A Prize That Looks for What Works
On 16 and 17 November, I will be in Mumbai for The Earthshot Prize 2026. It is the sixth edition of the Prize and the first to be held in India. I am going as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel, where I sit under the Fix Our Climate Earthshot, and as an Official Nominator on behalf of JERICA Global, for the second year running. If you are going to be there too, let's connect beforehand and catch each other for a conversation in person while we are there.
The Earthshot Prize was launched by Prince William in 2020. Each year it selects fifteen finalists and five winners across five Earthshots: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate. Each winner receives £1 million and, perhaps more useful in the long run, access to a global network of governments, NGOs, partners, mentors and investors who can help the solution grow.
What I like about the Prize is both the search and the positivity the Earthshot team brings to the real challenges we all face. The Prize is looking for solutions that are already starting to work, often quietly and far from the places where money and attention usually focus. It asks how the solution could be supported to create impacts at a larger scale, and this year it's focusing on tipping points across the 5 Earthshots to really amplify the pace and scale of that impact. That is aligned with how we try to work at JERICA, and my involvement in the Prize (nominating and evaluating) has become an inspiring and regular part of our yearly work.
What Nominating Involves
People sometimes ask what a nominator actually does. It involves research, reading, and listening to what is happening across the Earthshot focus areas. It means paying attention to work that may not yet have a platform, recognising potential before it is obvious, and helping bring those stories in front of people who can do something about them. Last year we had the privilege of finding and nominating solutions for people and planet, and this year we are doing it again for the 2027 Prize.
At JERICA, we look for work that brings together ethical practice, inclusion, and meaningful impact, and for people who approach difficult challenges with both courage and care.
How we achieve that impact matters just as much as what we achieve. We want to work with people who take the time to listen, involve those affected by their decisions, and build solutions through collaboration.
That might mean supporting a community restoring damaged land, a start-up rethinking how we manage waste, researchers bringing life back to a stretch of ocean, a social enterprise creating dignified work while protecting nature, or a city finding practical ways to respond to a changing climate.
These are very different kinds of work, but they share something important: a commitment to making a difference while being thoughtful about the people, relationships, and places involved.
Why Mumbai, and Why Now
Mumbai is a deliberate choice of host. It is a megacity that combines both environmental pressures and the possibilities of human invention in our time. India is home to seven Earthshot finalists, including four winners. More than any other country to date: solar dryers that stop food going to waste, a greenhouse-in-a-box for smallholder farmers, a verified carbon marketplace that pays farmers to restore soil, and a portable machine that turns crop residue into fuel instead of smoke.
The 2026 finalists are in the same spirit: an Indigenous alliance caring for Australia’s deserts, satellite-based wildfire detection from Argentina, an air quality network in Uganda, a zero-waste movement in South Korea, and, in the Fix Our Climate category I work within, a women-led housing trust in India helping low-income communities withstand extreme heat and a Kenyan company insuring smallholder farmers against climate risk. Every one of them is already in use, by real people, in a real place. They’re proving that exceptions can become the rule, one decision at a time.
Why This Matters to Me and to JERICA
JERICA is known for our focus on ethical leadership and regenerative practices. It would be easy to think that the environment is one strand among several for us; however, it’s the opposite. Everything we do, from our Catalyst Projects to our leadership work, relies on the environment. Without a living planet, there is no impact organisation worth building. It is our foundation, even when we don’t say so out loud.
For me, it is extremely personal. I know too much about climate change to pretend otherwise. I’ve had to let go of dreams because of what I know, and I have written and spoken often about the grief that comes with that. What drives me is the fear I have for my children and their peers, and for their children. I want them to inherit a world that people are repairing, where hope is an everyday reality, and to know that we tried everything we could.
There is a second reason I am going to Mumbai. I am a quirky mix of introvert and extrovert. I’m at ease facilitating, but wandering around a conference is not my favourite pastime! But the Earthshot Prize Summit is different. It brings together environmental, community and business leaders, investors and philanthropists, and sets aside long stretches of time for people to meet each other. Those meetings are where ideas and partnerships germinate, and partnerships are how JERICA does almost everything. So I’m going with my curiosity leading me through.
