17 Feb 2026
Today the world’s most prestigious environmental award, The Earthshot Prize, announces its sixth cohort of Finalists, recognising solutions from different geographies, sectors and stages in their life cycle, dedicated to solving our planet’s greatest environmental challenges. Now past the halfway point of the Earthshot decade, The Earthshot Prize in 2026 is celebrating leadership from all corners of the globe, as people turn environmental ambition into action at scale.
This year’s Finalists represent exceptional climate leadership across the globe, from Indigenous and community knowledge through to corporate success stories and AI-powered climate tech, to repair our planet. They include:
The 15 Finalists are in the running to be awarded £1 million each across five categories: Revive our Oceans, Fix our Climate, Build a Waste-Free World, Protect and Restore Nature and Clean our Air. They join a historic coalition of leaders recognised as driving climate action and inspiring current and future generations to build a better future for people and planet.
The 2026 Finalist cohort brings together Indigenous leaders, female changemakers, and transformative new technologies and business models from around the globe. A significant portion of this year’s Finalists are from the Global South, alongside Finalists from Europe and the US, all of whom offer lessons for the world in environmental leadership. The 2026 Finalists also reflect the scale of transformation now required – from community organisations changing how people live and work, to cities and countries embedding environmental action into policy and infrastructure and, for the first time, a major publicly listed company, demonstrating that a crucial industry can change course.
The 2026 Winners will be announced at the sixth Earthshot Prize Awards Night, sponsored by Serum Institute of India. Across two days, The Earthshot Prize will bring together its ambitious network of global leaders, innovators, funders, businesses, and communities for The Earthshot Prize Summit to create opportunities that restore confidence in our ability to save the planet. This will culminate in the Awards Night on 17 November, where 15 Finalists will be celebrated and the five Winners will each receive £1 million to scale their impact. Karan Johar, Indian filmmaker, broadcaster known for the globally acclaimed ‘Koffee with Karan’, and the host of The Traitors India, has been confirmed as host of the Awards Night. Additional presenters and performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Every year, our Finalists give me renewed optimism. They show us that, even as the environmental challenges remain urgent, extraordinary people around the world are already proving that progress is possible. Seeing solutions work gives us all confidence to act. When they succeed, they inspire others and accelerate change. I’m proud to welcome these 15 Finalists to the Earthshot Prize community and look forward to celebrating their stories in Mumbai this November.
The new Finalists join a community of 75 Finalists supported since 2020, whose work has collectively avoided or captured more than 18 million tonnes of CO₂e, protected or restored 58 million hectares of land and 85 million hectares of ocean and coastline, removed or avoided 465,000 tonnes of waste, saved 21 million tonnes of water and improved air quality in regions home to 600 million people.
This year’s 15 Finalists were selected from The Earthshot Prize’s database of nearly 7,000 nominations across 169 countries, supported by a global network of over 363 nominators, and an Expert Advisory Panel of more than 150 specialists, alongside assessment and research by The Earthshot Prize’s selection team and partners.
The 2026 cohort of Finalists marks the first time the science of positive tipping points has been applied across all five Earthshots’ selection criteria to identify solutions that can unlock wider transformation. A positive tipping point is reached when beneficial change becomes self-reinforcing, allowing progress to accelerate with less external support. Costs fall, adoption grows, policies spread or ecosystems recover enough to support further recovery. Drawing on Professor Tim Lenton’s world-leading research, The Earthshot Prize has worked with the University of Exeter to develop a framework to identify how and where Finalist solutions can contribute to positive tipping points, considering 51 solution areas spanning nature, air, oceans, waste and climate. This framework has informed the 2026 Finalist selection, and will shape how The Earthshot Prize searches for, selects, and engages with solutions and their impact in the future.
This year’s Finalists show that environmental leadership is coming from every corner of the globe, with a huge number of groundbreaking solutions being driven from the Global South. Each Finalist is responding to a different pressing environmental issue, but all share the potential to create change far beyond their immediate impact. By backing solutions that can contribute to a positive tipping point, where progress begins to accelerate and spread, The Earthshot Prize’s mission is to turn environmental ambition into action at the scale our planet urgently needs.
The Prize Council includes Prince William; Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah; Cate Blanchett; Indra Nooyi; José Andrés; Christiana Figueres; Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim; Wanjira Mathai; Nemonte Nenquimo; Gisele Bündchen; Luisa Neubauer; Naoko Yamazaki; Ernest Gibson; and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
The Finalists’ eligibility for one of five £1 million prizes is only the beginning of their Earthshot journey. Each Finalist will receive dedicated mentorship, resources and technical support to help accelerate the growth of their solution. That includes access to the Prize’s global network of influential businesses, investors and climate experts, including The Earthshot Prize’s unprecedented coalition of partners, comprised of some of the world’s largest businesses, donors, investors and environmental organisations who share the Prize’s ambition to drive the change needed to repair our planet.
For the first time, The Earthshot Prize Finalists will be seen across television and outdoor media in the UK, US, and India. The campaign, supported by Here&Now365, features advertising across the London Underground, Piccadilly Circus, Times Square, and television channels, bringing the incredible work of our Finalists to a wider global audience.
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From AI-driven wildfire detection and revolutionary heat resilience to historic food waste reduction and vast landscape protection, the Earthshot Prize 2026 Finalists represent exceptional climate leadership.
To find out more about this year’s Finalists, visit the 2026 Finalists page. Learn about their growth plans, funding ambitions and how you can support their work by visiting Co-Axis, a member of the Temasek Trust Collective: https://www.coaxis.network/earthshot-prize
