Solshare gets shortlisted for the Earthshot Prize 2021

Prince William announces 15 Finalists for inaugural year of the £50 million Earthshot Prize

• Created by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, The Earthshot Prize has led an unprecedented global search for the most inspiring and innovative solutions to the greatest environmental challenges facing the planet
• 750 nominations received across every continent from diverse coalition of over 200 nominators; rigorous selection process lasting 10 months, 15 inaugural Finalists – from 14 countries – have been selected by an Expert Advisory Panel
• The Finalists include leaders, activists, innovators, a city and even an entire country
• Five winners will be selected by The Earthshot Prize Council and will receive £1 million in prize money at the inaugural ceremony on 17th October in London, broadcast by BBC and Discovery globally

LONDON, England, September 2021: The Earthshot Prize announces today its first ever shortlist of 15 Finalists, each with a chance of winning £1million to support their innovative environmental solutions to the greatest challenges facing the planet.

Prince William said: “Over; half a century ago, President Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot’ programme united millions of people around the goal of reaching the moon. Inspired by this, The Earthshot Prize aims to mobilise collective action around our unique ability to innovate, problem solve and repair our planet.”

“I am honoured to introduce the 15 innovators, leaders, and visionaries who are the first ever Finalists for The Earthshot Prize. They are working with the urgency required in this decisive decade for life on Earth and will inspire all of us with their optimism in our ability to rise to the greatest challenges in human history.”

Launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in October 2020, The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious global environment prize in history. Like President John F. Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot’ did almost 60 years ago, the Prize aims to unleash an unprecedented wave of innovation and leadership to tackle the challenges posed by climate change and the threats to our oceans, air, and land.

The Prize is an urgent call to action to the world and aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by championing inspiring leadership and helping to scale cutting-edge solutions. It will discover 50 winners over 10 years with the power to repair the planet.

A truly global project, The Earthshot Prize has been developed by The Royal Foundation, which convened a diverse nominator coalition of more than 200 people and organisations around the world from every continent, a distinguished Expert Advisory Panel, and The Earthshot Prize Council comprising influential individuals committed to championing positive environmental action.

Five of these 15 Finalists announced today will be awarded The Earthshot Prize and will win £1 million in Prize funding for the best solutions of the five Earthshot goals: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean our Air; Revive our Oceans; Build a Waste-free World; and Fix our Climate. The Winners will be announced during an awards ceremony on 17th October at London’s Alexandra Palace; broadcast in the UK on BBC One and globally on Discovery.

The inaugural 15 Finalists were assessed by the Expert Advisory Panel of scientific, academic, and subject-matter leaders. Each of the Finalist’s solutions excelled in the rigorous screening process and were assessed on their potential to create game-changing impact around the world, their ability to help us reach our Earthshot goals while also positively impacting people, communities and the natural world.

Prince William announced the selection of SOLshare as one of the three Finalists for The Earthshot Prize 2021 in the category Fix Our Climate. You can follow the announcement live here.

“As the global pioneer in solar energy sharing grids, SOLshare is so proud to represent Bangladesh as a Finalist in  The Earthshot Prize. We are excited to  showcase the progress we have made in reducing energy waste and empowering rural communities with access to affordable clean energy.” said Dr. Sebastian Groh, CEO, SOLshare.

All 15 Finalists will receive tailored support and resources from The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance Members, an unprecedented network of private sector businesses around the world who will help scale their solutions to realise an even greater impact with their ground-breaking work.

For more information about the Finalists and The Earthshot Prize, visit: www.earthshotprize.org

About The Earthshot Prize: 

The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious environmental prize in history, launched in October 2020 by Prince William and designed and incubated by The Royal Foundation, an international centre for philanthropy led by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Working in partnership with organisations and individuals around the world, it works to research, develop, and scale the most impactful solutions to society’s greatest challenges.

The Earthshot Prize is designed to incentivise change and help to repair our planet over the next ten years.

