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A Global Challenge Turns Five

When Prince William announced The Earthshot Prize on October 8, 2020, he did so with a clear rallying cry: humanity had a decade to repair the planet. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” challenge, Earthshot was designed as a 10-year sprint toward environmental innovation, a catalyst meant to ignite optimism and ambition during a moment of planetary crisis.

Five years later, Earthshot stands as one of the world’s most influential environmental platforms—mobilising global innovators, unlocking millions in funding, and building a community of over 100 finalists whose work spans continents, ecosystems, and industries.

“We have no time to waste,” Prince William said at the launch. “The Earth is at a tipping point.”

As the prize marks its fifth awards cycle in 2025, the question becomes: What has Earthshot achieved—and where is it heading next?

What Is the Earthshot Prize?

Launched in 2020 by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, The Earthshot Prize is an annual £1 million award recognising groundbreaking environmental solutions across five categories, known as the Earthshots:

1. Protect & Restore Nature
2. Clean Our Air
3. Revive Our Oceans
4. Build a Waste-Free World
5. Fix Our Climate

Winners are supported not only with funding but with mentorship, networks, and scaling support through the Earthshot Prize Global Alliance.

Although 2020 was the launch year, the first prizes were awarded in 2021, beginning the decade-long run to 2030.

Five Years of Winners: 2020–2025

Below is the corrected and fully accurate timeline of Earthshot Prize winners.

2020 – Launch Year (No Winners)

• Earthshot announced: October 8, 2020
• Founder: Prince William with The Royal Foundation
• Purpose: Identify and scale solutions capable of repairing the planet in a single decade
• Categories established: Nature, Air, Oceans, Waste-Free World, Climate

2021 – The Inaugural Winners (London)

Protect & Restore Nature

• Republic of Costa Rica — National programme paying citizens to restore and protect forests.

Clean Our Air

• Takachar (India) — Portable tech that transforms crop waste into bio-products, preventing open-field burning.

Revive Our Oceans

• Coral Vita (Bahamas) — Coral farms growing coral up to 50x faster to restore reefs.

Build a Waste-Free World

• Milan Food Waste Hubs (Italy) — A citywide system for surplus-food recovery.

Fix Our Climate

• AEM Electrolyser — Green-hydrogen technology enabling clean energy production.

“The inaugural winners proved that environmental innovation is already thriving in unexpected corners of the world.”

2022 – Innovation Meets Community (Boston)

Protect & Restore Nature

• Kheyti (India) — “Greenhouse-in-a-box” that boosts yields while reducing environmental pressure.

Clean Our Air

• Mukuru Clean Stoves (Kenya) — Affordable stoves that reduce household air pollution.

Revive Our Oceans

• Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) — Indigenous-led reef protection and stewardship.

Build a Waste-Free World

• Notpla (UK) — Seaweed-based packaging replacing single-use plastics.

Fix Our Climate

• 44.01 (Oman) — Permanent carbon storage through mineralisation in rock.

2023 – Scaling Global Impact (Singapore)

Protect & Restore Nature

• Acción Andina — Community-driven restoration of the Andean forests.

Clean Our Air

• GRST (Hong Kong/China) — Low-pollution battery manufacturing and recycling.

Revive Our Oceans

• WildAid Marine Program — Protecting oceans through enforcement and anti-poaching support.

Build a Waste-Free World

• S4S Technologies (India) — Solar-powered dehydration preventing food loss.

Fix Our Climate

• Boomitra — Soil-carbon marketplace creating income for farmers while capturing carbon.

2024 – Equity and Climate Justice (Cape Town)

Protect & Restore Nature

• Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative (Kazakhstan) — Restoring grasslands and reviving species like the Saiga antelope.

Clean Our Air

• Green Africa Youth Organization (GAYO) (Ghana) — Youth-driven air-quality and waste-reduction projects.

Revive Our Oceans

• High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (Global) — Coalition pushing to protect 30% of Earth’s land and oceans by 2030.

Build a Waste-Free World

• Keep IT Cool (Kenya) — Solar-powered cold-chain solutions for farmers and fishers to cut food waste.

Fix Our Climate

• Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems (USA) — Technology generating clean power from industrial waste heat.

2025 – The Milestone Fifth-Year Winners (Rio de Janeiro)

Protect & Restore Nature

• re.green (Brazil) — Large-scale forest restoration using AI and satellite mapping.

Clean Our Air

• City of Bogotá (Colombia) — Transformative clean-air policies addressing urban pollution.

Revive Our Oceans

• The High Seas Treaty (Netherlands/global) — Landmark global agreement protecting marine biodiversity in international waters.

Build a Waste-Free World

• Lagos Fashion Week (Nigeria) — Circular, low-waste fashion initiatives reshaping African design and production.

Fix Our Climate

• Friendship (Bangladesh) — Community-based climate adaptation and resilience for vulnerable populations.

What Earthshot Says About Its First Five Years

Five years in, The Earthshot Prize remains committed to “solution-driven optimism”—the belief that human ingenuity can still reverse environmental decline.

According to the Prize’s mission:

“We choose optimism and solutions over despair and apathy.”

Earthshot’s own reflections highlight key achievements:

✔ Over 100 finalists supported globally

Providing technical, financial, and strategic support beyond the £1m winners.

✔ More than £50 million catalysed into environmental innovation

Through prize funding and extended Global Alliance support.

✔ Growing youth participation

Through the Generation Earthshot educational and digital programmes.

✔ A global storytelling platform

With documentaries, broadcasts, and digital content amplifying innovators worldwide.

What Prince William Says at the Five-Year Mark

Prince William has consistently framed Earthshot as a generational mission:

“Our winners and finalists show that the spirit of ingenuity and the power to inspire change burns bright in every corner of our world.”

At the 2024 ceremony, he reinforced the urgency of the coming decade:

“The next five years are our chance to show the world that optimism is not naïve — it’s necessary.”

These statements align with Earthshot’s growing emphasis on collective action, scalable solutions, and global partnerships.

What the First Five Years Tell Us

A clear pattern emerges:

1. Solutions are becoming more scalable

From mineralised carbon to reforestation megaprojects, the prize now routinely recognises solutions capable of transforming entire systems.

2. Community leadership is central

Indigenous and grassroots organisations have increasingly been celebrated—signalling Earthshot’s belief that environmental repair must be both local and global.

3. Policy matters as much as technology

Winners like Bogotá’s clean-air reforms and the High Seas Treaty show a rising focus on governance solutions, not just gadgets.

4. The innovation ecosystem is expanding

Launchpads, alliances, fellowships, and corporate partnerships now sit alongside the awards, suggesting Earthshot is becoming a year-round engine of environmental acceleration.

Conclusion: Earthshot at Five — A Legacy in Motion

Halfway through its intended decade, Earthshot has successfully shifted the global climate conversation from crisis to possibility. Its winners have restored forests, cleaned cookfires, protected oceans, reinvented packaging, and strengthened climate resilience from the Andes to Bangladesh.

The next five years will test whether these solutions can grow fast enough—and at sufficient scale—to bend the environmental curve.

One thing remains consistent since the launch in 2020:

Earthshot invites not just participation, but hope — and insists that hope is a strategy.