Mumbai to host Earthshot Prize Awards night

The annual environment award of Britain’s Prince William in 2026, the Earthshot Prize, will be hosted by the Indian city of Mumbai this year. Announcing this, the Earthshot Prize organizers said in a press release that sixth annual Awards Night will celebrate India’s leadership, stewardship and culture and culminate in five Earthshot Finalists each winning £1 million ($1.36 ⁠million) to accelerate the impact of their innovative solutions. The Prize finds, supports and celebrates those who turn bold ideas into solutions for the planet. The search is for the best examples of climate leadership and problem-solving.

“The Earthshot Prize exists to champion the game-changers, the makers, the creatives, the leaders. When they win, we all win," HRH Prince William Founder and President of the prize has said. “India is one of the world’s most important forces for climate and nature. What succeeds ⁠in India at scale has the power to inspire progress everywhere,” HRH Prince William said in the statement.

The Earthshot announcement took place at Mumbai Climate Week, where former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior United Nations officials were among those attending. The search is for environmental solutions that show the greatest potential to achieve these five Earthshots. Like previous years, the multi-day Earthshot Prize Summit will bring together environmental and business leaders, investors and philanthropists to drive forward bold solutions to repair our planet, according to the Prize’s website.

The website also highlights that India is home to seven Earthshot Finalists. India has a proud record of environmental solutions, and is home to seven Earthshot Prize Finalists, including four Winners — more than any other country.

The State of Gujarat is the 2025 Clean our Air Finalist and has pioneered the world’s first trading scheme for particulate emissions, which lets businesses keep growing while providing clean, healthier air for its citizens.

The S4S Technologies is 2024 Build a Waste-free World Winner, whose solar-powered dryers and processing equipment combat food waste — enabling smallholder farmers to preserve crops and turn produce that might otherwise go to waste into valuable products.

With multiple projects in India, 2023 Fix our Climate Winner, Boomitra is removing emissions and boosting farmer profits by incentivising soil restoration and the adoption of regenerative agriculture through a verified carbon-credit marketplace.

The 2022 Protect & Restore Nature Winner, Kheyti’s Greenhouse-in-a-Box helps smallholder farmers beset by climate-affected harvests reduce climate risk and increase their yields.

The 2022 Build a Waste-free World Finalist, Phool reused flowers cast into the Ganges River to make a sustainable alternative to leather called Fleather, helping prevent highly toxic pesticides from entering waterways.

The 2021 Clean our Air Winner, Takachar’s affordable, portable technology converts crop residues into sellable bio-products like fuel and fertilizer, helping to tackle emissions from agricultural waste burning.

The 2021 Clean our Air Finalist, Vinisha Umashankar’s solar-powered ironing cart is a clean alternative to the charcoal powered street irons that press clothes for millions of Indians each day.

The Prize works with hundreds of hugely experienced official nominators worldwide to help find the most impactful solutions to the Earthshots, from grassroots and Indigenous communities to international businesses and governments. This challenge to the world is based on five Earthshots. Developed in collaboration with leading environmental experts, they are ‘Protect and Restore Nature’; ‘Clean our Air’; ‘Revive our Oceans’; ‘Build a Waste-Free World’; and ‘Fix our Climate’.

To ‘Protect and Restore Nature’, by 2030, the choice is to ensure that, for the first time in human history, the natural world is growing – not shrinking – on the planet. To ‘Clean our Air’, by 2030’, the choice is to ensure that everyone breathes clean, healthy air – at world health organisation standard or better. To ‘Revive our Oceans’, by 2030, the choice is to repair and preserve our oceans for future generations. To ‘Build a Waste-Free World’, by 2030, the choice is to build a world where nothing goes to waste, where the leftovers of one process become the raw materials of the next – just like they do in nature. To ‘Fix our Climate’, by 2030, the choice is to fix the world’s climate by cutting out carbon: building a carbon-neutral economy that lets every culture, community and country thrive.