(Commonwealth)—The 2026 Earthshot Prize winners are now sought, the next phase in the worldwide search for revolutionary solutions to repair the world and reimagine it. The Commonwealth Secretariat has again collaborated as an official nominator for the world-renowned global green award established by HRH Prince William in 2020.
The Earthshot Prize is for green innovation and sustainability, and we are looking to find and scale world-altering solutions to fix the world by the end of this decade. As a nominator in control, the Commonwealth Secretariat has an obligation to find great people, communities, businesses, and organizations whose green initiatives could have the power to change the world for the better forever.
This year, the Secretariat will focus on Earthshot 3: Revive our Oceans, which calls for action to restore ocean health, revive marine life, and unlock the sustainable resources of the ocean, in support of its Strategic Plan 2025–2030 towards a more resilient Commonwealth.
The Earthshot Prize is awarded in five categories, “The Five Earthshots,” some of the most pressing environmental issues in the world that need fixing by 2030. They are:
Protect and Restore Nature – putting forest, wetland, and biodiversity conservation first.
Clean Our Air – taking transport and policy out of the way to make way for air cleanliness.
Revive Our Oceans – restoring ocean ecosystems and coastal areas.
Waste-Free World – reducing waste through the circular economy revolution.
Fix Our Climate – reducing carbon emissions and leading the clean energy revolution.
Three finalists are shortlisted in each Earthshot category annually, and one winner per category receives £1 million. The finalists also receive an invitation to participate in the Earthshot Fellowship Programme that provides one year of personalized mentoring, global access, and linkage to a network of NGOs, governments, investors, and sustainability experts.
Nominations should show real progress towards one of the five Earthshots. Nominators, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, will look for solutions with the potential to scale and open the potential to make a global impact within three to five years. The nominees should embody more than just an idea, have successfully tested their solutions globally, and possess the ability to expand their influence to a wider audience.
The 15 priority topics on the Earthshot Prize shortlist focus on some of the most important green issues. They include protecting and restoring high-biodiversity sites, fixing broken ecosystems, making clean transport, stopping plastic pollution, making equal access to clean power a reality, and finding solutions for hard-to-abate industry.
With these priorities, the Earthshot Prize also encourages five enablers of solutions to implement innovative ideas. They are technology- and AI-based solutions, making financial and legal structures, indigenous action, shared economic opportunity, and policy and regulatory innovation.
The Prize uses four primary filters to ensure the submission of the best and most innovative solutions. They evaluate the potential of each of their nominees to become of use to the world by 2030, diversity in geographic and solution type, readiness to scale deployment, and organizational design quality.
The Commonwealth Secretariat calls for innovations, scientists, community leaders, and institutions working on rehabilitation of the world’s oceans to submit their proposals to be considered. The Commonwealth Secretariat strongly encourages projects that yield tangible environmental outcomes, foster community engagement, and demonstrate the scalability of sustainability.
The Secretariat will then carry out a thorough review and due diligence when a nomination is received to determine its effect, feasibility, and reaction to the Earthshot goals. Shortlisted nominators will be approached if they were selected to be formally nominated.
The Earthshot Prize 2026 presents change-makers with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight their work on one of the world’s best global platforms. Furthermore, through the active participation of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the opportunity places the member states’ collective leverage on the topic of environmental resilience, creativity, and action around the globe for an environmentally sustainable future.
