In news-The Earthshot Prize recently revealed the first-ever five Prize Winners of the most prestigious environment awards in history at a glittering ceremony held atAlexandra Palace in London.
Award winners 2021
Following are the five award winners this year:
Vidyut Mohan: Winner from India:
- The inaugural edition remains special for India as Vidyut Mohan’s technology that recycles agricultural waste to create fuel was named among the winners of the coveted prize.
- His social enterprise Takachar has developed a cheap, small-scale, portable technology that attaches to tractors in remote farms and converts crop residues into sellable bio-products like fuel and fertilizer.
- The technology reduced smoke emissions by 98 per cent, and calls for improving air quality.
- Vidyut Mohan from Takachar was awarded for this technology in the “clean our air” category.
Protect and Restore Nature
- The Republic of Costa Rica: Costa Rica was a country that once cleared most of its forests, but it has now doubled the number of trees and is seen as a role model for others to follow.
- The winning project is a scheme paying local citizens to restore natural ecosystems that has led to a revival of the rainforest.
Revive our Oceans
- Coral Vita, Bahamas: A project run by two best friends who are growing coral in the Bahamas, designed to restore the world’s dying coral reefs.
- Using special tanks, they have developed a way to grow coral up to 50 times faster than they normally take in nature.
Build a Waste-Free World
- The City of Milan Food Waste Hubs, Italy: Another challenge is waste – and the city of Milan in Italy wins a prize for collecting unused food and giving it to people who need it most.
- The initiative has dramatically cut waste while tackling hunger.
Fix our Climate
- AEM Electrolyser, Thailand/Germany/Italy: A clever design in Thailand using renewable energy to make hydrogen by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
- Hydrogen is a clean gas but it is usually produced by burning fossil fuels.
About Earth shot prize
- Dubbed as the “Eco Oscars”, The Earthshot Prize is an award set up by Prince William and the Royal Foundation.
- The foundation honours five finalists between 2021 and 2030 for developing solutions to fight the climate crisis.
- It aims to mobilise collective action around our unique ability to innovate, problem solve and repair our planet.
- The Earthshot Prize was launched in 2020 by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and David Attenborough, with the support of a broad range of individuals and organizations dedicated to climate action.
- The year 2021 was the first year when awards were handed out to finalists for their contributions towards the five UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- Each of the five Winners received £1million prize money and a global network of professional and technical support to scale their remarkable environmental solutions to repair our planet and accelerate their impact.
- The five Winners include cutting-edge technologists, innovators, an entire country, and a pioneering city.
- The award is distributed in five separate categories supported by the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Protect and Restore Nature; Clean our Air; Revive our Oceans; Build a Waste-free World; and Fix our Climate.
- The five Winners were selected by The Earthshot Prize Council and were chosen for their ground-breaking solutions to the greatest environmental challenges facing our planet and their ability to scale their impact globally in response to the urgent challenges we face.
- Each year for the next 10 years, the Earthshot will be awarding £1m each to five projects that are working to find solutions to the planet’s environmental problems.
- The Awards Ceremony concluded by revealing The Earthshot Prize will travel to the United States of America in 2022.
The Royal Foundation
- The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is a charity which supports the work of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
- Their projects revolve around conservation, the early years, mental health, and emergency responders.
Source: Indian Express