The Earthshot Prize Council

The Prize is backed by The Earthshot Prize Council, a truly global team of influential individuals from a wide range of different sectors, all of whom are committed to championing positive action in the environmental space. Every year from 2021 until 2030, The Earthshot Prize Council will award The Earthshot Prize to five Winners, one per Earthshot.

They are:

• His Royal Highness Prince William
• Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah (Jordan)
• Cate Blanchett – actor, producer and humanitarian (Australia)
• Christiana Figueres – co-founder of Global Optimism and former UN Climate Chief responsible for delivery of the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change (Costa Rica)
• Dani Alves – professional footballer (Brazil)
• Sir David Attenborough – broadcaster and natural historian (UK)
• Ernest Gibson – community activist (Fiji)
• Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim – environmental activist (Chad)
• Indra Nooyi – business executive and former Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo (US & India)
• Jack Ma – philanthropist, entrepreneur and UNSDG Advocate (China)
• Luisa Neubauer – climate justice activist (Germany)
• Naoko Yamazaki – former astronaut onboard the International Space Station (Japan)
• Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala – Director-General World Trade Organisation (Nigeria)
• Shakira Mebarak – singer and philanthropist (Colombia)
• Yao Ming – Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and environmentalist (China)

The Earthshot Expert Advisory Panel

A shortlist of nominations are assessed by an Expert Advisory Panel, who make recommendations on the Prize Winners to the Prize Council. The Expert Advisory Panel is a crucial stage in the selection process that adds a further layer of independence and rigour, bringing together expertise from science, conservation, innovation, investment, economics, politics, communications, and activism. This extensive and varied experience allows the panel to make an informed and holistic assessment on the diverse set of Finalists and advise on which nominations will have the greatest impact and should, therefore, be awarded The Earthshot Prize.

The Expert Advisory Panel for 2021 is made up of 10 experts from a range of sectors: David Booth, Li Lin, Carlos Nobre, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Enki Toto, Bruno Pozzi, Vera Songwe, Malaika Vaz, Melati Wijsen and Antha Williams.

About The Earthshot Prize Global Alliance: 

The Earthshot Prize is supported by its Global Alliance, an unprecedented network of organisations worldwide which share the ambition of the Prize. Within the Global Alliance are:

The Global Alliance Founding Partners are a group of leading global organisations and philanthropists which act as strategic funding partners to the Prize, including Aga Khan Development Network, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy Foundation, Coleman Family Ventures, DP World in partnership with Dubai EXPO 2020, Holch Povlsen Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Marc and Lynne Benioff, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and Rob & Melani Walton Foundation.

Global Alliance Partners are non-profit environment and sustainable development organisations that bring expertise, global reach and serve as nominating organisations each year. For a full list see website: Global Alliance – Earthshot Prize

Global Alliance Members are some of the world’s largest and most influential companies and brands who will support The Earthshot Prize, implement ambitious changes within their businesses and accelerate the advancement of the solutions of Prize Finalists and Winners. They are: Arup, Bloomberg L.P., Deloitte, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hitachi, Ingka Group (IKEA), Microsoft, The Multichoice Group, Natura &Co, Safaricom, Salesforce, Unilever, Vodacom Group, Walmart

About ME SOLshare:

SOLshare is an energy-tech company operating in Bangladesh for over six years to provide ICT-based services in clean energy, energy efficiency, and e-mobility in rural and urban areas. SOLshare’s SOLbazaar is the central data hub for future-proof energy infrastructures, such as our peer-to-peer solar electricity trading platform, which allows low-income rural households to access sustainable, affordable, and reliable electricity through aggregated existing under-utilized solar home system assets interlinked into an ICT platform with metering, distribution, and mobile payment system for the efficient allocation of clean electricity in off-grid areas. SOLshare’s venture into micro-mobility solutions are based on improving technology and financing options to empower electric three-wheel drivers to earn a higher income.