BusinessWire India
London [UK], June 25: Major breakthroughs to repair our planet were revealed at The Earthshot Prize Impact Assembly, with Bloomberg Philanthropies, today as part of London Climate Action Week.
The Prince of Wales, President and Founder of The Earthshot Prize, praised the significant progress made in tackling the climate crisis in the first half of the decade remarks at the London Guildhall.
The Prince travelled to the Impact Assembly onboard London's 3,000th electric bus. Robert Irwin, conservationist and Earthshot Prize Global Ambassador, and two young London climate activists, Clover Hogan and Pranav Sharma, joined him on the journey. Whilst onboard, they shared an inspiring conversation on the progress taking place to protect our planet.
Significant advances across clean air, nature restoration, renewable energy, ocean protection and waste reduction were announced at the Impact Assembly, which was attended by global leaders from business, government, philanthropy and society. Robert Irwin, and Francine Lacqua, Bloomberg Anchor and Editor-at-Large, hosted proceedings.
Speaking at the Impact Assembly, Founder and President of The Earthshot Prize, Prince William, said:
"One day people will look back at this decade and ask: when the evidence was clear, what did we do with it? When we saw forests being restored, did we help restoration spread? When we saw clean air policies working, did we help other cities follow? When we saw the energy systems transform, did we fully commit? When we saw communities on the front-line becoming leaders in resilience, did we stand beside them?
"That is the responsibility of this moment. And it is this story that matters, not just the problems we face, but the collective response to tackle them.
"The challenge can still feel immense but the proof is now in front of us. And history will ask what we did with it."
Five years of progress was marked as The Earthshot Prize published its Impact Report showcasing the transformative impact of Earthshot Finalists, who have collectively:
- Avoided, or captured over 18 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions - the same as taking 4 million cars off the road for a year.
- Protected, restored and improved 58 million hectares of land, forests and freshwater systems, an area the size of France.
- Protected and restored over 85 million hectares of ocean and coastline, more than three times the size of the UK.
- Removed, upcycled, or avoided 465,000 tonnes of waste - equal to the weight of over 30,000 double decker buses.
- Saved, reused or recycled 21 million tonnes of water, enough to fill 8,400 Olympic size swimming pools.
- Improved air quality in regions home to 600 million people - twice the population of the USA.
Since 2020, The Earthshot Prize has supported 75 Finalists and awarded £25m in Prize Grants, receiving over 6,700 nominations. In 2025 alone, The Prize considered 2,400+ solutions from 124 countries, the largest and most diverse pool yet, with 52% based in the Global South, 62% women-led, and 21% Indigenous solutions.
At the Assembly, Bloomberg Philanthropies, a Founding Partner of The Earthshot Prize, announced a significant new $260 million investment to expand the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative, helping close the gap between ocean protection commitments and action as countries work toward protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Patricia E. Harris, CEO of Bloomberg Philanthropies, said: "This marks a critical new phase of the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative. Since 2014, we have helped advance hundreds of national policies that protect our ocean, strengthen protections for coral reefs, and use data to increase transparency on ocean activity. The actions we take now will have an impact for generations to come."
Sir Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: "Cities like London are on the frontline of the climate crisis, and The Earthshot Prize has done an incredible job of shining a spotlight on these issues over the past five years. We have made great progress in tackling air pollution, reducing emissions and building our climate resilience, but there is still so much to do. The achievements celebrated today at London Climate Action Week show that the right solutions exist - our challenge is now to scale them up. As Mayor, I want London to be the best place in the world for green innovation to grow, and I will continue to prioritise helping to create jobs, driving environmental action and improving lives as we build a fairer, greener city for all Londoners."
Proof of progress
Landmark announcements were unveiled by Earthshot Prize Finalists and Winners at the Impact Assembly, highlighting the progress, partnerships and investment helping environmental solutions scale:
Nature restoration
re.green (Protect C Restore Nature 2025 Winner) announced a 20-year partnership with global healthcare company, Novo Nordisk, to restore 500 hectares of the Amazon.
