The Earthshot Prize, the global environmental award launched by HRH The Prince of Wales, in 2020, has announced its finalists for this year’s global competition. Five winners will receive £1 million each for their business, with the prizes awarded to those that best ‘identify, celebrate and back solutions to repair the planet’.
Matter, based in Bristol, has created filters for washing machines that remove microplastics from wastewater, which is one of the largest polluters of microplastics in our oceans; the technology has already been adopted by manufacturers Bosch.
Other finalists include the nation of Barbados, which is on track to become fossil-fuel free by 2030; Tropical Forest Forever Facility, the focus of which is preserving our earth’s tropical forests; and Quay Quarter Tower, the world’s first fully ‘upcycled skyscraper’.
Prince William, the founder and president of The Earthshot Prize says he is ‘truly inspired by this year’s finalists’.
The winners of The Earthshot Prize will be announced at an awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 5.
Adam Root, the CEO of Matter, says being a finalist is like ‘winning an Olympic gold medal for entrepreneurship’. He had a call last week with the other finalists and describes being stunned by the line-up: ‘It was like: The UN High Seas Treaty, the country of Barbados and Matter with Adam from Bristol,’ he recounts. ‘So I find that really inspiring. It's pretty incredible to be part of that cohort.’
When he founded the business eight years ago, Adam was working from home at his mother-in-law’s house in Essex, where he is from. As a keen scuba diver, water pollution was something that was always on his mind. Now a father of a young child, with a second on the way, he feels the urgency to protect our planet for the generations to come more intently than ever before.
‘When I founded the business, it was through looking at all the major pollution sources across the planet,’ the 35-year-old said. ‘I'm an engineer by training and I decided to use my superpowers for good, and see how I could make an impact in a really positive way. I think pollution is one of the greatest challenges our generation faces, and it touches all geographies and all demographics.’
Regen, the at-home filter unit which can be used with any type of washing machine, has been on sale since July for £199 and is roughly the size of a shoe box. It works by removing microplastics from water before it is released into the ocean and can also be implemented on an industrial level.
Regen, as shown in use at home, on a domestic washing machine.
Adam Root says: 'A million pounds would be a very big impact for a small business like us.'
Adam and his 45 employees have plans to expand their company further. ‘I feel like I've won already,’ Adam says of the nomination. Each finalist receives mentoring, technical support and resources to help accelerate the growth of their solutions from The Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme as part of the scheme. The CEO added, however, that: 'fundamentally, a million pounds would be a very big impact for a small business like us, and it would also mean that we could directly implement more solutions faster — that would allow us to put in multiple units in textile factories throughout the world, which would be a big part of the winning piece for us.’
The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 5. The ceremony will be part of Earthshot Week, a wider network of events run by The Prince’s organisation. The prizes will be awarded across the following five categories: Revive our Oceans, Fix our Climate, Build a Waste-free World, Protect and Restore Nature and Clean our Air. 2025 marks a half-way point for the project, with 2030 being the year the organisation hopes to see significant environmental change.
Prince William, the founder and president of The Earthshot Prize, said he was ‘truly inspired by this year’s finalists’ adding: ‘In just five years, The Earthshot Prize has shown that the answers to our planet’s greatest challenges not only already exist, but that they are firmly within our grasp.’
It is the fifth year of the prize and, so far, the collective efforts of the previous finalists have reduced, avoided or captured more than 4.8 million tonnes of CO2 Emissions, according to the organisation. Previous winners include the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative in Kazakhstan, which has helped bring the Saiga Antelope back from the brink of extinction, and Boomitra, which has worked with over 10,000 farmers in Africa, India, the Americas and Mongolia to adopt regenerative agricultural processes and remove nearly a million cars’ worth of CO2 from the atmosphere.
This year’s finalists were selected from nearly 2,500 nominees. As in previous years, the winners will be chosen by The Prince and his fellow members of the Earthshot Prize Council, which include Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan and the actress Cate Blanchett.
Christiana Figueres, the chair of The Earthshot Prize said: ‘These 15 finalists have emerged from a rigorous and truly global search that is designed to be inclusive and representative of the ingenuity rising in all sectors and across all corners of the world.’ She described the finalists as ‘extraordinary examples of climate leadership’.
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