At a star-studded ceremony on Friday night in Boston, Massachusetts, Prince William announced the five winners of his award.
The food was plant-based, the flowers grown locally and the carpet, as is now tradition, was green. Guests invited to the second annual Earthshot Awards were whisked to the venue in electric taxis and encouraged to recycle pre-loved outfits, reports the Telegraph.
Indeed, the Princess of Wales, no stranger to using clothes to send a message, led by example, sending the crowds into a frenzy as she arrived at the MGM Music Hall in an emerald green, off-the-shoulder Solace London gown, rented for £74 ($91) from online platform HURR - which bills itself as the home of circular fashion.
Launched in 2020 by Prince William and Sir David Attenborough, the £50m ($61.5m) Earthshot fund will be awarding £1m ($1.2m) each year to five recipients who have created innovative solutions to tackle climate and biodiversity challenges that the judges feel need help and that can be scaled up to the benefit of both people and planet.
The Guardian reports that the prince told the audience: “I believe that the Earthshot solutions you have seen this evening prove we can overcome our planet’s greatest challenges. And by supporting and scaling them we can change our future. Alongside tonight’s winners and finalists, and those to be discovered over the years to come, it’s my hope the Earthshot legacy will continue to grow, helping our communities and our planet to thrive.”
“A million dollars is significant,” Justin Winters, executive director of climate philanthropy organisation One Earth told the Boston Globe. “For a lot of these nonprofits and companies, it’s a game-changing investment. But I would say in this case, the level of attention and partnerships that are brought to the table - to the finalists and the award winners - are really significant.”
In order to reduce the carbon footprint, all finalists were filmed on home turf, joining the ceremony via a live video feed.
The five winners of the Earthshot awards this year were:
UK-based company Notpla, which has created a natural and biodegradable plastic alternative made from seaweed and plants and can be used to create a range of packaging products.
A group of Indigenous women who have been monitoring the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Their project combines 60,000 years of indigenous knowledge with digital technologies to protect land and sea.
An Oman-based company that has developed a technique to turn CO2 into rock and permanently store it underground, aiming to mineralise 1,000 tonnes of locally captured CO2 each year.
A Kenyan start-up providing cleaner-burning stoves to women to reduce indoor pollution and provide a safer way to cook.
A company providing sustainable greenhouses to farmers in India.
The royals flew home on a British Airways flight overnight to be reunited with their three children.
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