Kheyti (Protect C Restore Nature, 2022 Winner), revealed two new partnerships with the Odisha and Madhya Pradesh state governments committing projects of $5 million to support 2,000 farmers by reducing climate risks and increasing yields. Thousands more farmers are set to benefit with the Government of India recently validating Kheyti's technology, writing to every state urging them to adopt it and opening access to a $200-million-a-year fund.
Belterra (Protect C Restore Nature, 2023 Finalist) has secured $19.7M from Brazil's BNDES Climate Fund to expand its sustainable farming model. The project will restore 2,500 hectares of degraded land, helping smallholder farmers increase their incomes while supporting efforts to address climate change.
Air quality
The State of Gujarat's (Clean Our Air, 2025 Finalist) clean air solution is expanding from India to Brazil with the help of the University of Chicago's Emissions Market Accelerator. Through a new collaboration to reduce air pollution in South America, Rio de Janeiro and the Emissions Market Accelerator will work together to test new approaches that cut pollution while supporting economic growth. This work builds on Gujarat's successful proof-of-concept that has improved air quality for nearly 300 million people and is expanding across the state as well as in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. University of Chicago Professor Michael Greenstone and Dr Kaushik Deb who created and piloted the scheme in Gujarat and will support its replication in Rio de Janeiro.
Renewable energy
Form Energy (Fix Our Climate, 2025 Finalist) is building breakthrough, 100-hour batteries designed to enable a more reliable and clean electric grid. Following their recent announcement of their first international deployment in Ireland, they shared their global expansion ambitions and outlook on the UK market.
Ocean protection
High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC) (Revive our Oceans, 2024 Winner) talked about the launch of the second round of funding for vital Marine Protected Areas [MPA] using its £1M Earthshot Prize. In the first round, the HAC supported the creation of the first ever MPA in Ghana, a huge breakthrough in marine protection.
Coast 4C (Revive Our Oceans, 2024 Finalist) has secured an oversubscribed US$2.5 million seed round to expand its regenerative seaweed farming model across Southeast Asia, enabling smallholder farmers to increase productivity, improve access to markets and finance, and support marine conservation efforts.
Climate resilience
Friendship (Fix Our Climate, 2025 Winner) announced its growing partnership with Conservation International through a new large-scale five-year climate adaptation initiative in Bangladesh, supported by $10M in funding from the Global Environment Facility's Least Developed Countries Fund. The project will build on the wider Mountains to Mangroves initiative and will support the restoration of 118 km stretch of the world's biggest mangrove forest.
Waste reduction
Colorifix (Build a Waste-Free World, 2023 Finalist) has announced partnering with Parley for the Oceans to launch Parley's first-ever branded collection powered by Colorifix technology - showing that sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based dyes can scale across global fashion supply chains.
Lagos Fashion Week (Build a Waste-Free World, 2025 Winner), has unveiled the first African manifesto for a regenerative fashion industry, backed by global fashion leaders. Since winning the Earthshot Prize in 2025, Lagos Fashion Week continues to transform the fashion economy through collaborative action.
Youth leadership
The Earthshot Prize and Alana announced the expansion of their partnership to India, where The I CAN Earthshot Challenge will run nationwide, reaching close to one million students across more than 15,000 schools in 24 states. Delivered in collaboration with Design for Change, the initiative will culminate with Finalists traveling to the Children's Earthshot at The Earthshot Prize Summit and Awards Night in Mumbai.
The Impact Assembly took place during London Climate Action Week, where people from all around the world have gathered to debate finance, technology, regulation, resilience, nature, health and justice.
For more details on the announcements made, including the Impact film and images from the event, please access this link: https://earthshotprize.canto.global/v/EarthshotPress2025/landing?viewIndex=0
(ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
