Alongside David Attenborough and a global alliance, Prince William has introduced an environmental prize to be awarded to the most pioneering solutions to climate-related issues. The prize is designed to motivate and inspire a new generation of thinkers and aims to accumulate a total of 50 solutions over the next 10 years – with the aim of salvaging the planet from the devastating effects of climate change.
Promoting diversity and inclusion across different sectors and industries, 5 awards will be handed out each year between now and 2030. Winners can range from individuals to entire countries and collaborations – anyone contributing a significant and innovative resolution to the most pressing environmental issues, such as deforestation, waste, pollution and biodiversity. Each winner will be given a £1 million prize for their work with the hope of generating new technologies, systems and policies in response to the climate crisis.
An awards ceremony will be held each year between 2021 and 2030 in various cities around the world. ‘Earthshot challenges’ will be revealed over the course of the next 10 years at special events. The environmental challenges are centred around 5 key themes: Protect and restore nature; Clean our air; Revive our oceans; Build a waste-free world; and Fix our climate.
The name of the award takes inspiration from J.F. Kennedy’s ‘moonshot’ speech in the 1960s, in which he announced his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In his inauguration speech, JFK famously said “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. However, now more important than ever is our planet and what we can do to protect it.
Starting on 3rd October on the BBC, each episode of the five-part series highlights one of the prize’s five “Earthshots” – showcasing the urgent challenges we face and profiling the inspiring people around the world who are already finding incredible solutions – including those of the first-ever finalists of The Earthshot Prize.
The five episodes will air across the first two weeks of October, and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
