The race to repair our planet has just gained significant momentum. This month, The Earthshot Prize, founded by HRH Prince William, unveiled its latest cohort of 15 Finalists for 2025, proving once again that the innovative solutions needed to tackle the climate crisis are already within our grasp.
With the prestigious awards ceremony set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday 5 November 2025, the Earthshot movement continues to champion urgent, optimistic action on a global scale.
A Glimpse into the Future: The 2025 Finalists
Since its inception in 2020, The Earthshot Prize has aimed to find and fund solutions across five core goals, known as the 'Earthshots.' Each of the five winners announced in Rio will receive £1 million to scale their groundbreaking work.
The 2025 finalists represent an extraordinary range of innovations—from high-tech engineering to landmark policy initiatives (The Earthshot Prize, 2025).
The five categories and a snapshot of the innovative finalists include:
- Protect and Restore Nature: Solutions like the Tropical Forest Forever Facility and re.green are pioneering new finance models and large-scale reforestation efforts, demonstrating how to reverse biodiversity loss and strengthen ecosystems.
- Clean Our Air: This category features ambitious, city-scale projects such as those led by the City of Bogotá and the City of Guangzhou, tackling urban pollution and driving sustainable transport policy.
- Revive Our Oceans: Innovations include Matter, a breakthrough solution for filtering microplastics, and the international effort behind the High Seas Treaty, designed to protect vast swathes of international waters.
- Build a Waste-Free World: Solutions like the Quay Quarter Tower in Australia, an example of the world's first fully upcycled skyscraper, and Lagos Fashion Week demonstrate how to embed circularity into the built environment and global industries.
- Fix Our Climate: This year features energy storage innovators like Form Energy and national-level climate resilience initiatives, such as the comprehensive strategy being implemented in Barbados.
As Prince William noted on the announcement of the finalists, these solutions “embody the urgent optimism sitting right at the heart of our mission,” reinforcing the belief that the planet can be saved this decade (The Earthshot Prize, 2025).
Looking Back: The Enduring Impact of the 2024 Winners
Before we celebrate the newest cohort, it is vital to review the solutions crowned in Cape Town, South Africa, at the 2024 Earthshot Prize Awards. These five organisations have already leveraged their £1 million grants to expand their impact, setting a crucial precedent for the 2025 winners (WEF, 2024; RSPB, 2024).
The 2024 winners, who continue to show the effectiveness of scalable, community-focused action, were:
| Earthshot Category | Winner & Location | Solution Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Protect and Restore Nature | Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative (Kazakhstan) | Restored the vast Golden Steppe ecosystem, leading to the remarkable recovery of the critically endangered Saiga Antelope population. |
| Clean Our Air | Green Africa Youth Organisation (GAYO) (Ghana) | Implemented a Zero Waste Model to improve local waste management and combat the air pollution caused by the open burning of refuse in communities. |
| Revive Our Oceans | High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC) (Global) | A diplomatic alliance, co-led by countries including the UK and France, focused on securing global agreement to protect at least 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030 (30x30 goal). |
| Build a Waste-Free World | Keep IT Cool (KIC) (Kenya) | Provides small-scale farmers and fishers with solar-powered cold storage and refrigerated transport, drastically reducing post-harvest food waste and ensuring greater food security. |
| Fix Our Climate | Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems (ATS) (USA) | Developed technology to capture the immense amount of waste heat lost in heavy industries (like cement and steel production) and efficiently convert it into usable electricity. |
The achievements of these and previous Earthshot Finalists are undeniable. Collectively, the Prize’s community has already raised over $500 million in funding and protected over one million square kilometres of land and ocean. This collective effort demonstrates that systemic, positive environmental change is not a far-off dream, but an ongoing reality.
The Urgency of Optimism
The Earthshot Prize serves as a powerful reminder that while the environmental challenges we face are immense, so too is human ingenuity. As the world’s leaders prepare to meet in Rio to celebrate the newest wave of Earthshot winners, the focus remains firmly on scaling these viable solutions to meet the planetary deadlines this decisive decade demands.
This UK-led initiative continues to place environmental issues at the forefront of global policy and innovation, transforming the narrative from one of inevitable decline to one of achievable repair.
Sources:
- The Earthshot Prize. (2025). The Earthshot Prize 2025 Finalists Announced. https://earthshotprize.org/news/the-earthshot-prize-2025-finalists-announced/
- RSPB. (2024). Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative wins The Earthshot Prize 2024.
- The World Economic Forum (WEF). (2024). Meet the 5 winners of the 2024 Earthshot Prize.