Fifteen projects have reached the final stage of the Earthshot Prize for 2025, with five winning entries each awarded £1 million to scale their ideas. The awards ceremony will take place in Rio de Janeiro on 5 November 2025. The prize recognises solutions from across geographies and sectors and supports work at different life-cycle stages to tackle the planet’s biggest challenges.

In a video message, Prince William described the prize as built on ‘urgent optimism’ that now feels ‘unstoppable’ as the 2025 finalists are announced. He recalled that when the prize began in 2020, ‘George was seven, Charlotte five and Louis two; the thought of them in 2030 felt a lifetime away.’ He added that, halfway through the decade, ‘2030 feels very real’ and that the prize was founded because this decade matters; ‘2030 is a threshold by which future generations will judge us; it is the point at which our actions, or lack of them, will have shaped forever the trajectory of our planet.’ He said he is ‘deeply proud’ of the prize’s first five years and ‘enormously excited’ for the next five, including the continued impact of the 60 existing finalists.

Among the finalists is Matter, a Bristol-based company whose simple washing-machine filters aim to remove the greatest source of microplastics from the ocean. Matter chief executive Adam Root said: ‘Being a finalist for the Earthshot Prize and representing Matter at the awards ceremony in Rio is like winning an Olympic gold medal in innovation.’ He added the prize offers a platform to discuss their ambition on a global stage and to connect with progressive companies so they can integrate their solutions into large supply chains. Cate Blanchett, Earthshot Prize council member, said five years with the prize have shown that optimism can be made real by people bold enough to act now, and noted how finalists could shift views on fashion, electronics, forests and washing clothes by 2030.