The 15 finalists for Earthshot Prize, the environmental award created by Prince William, were unveiled on November 4.
Prince William is scheduled to attend the Dec. 2 ceremony in Boston, a location chosen in part because the program was inspired by the late President John F. Kennedy’s call for man to reach the moon before the end of the 1960s — his famous Moonshot speech.
Kennedy “shared The Earthshot Prize’s belief that seemingly impossible goals are within reach if we only harness the limitless power of innovation, human ingenuity, and urgent optimism,” Prince William said in a statement.
The ceremony will be held at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway, the organization said. (The venue is owned by the Fenway Sports Group, led by John Henry who also owns the Globe.) It will be broadcast by PBS in the US, the BBC in the United Kingdom, and Multichoice in Africa. It will also be available on YouTube and will premiere Dec. 4, the organization said.
The Boston event will be the second time the Earthshot Prize — worth about $1.1 million — will be awarded to a group of innovators selected by a panel of experts. The panel has been working on the choices for this year over the past 10 months, the organization said in a statement.
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“The innovators, leaders, and visionaries that make up our 2022 Earthshot Finalists prove there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of our planet,’’ Prince William said in the statement. “They are directing their time, energy, and talent towards bold solutions with the power to not only solve our planet’s greatest environmental challenges, but to create healthier, more prosperous, and more sustainable communities for generations to come.”
The foundation, which was launched last year by Prince William, has five categories of awards.
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Here are the finalists:
The Earthshot Awards for Desert Agricultural Transformation:
- China: A team developing cutting-edge agricultural breakthroughs to turn barren desert landscapes into lush, green ones.
- Hutan, Malaysia: An inspiring conservation model that protects orangutans, supports local jobs and livelihoods, and restores forests to their former greatness.
- Kheyti, India: A pioneering solution for local smallholder farmers to reduce costs, increase yields, and protect livelihoods in a country on the frontlines of climate change.
The Earthshot Prize to Clean Our Air:
- The Ampd Entertainer, Hong Kong: An emission-free electric battery system to power construction and reduce pollution.
- Mukuru Clean Stoves, Kenya: A start-up providing cleaner-burning stoves to women in Kenya to reduce unhealthy indoor pollution and provide a safer way to cook.
- Roam, Kenya: An organization building lower emission vehicles, making clean transportation accessible and affordable for urban cities on the African continent.
The Earthshot Prize to Revive Our Oceans:
- The Great Bubble Barrier, Netherlands: Inventive and ingenious technique to intercept plastics before they reach oceans by creating a curtain of bubbles.
- Indigenous Women of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: An inspiring women-led program that combines 60,000 years of indigenous knowledge with digital technologies to protect land and sea.
- SeaForester, Portugal: A cutting-edge breakthrough in seaweed farming that can restore the ocean’s forgotten forests.
The Earthshot Prize to Build A Waste-Free World:
- City of Amsterdam Circular Economy, Netherlands: A citywide initiative to establish a fully circular economy by 2050, wasting nothing and recycling everything.
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- Fleather, India: An innovative and regenerative approach to creating leather out of floral waste.
- Notpla, United Kingdom: A circular solution creating an alternative to plastic packaging from seaweed.
The Earthshot Prize to Fix Our Climate:
- LanzaTech, USA: A circular solution that recycles carbon waste into sustainable fuels and everyday products.
- Low Carbon Materials, United Kingdom: A new and innovative material that uses unrecyclable plastic waste to make traditional concrete blocks carbon zero.
- 44.01, Oman: Childhood friends who have developed an innovative technique to turn CO2 into rock, and permanently store it underground.
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.