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SINGAPORE — A global environmental prize aimed at driving change to repair and regenerate the planet over this decade will hold its annual awards ceremony in Singapore in November.
The Earthshot Prize, which was founded by UK's Prince William in 2020, will give £1 million (S$1.7 million) each to five winners to help them scale up their environmental innovation projects for the future.
In a statement on Monday (May 15), Prince William said: "The Earthshot Prize is all about showing the world that solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges we face are out there.
"After two years of discovering impactful ideas and innovations, I am delighted that the Earthshot Prize is travelling to Singapore, where the ground-breaking solutions of our 2023 finalists will be celebrated."
The inaugural prize ceremony was held in London, and subsequently in Boston.
This year, the awards ceremony will be accompanied by a series of events as part of the first Earthshot Week.
From Nov 6, global leaders, businesses and investors will convene in Singapore with prize winners and finalists to explore ventures aimed at bringing about "tangible action" to heal the planet, the ceremony's organisers said on Monday.
The ceremony will also feature performances by "world-renowned" musicians and artists, said organisers, although they did not name who.
In previous years, the star-studded ceremony has seen performances by Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and Shawn Mendes.
The prize is supported by philanthropic organisation Temasek Trust, investment company Temasek, decarbonisation investment platform GenZero, non-profit environmental organisation Conservation International and Standard Chartered Bank.
Temasek Trust chief executive Desmond Kuek said he hoped the partnership with the Earthshot Prize "will drive action and work towards creating lasting positive change for generations to come".
Steve Howard, vice-chairman of sustainability at Temasek, said: "Climate action requires sustained efforts from all stakeholders, so this is a timely opportunity for the Temasek ecosystem to play a catalytic role in inspiring action and galvanising innovation in the region."
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Last year's awards funded projects including that of a team from Oman that promised to eliminate billions of carbon dioxide by turning it into rock, as well as a business from Kenya that reduced air pollution by crafting reliable stoves from waste metal.
The name of the prize is inspired by former US president John Kennedy's "Moonshot" programme in the 1960s, which advanced the global push to send a man to the Moon.
In a similar vein, the Earthshot Prize aims to propel innovative solutions that can help put the world on a trajectory towards a stable climate, where communities, oceans and biodiversity thrive in harmony by 2030.
The 2021 finalists' solutions have already directly benefited more than 1.5 million people, according to the ceremony's organisers.
Their initiatives have led to over 7,000ha of land and almost 2.1 million ha of ocean being protected or restored, and over 35,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions reduced, avoided or sequestered.
The finalists for this year's Earthshot Prize will be unveiled later in 2023.
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.