up to 50 times faster than traditional methods and is said to improve the coral’s resilience to warming oceans.
The ‘Clean Our Air’ prize was awarded to India’s Takachar, an agricultural waste recycling project, while the ‘Protect And Restore Nature’ award was given to the Republic of Costa Rica for its determined approach to protecting forests, planting trees and restoring ecosystems. The ‘Build A Waste-Free World’ prize was won by the City of Milan’s food waste hubs and, last but not least, the ‘Fix Our Climate’ winner was announced as AEM Electrolyser, a technology by Enapter that turns renewable electricity into emission-free hydrogen gas.
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Photography courtesy of Unsplash.
