Publications
Partners
- Now in its third year, Prince William's Earthshot Prize aims to spotlight solutions for climate issues affecting South Africa and the world.
- The Earthshot Prize's leadership visited Cape Town recently to engage with some of South Africa's finalists whose climate solutions also support economic development.
- The challenge is not innovation but finding the finance to scale solutions with which Earthshot seeks to assist, explains CEO Hannah Jones.
- For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.
Now in its third year, Prince William's prestigious environmental award, The Earthshot Prize, has seen a surge in African-based nominations, with Cape Town-founded eco-friendly mobility solution Green Riders among this year's nominees.
The global environmental prize was founded by the Prince of Wales in 2020, aims to promote innovative solutions that repair and restore the planet. The Earthshot Prize has since become an independent organisation.
Cape Town has been selected as the host city for the awards ceremony in November.
Speaking to News24 in an interview, The Earthshot Prize CEO Hannah Jones shared that one of the reasons Cape Town was chosen is because it presents a gateway to the rest of the continent.
Secondly, one of the big focus areas of the prize is the protection of oceans - the biodiversity as well as the livelihoods of coastal communities. "We wanted to spotlight oceans," said Jones.
"Oceans will be critical, but are also the most underfunded … And South Africans have taken a really pioneering and important leadership role in saying, 'We need to protect 30% of the oceans off the coast of South Africa.'"
Last year, a Cape Town-founded sustainable fishing solution, Abalobi, was one of The Earthshot Prize's top 15 finalists.
What made Abalobi interesting as a climate solution that addressed overfishing is that it also promoted job creation, explained Jones.
READ | SA sustainable fishing fix among the global finalists for Prince William's environmental prize
"What we love are solutions in nature that also drive economic prosperity," she added.
These are generally the solutions that reach the final stages of the competition because they are a win-win.
"We need to put jobs and entrepreneurship at the heart of it. This is a green jobs and green entrepreneurialism and green creativity opportunity," Jones emphasised.
One of the winners in 2022 was Nairobi-based Mukuru Clean Stoves, which was founded by Charlot Magayi. The clean cookstoves ensure 90% less pollution than an open fire, and 70% less pollution that a traditional cookstove. The solution also supported job creation for others, said Jones, adding:
In her recent visit to South Africa, Jones and the Earthshot team engaged with Green Riders in preparation for this year's awards.
Green Riders, based in Table View, is one of this year's 2 400 nominees. Green Riders relies on e-bikes to reduce air pollution and emissions in the transport sector while creating jobs for South Africa's unemployed youth. The startup aims to create 50 000 jobs in South Africa in the next five years, News24 previously reported.
Most of the solutions that enter for the competition, whether women-led or indigenous-led or global South-led, face a huge issue of finding access to capital and support, Jones shared.
The Earthshot Prize seeks to address this challenge through its fellowship programme for the 15 finalists, where they can work with mentors and advisers to help them access the financial support they need. This year's fellowship retreat will also be held in Cape Town.
Following the fellowship programme five winners will be selected - across different categories - and they will ultimately be awarded £1 million or R23 million to scale their solutions.
Hundreds of thousands of nominations come through each year, from official nominators. In South Africa, these nominators include MultiChoice Group.
Public proposals can also be made by applying through The Earthshot Prize website.
There are five categories for which solutions can be nominated - Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.
About 60-70 experts from around the world then evaluate the solution based on their expertise on the different fields.
Consultancy Deloitte also assists in evaluating solutions - about 300 to 400 - by conducting interviews to short-list nominations.
The top 50 is then selected for further interviews and site visits.
The top 15 finalists are selected thereafter, and they participate in the fellowship programme.
A prize council then selects the five winners- for each category.
Earthshot movement
Earthshot continues to support finalists - beyond the competition - by helping them still access financial support and equipping them through attending conferences. "We track all finalists for the decade," said Jones. "Once you are with the Earthshot family, we don't let you go," she added.
For Jones the big role Earthshot plays is to put the spotlight on solutions - and drive "urgent optimism" in the face of the climate crisis, which can seem overwhelming.
"Right now, particularly, among young people - it is pretty easy to feel apathy, to feel anger, to feel anxiety or to feel 'It has nothing to do with me'," Jones said.
"Most of the movement - in the environment - live in a world of defeatism, anger and sadness. And we look at that, and say, 'There is a role for anger. But let us get clear, there is an incredible movement happening.'
"We have thousands of nominations that tell me this is a movement," said Jones.
Jones believes there is a growing number of young people who want to be part of the solution, and The Earthshot Prize wants to support their ambitions.
