William announces Earthshot Prize 2025 winners in Rio

Among the winners of this year's Earthshot Prize this year are two projects that restore tropical forests and a global ocean treaty initiative. The winners, who were selected at an awards ceremony in Brazil on Wednesday, will each receive £1 million to scale up their efforts to restore the climate. The winners, according to the Prince of Wales, who established the global environmental award in 2020, were a inspiration and "proof that progress is possible. Cafu, Olympian Rebeca Andrade, and former Formula One racer Sebastian Vettel were among the presenters, while pop stars Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes appeared at the ceremony in Rio de Janeiro's Museum of Tomorrow.

Sir Keir Starmer, Energy Minister Ed Miliband, and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan were among those in attendance. 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, lasting improvements that will protect Earth life. Former US President John F Kennedy's Moonshot Initiative, which pUShed scientists to bring astronauts to the Moon and back safely, was influenced by the award.

There are five Earthshots, or goals for which an award is given: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; and Fix Our Climate The future king has devoted himself to the award for ten years, with Rio 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 finalists had been chosen.

Earthshot Prize 2025 - Full list of winners

Chief executive of re. Thiago Picolo said that winning the Protect & Restore Nature award puts the organization on the right track.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 said. Prince William referred to the winners as

innovators,andthe Earthshot Prize was a

mission fueled 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, the board of trustees chair, 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 fuels my optimism. "Prince William met the 15 finalists earlier in the day during a visit to the Christ Redeemer statue, where he posed for a photograph on the same spot his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, photographed 34 years ago. However, a large portion of the prince's five-day visit to Brazil has been devoted to climate and the earth. 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 went to Paqueta, where he met locals and learned about mangrove preservation and planted tree saplings. He will be heading to Belem, Amazon rainforest, where he will address COP30, the UN's annual climate change summit. Subscribe to our Future Earth newsletter to stay up with the most recent climate and environment news with BBC's Justin Rowlatt. Outside the UK? Sign up to our international newsletter here.