Earthshot Prize

• 09 Oct 2020

Why in News

Britain’s Prince William has launched a new 50-million pound Earthshot Prize, aimed at funding the most innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

Key Points

• About the Prize:
  
  • Theme: The Earthshot Prize is centred around five “Earthshots”, simple but ambitious goals for the planet, which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for all, for generations to come.
    
    • It is said to be the most prestigious global prize for the environment in history.
  • Five Earthshots:
    
    • Protect and restore nature
    • Clean our air
    • Revive our oceans
    • Build a waste-free world
    • Fix our climate.
  • Awards Ceremony: It will take place in different cities across the world each year between 2021 and 2030, at which the five winners for each of the Earthshots will be selected from 15 finalists.
    
    • The first awards ceremony will take place in London in autumn 2021.
  • Benefits to Winners: After the awards, each winner will receive a global platform and prestigious profile, with their stories being showcased over the decade with the ambition that their solutions lead to mass adoption, replication and scaling.
    
    • The 1 million pound in prize money will support environmental and conservation projects that are agreed with a winner.
  • Eligibility: Prizes could be awarded to a wide range of individuals, teams or collaborations – scientists, activists, economists, community projects, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities, and countries – anyone whose workable solutions make a substantial contribution to achieving the Earthshots.
  • Prize Management: In addition to the Prize Council, the Earthshot Prize will be supported by its Global Alliance, a network of organisations worldwide which share the ambition of the Prize to repair the planet.
• Background:
  
  • The launch, backed by popular British broadcaster and conservationist David Attenborough, comes after two years of work by Prince William and the Royal Foundation of the Duke to develop a project which will support the global effort to protect and restore the environment.
    
    • Recently Sir David Attenborough has also been conferred with Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for 2019.
  • The Prize has been launched taking inspiration from former USA 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.

Source: IE