Earthshot Prize finalists 2023 announced

[wordler]

Here's a link to the 15 finalists for this year's Earthshot prize:

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists-listing/?filter-year=2023

Protect And Restore Nature:

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/accion-andina/
Since 2018, almost 10 million native trees have been planted by Acción Andina across five countries – restoring over 4,000 hectares of Andean forests and protecting more than 11,000 hectares of native forest.
By 2045, they aim to protect and restore one million hectares of high Andean native forest ecosystems across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/belterra/
Founded by former Brazilian government official Valmir Ortega, Belterra partners with small and medium-sized farms in Brazil, providing them with support and incentives to adopt regenerative practices. Their work helps to protect the Amazon and Atlantic Forests and improve the land’s ability to sustainably produce cacao, cassava, bananas and other essential crops. Belterra also connects farmers with commercial partners to create new markets and customers for their crops, ensuring that sustainability and profitability go hand-in-hand.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/freetown-the-treetown/
Led by Manja Kargbo, Freetown the Treetown is an ambitious, city-led, “pay-to- grow” scheme to plant, grow and digitally track trees, which aims to restore what has been lost and protect it for future generations. Through this initiative, city residents are paid to plant and monitor trees and mangroves, which are tracked via an online platform. The initiative is funded with tokens sold on private and carbon markets. The city council also works with locals to raise awareness of the importance of its trees and engage the community in restorative activities.

Clean Our Air:

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/enso/
ENSO – which means “circle” in Japanese – was founded by entrepreneur Gunnlaugur Erlendsson. ENSO is on a mission to deliver better tyres for electric vehicles, combining innovation with a disruptive business model to make its low-emission tyres accessible to all.
In contrast to conventional tyres, ENSO’s tyres are precisely calibrated to enhance durability and reduce particulate pollution by 35%. And while most tyres are also inefficient, which can limit the range of electric vehicles, ENSO’s tyres are specifically designed to increase range by 10%.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/grst/
Co-founded by Justin Hung, GRST (which stands for Green, Renewable, Sustainable Technology) has come up with a cleaner process to make batteries that pollutes less and uses components that can be more easily recycled. Instead of using toxic solvents and hard-to-recycle materials, GRST has created a way to build the battery using a water-soluble binding composite, so that at the end of the battery’s life, the lithium, cobalt and nickel can be more economically recovered and reused again in another battery, reducing demand for further extraction.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/polish-smog-alert/
More than 50 local clean air initiatives have joined Polish Smog Alert to fight together against pollution. By 2026, Polish Smog Alert hopes to eliminate coal burning in one million homes across Poland and bring air quality in line with WHO standards by the end of the decade. The group also has plans to expand into neighbouring countries, cleaning the skies of Central and Eastern Europe and improving the life chances of millions.

Revive Our Oceans

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/abalobi/
ABALOBI was founded in South Africa by Serge Raemaekers and Nico Waldeck as a non-profit partnership between fishers and scientists. Its aim is to protect small-scale fishing communities and nurture their ocean stewardship, while arming their customers with better information about where their seafood comes from.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/coastal-500/
Launched by non-profit Rare, and led by Rocky Sanchez Tirona, Coastal 500 is a global network of mayors and local leaders who have come together to protect the world’s coastlines. Its 164 members represent eight developing countries and 1.6 million people living near coastlines across the tropics, including some of the communities most at risk from climate change worldwide.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/wildaid-marine-programme/
WildAid, a global conservation non-profit, has a plan to bolster the effectiveness of MPAs and sustainable fisheries through its Marine Programme. Led by Meaghan Brosnan, the programme unites a range of partners — from governments to charities to non-profits and academics — to exchange knowledge and tailor actions for each region. Its approach builds law enforcement capacity by making sure people have the tools, technology and resources needed to deter illegal fishing, allow wildlife to recover and improve coastal community livelihoods.

