Planet Heroes! Meet the 15 Finalists Fighting to Save Our Earth
Quick Summary
Prince William’s Earthshot Prize just named its 15 finalists for 2026 — people and organizations from around the world doing extraordinary things to help the environment. Five of them will each win £1 million (about $1.3 million) to keep doing their work. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Mumbai, India in November.
What Happened?
On Thursday, September 18, the Earthshot Prize announced this year’s 15 finalists. The prize was created by Prince William in 2020 and is inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s famous “moonshot” — the bold mission to land humans on the Moon. The idea: challenge the world to solve its biggest environmental problems.
Every year, five winners are chosen in five important categories:
- Protect and Restore Nature
- Clean Our Air
- Revive Our Oceans
- Build a Waste-Free World
- Fix Our Climate
This year’s finalists came from nearly 7,000 nominations across 169 countries. Judges looked for solutions that could grow big — like a single spark that can light up an entire city.
Some of the finalists include:
Yellowstone to Yukon — a conservation project reconnecting a vast mountain landscape stretching from the American West all the way up through Canada. The goal is to let wild animals roam freely again across thousands of miles, just as they did long ago.
Indigenous Desert Alliance — supporting 70 teams of Indigenous rangers in Australia to manage the largest Indigenous-led conservation area in the world. These rangers use ancient knowledge passed down for thousands of years to protect the desert’s wildlife and land.
Bhutan — the small Himalayan kingdom has written environmental protection directly into its national laws. Its forests act like sponges, holding water and keeping rivers healthy for an entire region.
Mahila Housing Trust — a grassroots organization in India where women are leading the way to protect their communities from extreme heat by installing affordable roofs that reflect the sun, like a mirror bouncing heat away.
For the very first time, a major publicly listed company is also among the finalists — showing that big businesses can change course and lead on climate too.
Why Does It Matter?
The Earthshot Prize is now in its sixth year. It has supported dozens of projects around the world, helping them grow from small ideas into big solutions. Every year, the finalists show that people everywhere — from tiny villages to big cities — are working hard to make the Earth healthier.
Prince William said this year’s finalists give him hope. When one solution works in one place, it can inspire others to copy and improve it somewhere else. That chain reaction of good ideas is exactly what the prize is trying to start.
The awards ceremony will be held in Mumbai, India on November 17.
Big Words
- Finalist — a person or group that has made it to the final round of a competition
- Conservation — protecting and caring for nature, animals, and the environment so they stay healthy
- Indigenous — describing people who have lived in a place since long before others arrived, with deep cultural knowledge of that land
- Biodiversity — the huge variety of different plants, animals, and tiny life forms that all live together on Earth
- Tipping point — a moment when a small change causes a much bigger change to happen, like one domino knocking down a whole row
Fun Fact
Bhutan is the only country in the world that measures its success not just by money, but by “Gross National Happiness” — how happy and healthy its people and nature are!
Think About It
If you could create a new Earthshot Prize category for a problem you care about, what would it be — and what kind of solution would you look for?
Sources
- Business Wire — The Earthshot Prize Announces 2026 Finalists
- Yahoo Finance / Business Wire — The Earthshot Prize Announces 2026 Finalists
- Royal News Organisation — Prince of Wales announces Earthshot Prize 2026 finalists
- Earthshot Prize official site — 2026 Winners & Finalists