The Duke of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize gained the support of 14 global companies and brands on Wednesday, providing support and guidance to finalists as they work to achieve the goals set out in their ambitious projects.
These 14 companies and brands will be known as the Global Alliance, and they include Arup, Bloomberg L.P, Deloitte, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hitachi, Ingka Group (IKEA), Microsoft, The Multichoice Group, Natura & Co, Safaricom, Salesforce, Unilever, Vodacom, and Walmart. Together, they represent 3.6 million employees globally across five continents.
The Global Alliance will work with the 15 finalists—who will be announced later this month—to provide them with resources and support “including manufacturing, retail, supply chains, legal advice, digital technology, business strategy and government relations,” according to the press release. “With headquarters in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America, these companies are well-placed to support innovators around the globe.”
The Earthshot Prize will continue to invite businesses and brands to join the Global Alliance so long as they provide an ability to help finalists and are committed to responsible business practices. More members will be announced as the decade-long prize-awarding continues.
The first five winners of the Earthshot Prize will be announced in a global awards ceremony on 17 October at the Alexandra Palace in London. Each recipient will receive a £1 million grant to further implement their solutions. All 15 winners and finalists will receive support from the Global Alliance, specific to the nature of their project, to bolster their projects.
The five categories for the Earthshot Prize are: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate.
The Earthshot Prize website notes: “Together, [the Earthshots] form a unique set of challenges rooted in science, which aim to generate new ways of thinking, as well as new technologies, systems, policies and solutions. By bringing these five critical issues together, The Earthshot Prize recognises the interconnectivity between environmental challenges and the urgent need to tackle them together.”
Prince William launched The Earthshot Prize in 2020 as a decade-long mission to repair the planet. It was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot from the 1960s, which aimed to put a man on the moon by the end of that decade.