What JERICA Brings to the Table
Through what we call Ethical Sponsorships, we fund initiatives that need that extra bit of help at the moment it counts, with no strings attached. One example is our Catalyst Kits programme, where emerging young leaders receive ethical practice learning, mentoring, the company of a supportive network of peers, and access to a small amount of seed money to spend on an impact project they devise.
We’re preparing to launch the 2027 cohorts of our Catalyst Kits programme, which JERICA supports through its own sponsorship and expertise. We’re also looking to bring together partners who share our commitment to ethical impact and would like to contribute alongside us, whether by helping fund the programme or sharing their knowledge and experience with participants as they develop their impact projects.
In July 2026, we launched the Hummingbirds Fund to support people and organisations already putting the JERICA Principles into practice. The fund provides impact investment that sits between soft lending and quasi-equity, offering flexible operating capital alongside mentoring. We've deliberately kept the process straightforward, without lengthy applications or unnecessary barriers. When an opportunity to create meaningful impact is there, access to capital shouldn't take months.
We’re already supporting eleven projects across three continents, each responding to different challenges in their own communities.
These include ethical leadership opportunities for young African leaders, an Indigenous community-led economic development plan in Fiji, research into more accessible travel in southern Europe, and food security initiatives in Uganda.
Through our sponsorship via Ma Earth, we're also contributing to coral reef restoration in Fiji, agricultural biodiversity in France, Indigenous women-led restoration in Kenya, mangrove and watershed protection on the Kenyan coast, wildlife corridors in Tanzania, and a Batwa cooperative advancing food sovereignty in Uganda.
What connects these initiatives is the commitment of the people behind them, and what becomes possible when they have access to resources, trusted relationships, and the freedom to put their knowledge into practice.
I'm looking forward to exploring this further in Mumbai, particularly with people and organisations interested in new ways of funding and investing in impact. There is a real opportunity to bring together capital, expertise, and local leadership in ways that are patient, collaborative, and accessible to those doing the work.
If You Will Be in Mumbai
If you are attending the Summit, whether you are a finalist, a fellow expert advisor, an investor, a philanthropist, or a sponsor, I’d love to connect on LinkedIn, and let's see if we can arrange a time while we are both there to meet in person.
If you can’t be in Mumbai and would like to know how to become an Ethical Sponsor, or how to invest in impact businesses through the Hummingbirds Fund, book a discovery call with Esteban or me.
The next move is yours.
FAQ on The Earthshot Prize and JERICA
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The Earthshot Prize was launched by Prince William in 2020 and is one of the world’s most respected environmental awards. Each year, fifteen finalists and five winners are selected across five Earthshots: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate. Each winner receives £1 million and access to a global network of governments, NGOs, partners, mentors and investors.
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The sixth Earthshot Prize takes place in Mumbai, India, on 16 and 17 November 2026, with a multi-day Summit and the Awards Night on 17 November, where five finalists will each win £1 million. The Serum Institute of India is principal sponsor of the Summit, and the Awards Night will be streamed on Prime Video.
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JERICA Global is an Official Nominator for The Earthshot Prize for the second year, and Co-CEO Jules Harrison-Annear is a member of the Expert Advisory Panel under the Fix Our Climate Earthshot. JERICA identifies and supports innovators, communities and organisations creating real change, and submits its official nominations to the 2026 Prize in December 2026. Jules supports the evaluation process alongside 350 global experts, reviewing nominations against The Earthshot Prize criteria.
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A catalyst project is the work that brings the same principles and practices to a place, whether or not it ends in a business. It does not need to be a registered or operating entity. Cécile, before its first site opens, is a catalyst project; so is the economic development case JERICA is supporting for Kadavu, which will not produce an enterprise but will transform the conditions around one. JERICA’s Catalyst Projects is the programme through which it invests in both.
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Through Ethical Sponsorships, JERICA gives grants with no strings attached to initiatives that need that extra bit of help. Through the Hummingbirds Fund, launched on 17 July 2026, it provides operating capital to people and organisations that live the JERICA Principles, sitting between soft lending and quasi-equity, with mentoring and Mastery Classes wrapped around recipients once they are in. Current recipients span Ghana, Fiji, France, Italy, Spain, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
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