William announces Earthshot Prize 2025 winners in Rio

🌍 Earthshot Prize 2025: Climate Innovators Win £1m to Scale Up Efforts

Two projects focused on restoring tropical forests and a global ocean treaty initiative are among the winners of this year's Earthshot Prize.

The winners, selected at an awards ceremony in Brazil on Wednesday, will each receive £1 million to scale up their efforts to combat the climate crisis.

The Prince of Wales, who established the global environmental award in 2020, described the winners as an "inspiration" and "proof that progress is possible."

The star-studded ceremony at Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Tomorrow featured presenters including former Formula One racer Sebastian Vettel, footballer Cafu, and Olympian Rebeca Andrade. Pop stars Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes performed.

Among the political figures in attendance were Sir Keir Starmer, Shadow Energy Minister Ed Miliband, and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Prince William, the award's president, told those assembled at the dinner that he founded the award with the intention of improving "our world for the better" this decade.

We set out to address environmental issues head-on and make lasting, transformative improvements that will protect life on Earth.

The award was influenced by former US President John F. Kennedy's Moonshot Initiative, which pushed scientists to land astronauts on the Moon and return them safely.

There are five Earthshots, or goals, for which an award is given: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate. The future King has dedicated himself to the award for ten years, with the Rio event marking a halfway point in the project.

Nearly 2,500 candidates were submitted from 72 countries this year. Of these, 15 finalists were chosen, out of which five winners were selected.

Earthshot Prize 2025: Full List of Winners

Winning the Protect & Restore Nature award puts his organisation "on the right track," said Thiago Picolo, Chief Executive of re:earth, one of the winners.

Winning a prize like this gives us peace of mind, lets us know we're on the right track, and it helps us have discussions with banks, capital providers, and corporations,

he explained.

Prince William referred to the winners as "innovators" and called the Earthshot Prize a "mission fuelled by the kind of extraordinary hope we've felt here tonight."

There's a lot we can learn from their determination, their vision for scale, and their unyielding belief that we will create a better world.

Christiana Figueres, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said they were establishing a "global legacy."

These winners are a shining example of how the spirit of collective action born here in Rio continues to grow stronger, more focused, and more urgent than ever. Their 2030 aspirations are highly optimistic, but their results to date, their infrastructure, and their tenacity fuel my optimism.

Prince William's Climate Focus in Brazil

Earlier in the day, Prince William met the 15 finalists during a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue, where he posed for a photograph on the same spot his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, was photographed 34 years ago.

A large portion of the Prince's five-day visit to Brazil has been devoted to climate and the environment. During a speech to the United Nations Wildlife Conference on Tuesday, he condemned criminals for their involvement in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. He also visited Paquetá Island, where he met locals, learned about mangrove preservation, and planted tree saplings.

He is scheduled to travel to Belém, in the Amazon rainforest, where he will address COP30, the UN's annual climate change summit.

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Would you be interested in learning the names of the other three winners, or perhaps more detail on one of the five Earthshot goals?