Build A Waste Free World

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/circ/
U.S. based company Circ, co-founded by Peter Majeranowski, has developed a revolutionary method for recycling polycotton. Circ takes polycotton and completely separates the polyester from the cotton fibres through its patented hydrothermal process, which turns polyester fibres into a liquid polymer. Preserving and separating the polyester without damaging the cotton, allows both cotton and polyester fibres to be reused in the production of new textiles, while also reducing carbon emissions by substantially.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/colorifix/
Colorifix’s natural dyes cut chemical pollution by 80%, and when applied to fabrics, they require far fewer rinses than synthetic dyes, ultimately saving vast quantities of water. Already gaining traction in the fashion industry, Colorifix have ambitions to dye 15% of the world’s clothes by 2030, helping big manufacturers make good on their sustainability targets.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/s4s-technologies/
Founded in 2013 by six university friends – Nidhi Pant, Vaibhav Tidke, Swapnil Kokte, Ganesh Bhere, Shital Somani, Tushar Gaware and Ashwin Pawade – S4S Technologies combats food waste, rural poverty, and gender inequality by helping smallholder female farmers preserve and market surplus produce.

Fix Our Climate

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/aquacycl/
Aquacycl’s BioElectrochemical Treatment Technology (BETT) makes treating industrial wastewater more affordable, more efficient, and less carbon intensive. Their microbial fuel cells use naturally occurring bacteria to make even the most polluted water safe, while also generating usable electrical current. Independent of electricity grids and sewer systems, Aquacycl’s wastewater treatment units remove pollutants at a rate 10 times higher than conventional treatment technologies.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/boomitra/
The world’s agricultural soils have the potential to store an additional five gigatons of CO2 per year – more than all the emissions from global car travel in a year. As Boomitra aims to scale their solution across the world, they have set a target to store one gigaton of CO2 in the soil by 2030. Their strategy has huge transformative potential for climate change mitigation, but it is also a boon to the farmers themselves. The sustainable farming techniques restore soil health, increase crop yields and generate more revenue. Farmers also earn new, additional income from a 70% share in Boomitra’s profits.

https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/sea-forest/
Sea Forest, an Australian company founded by Sam Elsom, has developed a new feed supplement for cattle and sheep made with native red seaweed, Asparagopsis. This SeaFeed™ supplement, when included as a tiny fraction of an animal’s regular diet, dramatically reduces livestock methane emissions. Just 0.5% of SeaFeed™ can cut methane production by up to 90%.
Notably, while Asparagopsis is native to waters around Tasmania, it’s versatile enough to be grown on land or at sea in other parts of the world. Cultivating the seaweed not only holds promise for methane reduction, but also captures carbon, helping to combat ocean acidification.

All very worthy: looking forward to it!

Thank you for the new thread and please can this just be about the nominations and not anything else…

Those categories look brilliant. I love the sea forest idea. I would love someone to come up with an idea on how to irrigate deserts and dry areas of the world from filtered seawater. After all if the ice caps melt and form part of the sea, its fresh water, so if the salt is filtered out the salinity of the sea would remain the same, as would the sea level. Just a minor feat of engineering ?

Ooh I’ll take a look shortly! Also slightly off topic but ahve you also seen the work of The Ocean Cleanup? They are remarkable too! With all these incredible humans I do feel a little more positive about the future of our planet 🌎

Thanks for this, some fantastic initiatives there.

@Ineedwinenow I echo your sentiments but I wouldn't hold my breath...

Oh wow some brilliant initiatives here. It really restores my faith in humanity.

I really love the Sea Forest, Aquacyl and Circ initiatives in particular. Well done to everyone who was nominated!

" Prince William has said his Earthshot Prize is not a charitable endeavour but a mission to find commercially viable answers to environmental issues.'

I'm glad its separate to the royal foundation now then and assume Earthshot itself will be funding Williams; trips and costs associated with it, or he is privately.

The aims of Earthshot: find and grow the solutions that will repair our planet this decade. The Earthshot Prize aims to discover and help scale innovative solutions that put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate by 2030 – a world in which communities, oceans and biodiversity can thrive in harmony.’

Which of the nominees do people here think will achieve the aims of the earthshot prize, by 2030? I haven't followed previous winners, is there some updates on them and how they're going to repair the planet this decade?

