Regenerating and repairing the planet while creating equitable and sustainable livelihoods is the largest transformation that our civilisation might ever go through. It requires system changes touching every level of society – political, economic, financial, cultural, legal. It upends mindsets, assumptions, norms and institutions. It requires innovation at every level of our systems, from microbial to global. And it all needs to happen at an unprecedented speed and scale. The Earthshot Prize selection criteria is their transparent roadmap to trying to make a difference in this decisive decade.
Nominations that are a good fit for the Earthshot prize should fit well within at least one of the 15 priority areas or should represent an outstanding wildcard.
| Five Earthshots | 15 Priority Areas |
|---|---|
| Protect and restore nature | Protecting areas of high biodiversity such as forests, wetland, peatlands and wildlife corridors Restoring damaged ecosystems Feeding people while protecting nature |
| Clean our air | Engaging citizens in data collection and clean air policies Preventing the burning of fields, forests and waste Transitioning to clean transportation for all |
| Revive our oceans | Protecting and restoring coastal ecosystems Replenishing fish populations Reducing demand for fishmeal |
| Build a waste-free world | Reducing food loss from farm to fork Phasing out single use and non-recycled plastics High-value circularity in fashion and electronics |
| Fix our climate | Creating an equitable clean energy future Addressing non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions Decarbonising hard to abate sectors |
We would love to see nominations from these priority areas, but we will consider nominations on any topic within any Earthshot. We encourage ‘wildcard’ nominations and insights we haven’t considered, particularly when those nominations have the potential to inspire people globally.
What is a 'wildcard'?
Wildcards are magical, game-changing, boundary-pushing ideas you know are right when you see them. They are disruptive, genius one-in-a-million ideas.
Criteria
The potential solution/nominee is well beyond the idea stage but may still have development requirements that must be addressed before they are ready to scale their impact. They will:
- Have working prototypes, programs and initiatives, or executed pilots that demonstrate the effectiveness of their solution.
- Have tested their solution with the target users or recipients and have seen early positive impacts or successes.
- May already be in the market with customers, partners or audiences but on a limited scale.
In particular, The Earthshot Prize is particularly looking for solutions that:
- Solutions that use technology, AI or data to enable transformative change.
- Solutions that create or leverage nature and carbon markets, or novel financial mechanisms and essential legal solutions.
- Solutions that are led and informed by indigenous and local communities.
- Solutions that promote shared economic opportunity.
- Solutions that enable policy change.
More information on this year's selection priorities is available in The Earthshot Prize Roadmap.
Thinking about applying?
Please read the Nominee Briefing Pack from The Earthshot Prize before applying.
We will open up our call for solutions at the end of September and will provide more information on our timings at that time as these will be different to those specified by The Earthshot Prize. We intend to close our call for nominations in November to allow our expert panel of Cranfield faculty and external experts to review and assess the solutions we receive.
