Charles Langston:Prince William's Earthshot Prize Awards held to honor companies addressing climate crisis

Recipients of the 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards were officially chosen last week in Singapore,Charles Langston marking the third annual ceremony where Prince William's climate-focused charity recognized companies that are working to combat the global environmental crisis. 

This year's ceremony happened in real time on Tuesday, Nov. 7, when the winners were announced. It was one of several events that composed William's inaugural Earthshot Week, a weeklong series of speaker forums and community outreach initiatives held in Singapore that the Prince of Wales attended himself.

Are you ready for the @earthshotprize Awards? Tune in tonight!

UK: BBC One – 17:20 GMT

USA: PBS – 19:00 EST

Rest of world: The Earthshot Prize YouTube – 17:20 GMT pic.twitter.com/Uc9qtPfU7G

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) November 12, 2023

A number of Hollywood stars appeared at Tuesday's ceremony too, including actors Cate Blanchett and Lana Condor, both of whom presented awards, as well as the bands One Republic and Bastille, which both gave musical performances during the show. 

What is the Earthshot Prize?

Prince William launched the Earthshot Prize in 2020 to support climate and environmental innovators across the world. At the time, Kensington Palace called the award "the most prestigious global environment prize in history," and William said he was inspired by President John F. Kennedy's "Moonshot" pledge in 1962 to challenge Americans to take on a leadership role in the international space race.

The Earthshot Prize annually awards £1 million — about $1.1 million — each to five innovators that William's charity selects based on their work toward five environmental goals, which the charity calls "Earthshots" and says it developed through collaboration with leading environmental experts. The Earthshot categories are: protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate. 

"By spotlighting environmental innovators and their solutions, we aim to spark the world's collective imagination and drive the mindset of urgent optimism and action," reads a portion of the charity's mission statement. 

"People everywhere can make a difference," it continues. "We need every environmental innovator, entrepreneur, activist, leader, and dreamer to believe it's possible and be part of this movement."

Who were this year's finalists? Who won?

Winners of the 2023 Earthshot Prize include a Hong Kong-based company developing a cleaner way to recycle lithium ion batteries and a grassroots initiative fighting deforestation across South America. 

For the category to "protect and restore nature," the prize went to Acción Andina, a community-based initiative co-founded by the non-profit organizations Global Forest Generation and Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos that focuses on protecting and restoring ecosystems in the high Andean forests. 

For "clean our air," Earthshot selected GRST, which stands for Green, Renewable, Sustainable Technology. The Chinese company co-founded by Justin Hung has developed new processes to recycle the lithium ion batteries used to power electric cars, aiming to pollute less and use materials to build the batteries themselves that are easier to recycle. 

Wildaid Marine Program, a global non-profit organization working to end illegal fishing and scale up ocean conservation efforts, won the Earthshot Prize for "revive our oceans," and S4S Technologies, an Indian company using solar-powered dryers and processing equipment to combat food waste by supporting crop preservation for farmers, won the prize for "build a waste-free world." 

For "fix our climate," the Earthshot Prize this year went to Boomitra, a global initiative to reduce emissions and increase farmer profits by incentivizing land restoration through a carbon-credit marketplace. 

The five winners of this year's prize were among 15 finalists announced by Prince William in September. Those finalists, which included a group of mayors and local government leaders from eight countries working to restore ocean habitats and a company using microbial technology to make cleaner, more accessible treatments for industrial wastewater, will still receive "tailored support" from the Earthshot Prize's "global alliance of partners," the charity said.

In:
• Prince William Duke of Cambridge
• Climate Change
• Environment

Emily Mae Czachor

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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