I’m sure all updates are on each individual winners own website or social media or it could even be on earthshot’s website, I’m sure a quick google will help you with that 👍

I’m sure as you know it’s not about repairing the planet this year but it’s about at least trying and all these past and present nominees ( plus other initiatives worldwide) are trying their best at trying to help with the climate crisis! I do feel that they are doing more than you or I do ( unless your one of these businesses obviously)
Take The ocean cleanup for example, ( not Earthshot but I’m using them to prove a point) no only are they cleaning up the garbage patches they are also putting systems in place to clean up the worlds rivers too but it just takes time

Sadly funding is a huge issue for all these businesses like it is for us on a personal level so it’s a bit like turning a tanker, it can be done but takes time ( and funding)

@Ineedwinenow this is Earthshot's official aims:
find and grow the solutions that will repair our planet this decade. The Earthshot Prize aims to discover and help scale innovative solutions that put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate by 2030 – a world in which communities, oceans and biodiversity can thrive in harmony.’

It isn't about 'at least trying'. I am interested why people here are so enthusiastic about this, if they have gone any way to achieving what the actual aim of the charity is.

Well then give them another 7 years and see how they are doing? Obviously if you found the aim of the charity ( which I assume you go from their website) then I’m sure you dig a little deeper on their website you can find out how the last two winners are getting on

Don’t you genuinely believe that William or Harry’s climate initiatives are going anyway into helping assist us not just as a country but as a planet ( and all the other climate crisis based initiatives not just those two)

I do appreciate your point that both William and Harry ( and all the other Windsor family members ) aren’t exactly known for their conservation work over the years 😜 but all of them this last decade have at least acknowledged that they need to help do something ( like we all do) and are trying to do something, in the grand scale of things are these planet changing? Probably not but all these initiatives plus all the others that normal people are doing worldwide will definitely have a larger impact than not bothering at all!

Take myself for example, as I mentioned I work in conservation and flown all over the world from assisting with pangolins and orangutans to sea grass and corals ( and everything in between) my carbon footprint sadly has to be high and do I make a difference when I’m there? A little maybe but not as much as the people on the ground, back home I do Bat care as a volunteer and this year I’ve had about 20 bats in care, sadly half of those died due to serious injuries but I managed to rehabilitate 10 of those which normally would be left to die in the wild so I do like to think I’ve had a small impact on bat numbers in my local area.

Every small ( or large ) thing we do makes a difference Earthshot is just another of those organisations trying its best which should be commended no matter who is behind it and your feelings on that person.

As William said in his televised interview, its about scaling up the projects to have some real effect, and that is the biggest challenge. Lots of business interest too so hopefully this challenge can be met.

which I assume you go from their website No, from an article which questions if the aims are realistic and achievable. You have to consider the money spent on this compared with what they actually achieve. I think the aims are overstated and unachievable in the timeframe, for what it actually does. 1 million to each winner isn't going to achieve the aim, again to: put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate by 2030 The aim as stated doesn't say, 'help a bit'. Likely because it's got to justify the time Wiliam spends on it and give him something to show for all the taxpayer money and privileges he gets. @Ineedwinenow the reason I asked people here about other winners is because of the enthusiasm and support, I assumed people would know what they've done and achieved with the prize money. Its odd to support something you don't know much about. While I think its great to be involved with conservation work, I have been an environmentalist since I was a teenager, I think flying around the world to do so is counter productive unless what you're doing is really significant- for some it will be. On the other thread another poster mentioned that the accounts showed in a previous year they spent 15 million giving away prizes of 5 million. Not sure of accuracy but that seems like a lot of money to spend on this.

I like Earthshot because it’s so positive & about innovation… some environmentalism is so defeatist and unappealing

I actually do know a lot about the winners and the other finalists who didn’t get the prize money as the Earthshot prize supports all fifteen finalists through what they call a ‘fellowship’ year after they win - which includes mentoring, networking, providing business and financial connections to help them scale. It’s tailored to each finalist because there’s such variety in the type of finalist from a 14-year old inventor to a whole city to a whole country.

