Earthshot Innovators Backed by DP World with £1 Million Global Investment at first-ever Innovation Showcase

Today The Earthshot Prize took centre stage at Expo 2020 Dubai with the first-ever Earthshot Prize Innovation Showcase. As part of Prince William’s official visit to the UAE, His Royal Highness was joined by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum and His Excellency Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, at the Showcase where Earthshot Prize Founding Partner DP World announced a remarkable £1 million investment to two Earthshot Prize Finalists, designed to scale their work in the UAE and Middle East.

The stunning Innovation Showcase profiled the ground-breaking solutions from the 2021 Earthshot Prize Finalists and included remarks from Earthshot Prize Council Members Prince William and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah who participated via video message, who challenged the distinguished audience to help scale the Earthshot Prize solutions that will repair and regenerate our planet.

The Innovation Showcase featured pitch presentations from five 2021 Earthshot Prize Finalists:

• Eshrat Waris from SOLshare, Bangladesh: The world’s first peer-to-peer energy exchange network in a country on the front-line of climate change
• David Auerbach from Sanergy, Kenya: A circular sanitation solution reducing waste and supporting local farmers
• Dr Mariana Mayer Pinto from Living Seawalls, Australia: Innovative and replicable seawall panels bringing marine life back to coastal sea defences
• Olugbenga Olubanjo from Reeddi, Nigeria: Solar-powered energy capsules making electricity affordable and accessible in energy-poor communities
• Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern from Coral Vita, the Bahamas: A truly cutting-edge land-based coral farming approach that can restore our world’s dying coral reefs

During the event, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of DP World, announced a landmark investment from DP World of £1million to scale two Earthshot Prize Finalists’ solutions. Revive our Oceans Earthshot Prize Winner Bahamas-based Coral Vita will receive £500k to develop a strategy for the deployment of large-scale reef restoration in the UAE, which will implement approaches to grow climate resilient corals up to 50 times faster than traditional methods. With these funds, they will begin collaborative work on reef restoration in the region, including scoping for the first commercial land-based coral farm for reef restoration in the Middle East.

Revive our Oceans Prize Finalist Australia-based Living Seawalls was also awarded £500k from DP World. This investment will scale their innovative work creating panels that mimic natural habitats like rock pools and mangrove roots, which are fitted to coastal sea defences to return marine life to coastal shorelines. DP World’s commitment will fund the design and installation of the largest living seawall on the planet adapted to support the native marine life of the UAE and wider region.