2022 Earthshot Prize winners announced at awards ceremony in Boston

Boston, USA, 2 December 2022 - Last Friday, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales revealed the winners of the 2022 Earthshot Prize at a ceremony in Boston, USA. Prince Aly Aga Khan attended the event on behalf of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a Founding Partner of the Global Alliance that supports the Prize.

The Earthshot Prize was established by Prince William in 2020 in order to change the global discourse about climate and the environment, from one of pessimism and gloom to one of optimism and hope.

Five winners from India, Kenya, Australia, the United Kingdom and Oman shared the £1-million prize at the second annual Earthshot Prize awards ceremony. The winners were selected from 15 finalists across five categories representing an accomplished group of entrepreneurs and innovators spearheading ground-breaking solutions to the biggest environmental challenges our planet faces.

The winners by category were:

• Protect and Restore Nature: Kheyti, India – A pioneering solution for local smallholder farmers to reduce costs, increase yields and protect livelihoods in a country on the frontlines of climate change.
• Clean our Air: Mukuru Clean Stoves, Kenya – A start-up providing cleaner burning stoves to women in Kenya to reduce unhealthy indoor pollution and provide a safer way to cook.
• Revive our Oceans: Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia – An inspiring women-led programme that combines 60,000 years of indigenous knowledge with digital technologies to protect land and sea.
• Build a Waste-Free World: Notpla, United Kingdom – A circular solution creating an alternative to plastic packaging from seaweed.
• Fix our Climate: 44.01, Oman – Created by childhood friends who have developed an innovative technique to turn CO2 into rock, and permanently store it underground.

In addition to the £1-million prize, the winners and finalists will receive tailored support and resources from The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Members, an unprecedented network of private-sector businesses around the world committed to helping scale innovative climate and environmental solutions and multiplying their impact.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prince William said: “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.”

The Aga Khan Development Network is a Founding Partner of the Global Alliance that supports the Prize, and shares the mission to discover and scale the best solutions to help repair our planet within the next decade. AKDN is not only transforming itself and its numerous entities to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, it is also working with thousands of vulnerable communities across Asia, Africa and the Middle East to adapt to climate change and mitigate its worst effects.

The five winners were selected by The Earthshot Prize Council, a diverse team of influential individuals committed to using their platforms to champion inspiring leadership and elevate urgent efforts to repair and regenerate the planet.

The Earthshot Prize Council Members include: HRH Prince William, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, Cate Blanchett, Daniel Alves Da Silva, Sir David Attenborough, Ernest Gibson, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Jack Ma, Shakira Mebarak, Yao Ming, Luisa Neubauer, Indra Nooyi, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Naoko Yamazaki.

A truly global project, The Earthshot Prize convenes a diverse nominator coalition of more than 200 people and organisations, a distinguished Expert Advisory Panel and The Earthshot Prize Council comprising influential individuals committed to championing positive environmental action.

The 15 finalists were assessed by the Expert Advisory Panel of scientific, academic and subject-matter leaders. Each of the finalist’s solutions excelled in the rigorous screening process and were assessed on their potential to create game-changing impact around the world, and their ability to help us reach our Earthshot challenges, while positively impacting people, communities and the natural world.

The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony took place on Friday, 2 December at the MGM Music Hall in Boston. You can watch a recording of the ceremony on BBC in the UK, PBS in the United States and Multichoice across Africa as well as on the Earthshot Prize’s YouTube channel. More details here.

About the Earthshot Prize

The Earthshot Prize was established by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in 2020 in order to change the global discourse about climate and the environment, from one of pessimism and gloom to one of optimism and hope. Five prizes are to be awarded each year for 10 years, until 2030. By focusing each year on possible solutions to five critical environmental challenges – the “Earthshots” – the Prize seeks to highlight opportunities for meaningful action with the potential to heal the planet.

The Prize takes inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot”, which united millions of people around an organising goal to put man on the moon and catalysed the development of new technology in the 1960s.

In addition to AKDN, other Founding Partners of the Global Alliance include: Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy Foundation (Gates), Coleman Family Ventures, DP World in partnership with Dubai EXPO 2020, Eleven Foundation, Holch Povlsen Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Legado Para A Juventude, Marc and Lynne Benioff, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Rob & Melani Walton Foundation.

About AKDN’s climate commitment

Climate resilience is a core strategic priority of AKDN. Our overriding principles are as follows:

1. Responsible stewardship of the environment, ensuring that the Earth can sustainably support future generations. This obligation means that all AKDN operations help restore and protect the natural environment wherever possible and not contribute to its degradation.
2. Putting people at the centre and focusing on the quality of life of the most vulnerable communities.
3. Demonstrate proactive, socially responsible and values-oriented leadership. This means committing that all AKDN operations, across all its agencies and institutions, will have net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
4. Leading by example, and sharing our experiences with others to influence policies, raise awareness, increase impact and effect social transformation. This includes working with suppliers with credible and significant carbon reduction targets across their operations and value chain; educating and engaging in research so future generations can engage in an informed and meaningful way with the challenges of environmental degradation and climate change; and sharing with partners and stakeholders the innovations deployed in achieving AKDN’s commitment.

Learn more about AKDN’s Environment and Climate Change work and read our Environment and Climate Commitment Statement in full.