As Earthshot Week kicks off in Cape Town today, The Earthshot Prize has today announced a series of programmes designed to inspire and engage the next generation of climate innovators: the Global Climate Accelerator Network, the Climate Youth Leadership Programme, and Project Slingshot, which will launch in partnership with National Geographic.
These new programmes will, for the first time, ensure that The Earthshot Prize reaches children and young people from the age of five well into adulthood and inspire the next generation to join the movement fixing the planet, one breakthrough solution at a time.
This is an invitation to young people everywhere to reclaim their future and unleash their time and talent to fix the planet, one solution at a time. At The Earthshot Prize, we believe in the power of climate creatives – the builders, creators, makers, doers – and we want to encourage every young person to dream of one day becoming an Earthshot winner. Because when they win, we all win.
A new global network, with 17 initial members, will foster collaboration between accelerators, incubators and other organisations around the world as they support early-stage start-ups to tackle the most pressing environmental challenges facing the world, and to speed their solutions to scale. The network will expand over time to provide even greater support to eco-innovators and their solutions.
In a new partnership with Undaunted@Imperial, the network aims to speed 10,000 eco-innovations to scale in this decade. Undaunted@Imperial is a partnership between Imperial College London and The Royal Institution and home of the UK’s longest running specialist climate accelerator. Aimed at young game-changers, innovators, and entrepreneurs, the network provides startups with an end-to-end global support ecosystem, helping them access the expert advice, technical resources, investment, customers, and new markets they need to scale and grow.
At Imperial, we know that innovation is needed to achieve a sustainable, zero pollution future. We need scientists, entrepreneurs, businesses, policymakers, and the public to come together to make a difference on a global scale – an ambition set out in our Science for Humanity strategy. We’re excited that Undaunted@Imperial is partnering with The Earthshot Prize to support the most promising cleantech businesses, including our own Notpla who were the first UK winners of The Earthshot Prize in 2022.
The 17 initial members operate on five continents, including in all four Earthshot Prize host cities to date – London, Boston, Singapore, and Cape Town. The 17 members are:
To coincide with Earthshot Week, in partnership with Common Purpose, The Prize has brought together 120 young people from across Africa and Asia to launch the first Earthshot Week Climate Youth Leadership Programme. This cohort, all passionate about driving transformative change in climate action and sustainability, will develop vital skills in authentic leadership, storytelling, and networking over four impactful days.
Throughout the week, attendees will participate in a series of immersive masterclasses, programmes, and experiences, including with Finalists and Earthshot Prize alumni, to inspire and support them as they take bold and decisive action on climate. There will also be opportunities to potentially secure internships, jobs, and important connections to potential mentors, business partners, and investors throughout the week.
Attendees are made up of 100 future leaders aged 18-35 from 34 countries across Africa, who were selected from an application pool of nearly 2000 from 50 of the 54 African nations. An additional 20 youth leaders have been invited from seven Asian countries as a legacy from last year’s Awards in Singapore.
Partners from across the Earthshot network have come together to make the inaugural Climate Youth Leadership Programme possible, including Bloomberg Philanthropies, DP World, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Temasek Foundation, and Tsao Pao Chee.
Finally, in an ongoing collaboration with the National Geographic Society, The Earthshot Prize will connect with young people ages 13-18 with a youth program which aims to foster and support a new generation of leaders committed to addressing environmental challenges. During Earthshot Week, this will be brought to life through an interactive workshop with 100 local high school youth, led by National Geographic in collaboration with The Earthshot Prize and Brand South Africa.
The Slingshot programme aims to inspire teenagers to pursue innovation and climate ambition, including the aspiration to one day win The Earthshot Prize. The programme will include young people from across South Africa and will be inclusive of those from schools in townships, rural areas, and in cities.
“Young people are engaging with the most complex issues of our time. They’re shaping the conversation, driving progress and inspiring hope and action,” said Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the National Geographic Society. “Through the Slingshot Challenge and our collaboration with The Earthshot Prize, we are accelerating our support of young people as the architects of change our planet urgently needs.”
Earlier this year, The Earthshot Prize reached out to the next generation of young inventors, problem-solvers, and change-makers through The Blue Peter Earthshot Prize competition which invited CBBC viewers aged 5-15 to submit original ideas aimed at achieving one of the five Earthshots.
The competition received 2,000 applications from aspiring environmentalists all over the UK. Five Winners are set to be announced on Blue Peter in early 2025 and they will each win an exclusive Blue Peter Orange competition winner’s badge.
The competition has the backing of wildlife presenters Steve Backshall and Hamza Yassin, Harry Potter star Bonnie Wright, wildlife filmmaker, and marine biologist Inka Creswell and social media creator and entrepreneur Sam Bentley. Schools across the U.K. have access to free resources related to the competition through BBC Teach.