And so far just three years in they are still involving, connecting and including the finalists from the first cohort, I’m hoping this continues each year because that really scales the impact that these creative and passionate environmentalists can achieve.

I know you’re not a big fan of his but William talks about the benefits of the whole thing and his hopes for its future in this interview from the event in New York.

He was interviewed by one of the winners from 2021 and she talks about how her company has scaled their product since winning (green hydrogen)

If you are really interested in the progress of the previous 30 finalists and particularly the ten winners I recommend reading the Earthshot website - there’s really too much to type out here on a post.

As I say, I have been an environmentalist most of my life- didn't have a car for 20 years or fly anywhere- so I am interested in what is achieved by this prize and the costs involved. Any solutions need to be effective and sustainable financially obviously. Seems strange nobody has anything but links to things to read, nothing that jumps up as a massive success you can personally mention? So far he is a third of the way into his decade, time to go but not that much. for me the reforestation projects are of most interest, this has been one of our biggest problems for the last 40 years I have been invested in the issue.
If William is to be taken seriously while fronting an organisation like this, he needs to make some adjustments to his own lifestyle that can be a source of inspiration to others. He doesn't have to stop travel, but he needs to drastically reduce it- most of us do- and that includes helicopter trips in the UK. He should also let go of some of his residences. A good initiative thats let down by his lack of personal commitment to the cause.

So are you specifically talking to me re no one sharing anything but links to show the current success of the projects?

I just haven’t got time to type out all the facts and figures here or even cut and paste them for you when they are all laid out on the website.

I know you dislike the main royal family and particularly William and Kate for some reason - I don’t really care about that. I really wish you would separate that from the brilliance of this project and all the really inspiring people, companies and technologies which are being highlighted.

If you go to the Earthshot website you can filter by each cohort and each of the five different topic areas and it tell you how the 2021 and 2022 winners have started to scale their projects and the impact that is having. Most of the 2021 cohort have had incredible expansion - what’s is also encouraging is that some of the different entries have been able to partner with each other as well.

And I shared the link of William being interviewed because he talks about the very things you are questioning - financial support, scale and expansion, where they hope to be in ten years time, the global element, the business backing element, and what he’d like to expand into after ten years.

I’ll never understand the disdain for William & Kate and the love for Harry & Meghan, both couples do amazing work and both have faults but anyway, the actual reason of this thread is the finalist in the below link sorry if it’s already posted but I think I’m being blind 😆

https://people.com/prince-william-announces-earthshot-prize-finalists-2023-new-york-city-summit-7971099

The whole point is that the winners have already developed solutions that are helping in the real world, they are already successful, and the grant is to help them scale up their solutions so they can make an even bigger impact. Clearly the people entering think they could make a bigger difference with a bigger budget. But don’t let that get in the way of those who are determined to hate anything the RF is involved in.

The best thing about Earthshot is that it is actually positive. It’s not about turning back the clock or self-depravation, it’s about developing high tech, clean solutions.

I know you dislike the main royal family and particularly William and Kate for some reason - I don’t really care about that. I really wish you would separate that from the brilliance of this project and all the really inspiring people, companies and technologies which are being highlighted.

I dislike the concept of the monarchy. I do not know them as people. I know you like them though, so we could flip what you just wrote too.

I really wish you would separate your loyalty to the royal family and judge their projects as you would judge anyone else's. There are a lot of very inspiring people doing environmental projects, I agree. That is not relevant to my points. I asked what had been achieved towards his quite ambitious aim and nobody here could tell me anything about any of the projects, other than they are marvellous. I think the details matter and the costs of the prize being higher than the awards is an issue. I think it matters that he is spending a lot of time and resources on a project to 'put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate by 2030' while not personally changing any of his own, highly damaging, lifestyle. I think there seems to be a desire to create technology to enable us to carry on living the way we all are, and that is not going to 'put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate by 2030', its going to continue the destruction of the planet. I won't take Williams mission to do this seriously until he stops the helicopters and multiple residences, at least.

I am entitled to be critical of the projects and think I've made valid points about them.