For the first time the coveted Earthshot Prize shortlist includes two companies from the UK.
Making the shortlist for 2022 is London start-up Notpla Hard Material, which creates biodegradable packaging from seaweed and plants, with a million food boxes already in use by food delivery service Just Eat; and Low Carbon Materials from County Durham, which turns unrecyclable plastic waste into carbon emissions-free concrete blocks, to be used in the construction industry.
Two entries from the Netherlands join the UK as finalists: The City of Amsterdam Circular Economy group whose aim is to reduce the city’s waste to zero by 2050; and The Great Bubble Barrier which pumps air through a perforated tube, allowing the bubbles to gather plastics and preventing them from reaching the ocean by bringing them to the surface and diverting them into a waste collection stream.
Also shortlisted is Mukuru Clean Stoves, a Kenyan social enterprise which designs affordable cooking stoves for low-income communities to ‘significantly reduce toxic household air pollution’, to save on fuel consumption costs, to support women and young people through training and employment and to increase awareness of the benefits of clean energy.
Innovators, leaders and visionaries
Among the other finalists are Australia’s Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef group, which blends digital technologies and ancient knowledge to protect the land and sea; Fleather, which turns floral waste from India into leather; Oman-based company 44.01, which mineralizes CO2 into rock; and Malaysia’s Hutan, which creates wildlife corridors for the protections of the orangutans.
Prince William, along with the Princess of Wales, is due to meet winners and finalists at an awards gala in Boston on 2 December, when five winners will be announced, each receiving £1 million to continue the development of their ground-breaking projects.
The Prince has described those on the shortlist as ‘innovators, leaders and visionaries’.
“They are directing their time, energy and talent towards bold solutions with the power to not only solve our planet’s greatest environmental challenges, but to create healthier, more prosperous and more sustainable communities for generations to come,” he comments.
View the full list of finalists here.
