SINGAPORE - Innovative projects aimed at protecting the world’s oceans and restoring nature will be highlighted later this year, with some of them supported by Prince William’s Earthshot Prize.
The awards ceremony for 2023 will be held for the first time in Singapore in November.
Founded by Prince William in 2020, the prize will give five winners £1 million (S$1.7 million) each to help them scale up their solutions and reach their desired impact. The projects must aim to help environmental causes such as creating a waste-free world, cleaning the air, fixing the earth’s climate, reviving oceans, and protecting and restoring nature.
The Earthshot Prize’s chief executive Hannah Jones told The Straits Times that protecting oceans and nature has become crucial, with countries around the world coming up with a global goal of protecting 30 per cent of land and turning 30 per cent of the world’s oceans into marine protected reserves.
But it is critical to do so in a way that also brings economic prosperity to coastal communities, she said.
“I think there is a lot of breakthrough work that is happening in Asia… communities move from fishing to alternative models that might provide carbon sinks, but also replenish ocean biodiversity and create new sources of income for humanity,” she added.
For instance, growing seaweed sustainably can create new food stocks and be a carbon sink as well. A carbon sink is a natural environment that can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Replenishing and protecting nature would be essential to keep global warming to 1.5 deg C, said Ms Jones.
A total of 15 finalists globally will be selected in September, with five picked as winners by The Earthshot Prize Council in the week starting Nov 6.
The organisers have not given details about the awards ceremony, including whether Prince William will be attending. He attended the previous two award ceremonies, which were held in London and Boston.
The Earthshot Prize Council includes Prince William, British broadcaster and presenter of natural history documentaries David Attenborough, musician Shakira and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.
“When we have selected our finalists, we look after them for at least a year... We try to matchmake them to get them additional support, whether it is in kind or through blended capital,” said Ms Jones.
Blended capital refers to public, multilateral or philanthropic funding that helps to catalyse private investments for green projects.
The week-long event in Singapore will bring together investors, venture capitalists, philanthropists and corporations to look at how to accelerate the time needed for these solutions to scale up, and how to overcome the difficulties of doing so.
The prize is supported by philanthropic organisation Temasek Trust, investment company Temasek, decarbonisation investment platform GenZero, non-profit environmental organisation Conservation International and Standard Chartered Bank. This is the first time the awards ceremony will take place over a week. Celebrities will be present, and there will be a green carpet, said Ms Jones. The event will involve young people, who are “at the heart” of what the organisation does, she added.
The vision behind the prize arose from two observations, she said.
The first was that young people in particular have been grappling with climate anxiety, and Prince William was concerned this might turn into defeatism, helplessness and eventually a lack of action.
Having visited a project that was “doing really well” in tackling conservation and biodiversity, he felt it was a pity this was not replicated elsewhere, she added.
He was inspired by the late United States president John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot Challenge in the 1960s – sending a man to the moon and bringing him home safely, said Ms Jones.
“So, it then became clear that this decade would be known as the ‘Earthshot’ decade – because by 2030, we would need to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent, protect 30 per cent of oceans and 30 per cent of nature,” she added.
The prize helps to accelerate innovation, scale it up and drive optimism in youth. It also opens up opportunities for them, especially in the three weeks leading up to the United Nations’ COP28 conference, she said.
The COP28 conference will take place in Dubai from Nov 30 to Dec 12.
Singapore was chosen to host the awards ceremony this year after having shown leadership in innovation, investments, urban planning and commitment by the Government and community to lead in green growth, said Ms Jones.
Co-founder and chief executive of Ampd Energy Brandon Ng, whose company was an Earthshot Prize finalist in 2022, said the business benefited from the prize’s global reach. It helped the firm with potential partnerships in markets such as in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
The Hong Kong-based firm has come up with a battery storage solution that can be used to power construction sites at a lower cost, compared with conventional diesel generators. “Our technology is able to tackle CO2 emissions, noise pollution and air pollution,” said Mr Ng.
About 130 construction projects are powered by The Enertainer battery, of which 15 are in Singapore, he added.
