The awards ceremony was recently held in Singapore and Prince William announced that one of the winners for this year's £1m Earthshot Prizes was scientists who have developed a manufacturing process which produces cleaner and more sustainable batteries for electric cars.

The idea behind these awards is to promote the idea of tackling climate change and biodiversity emergencies through innovative solutions, through rewarding companies who are already displaying these qualities within their work and projects. The winning companies, plus 10 other finalists will receive part of the money, mentorship, resources, technical support from the Earthshot Prize fellowship and a year-long programmer which will help them accelerate the growth of their individual projects.

Some of the five winning projects included, GRST who have presented a project focused on building and recycling lithium-ion batteries in a cleaner and more sustainable way, S4S Technologies’ for their scheme to develop solar-powered dryers and processing equipment to enable and make it easier for small-hold farmers to preserve crops, which will help them to turn waste into valuable products. Another project which won, was Accion Andina, who have a project focused on uniting tens of thousands of people in local Indigenous communities in the Andes Mountain range, with the aim of protecting and restoring the native forests and ecosystems.

During the ceremony, the Prince made a speech about the awards, saying, “The last year has been one of great change and even greater challenge. A year that has left so many feeling defeated, their hope dwindling. However, as we have seen tonight, hope does remain,” He continue saying that future generations will “look back on this decade as the point at which we globally took collective action for our planet … The moment we refused to accept the voices of denial and defeatism, and instead became the architects of change towards a healthy and sustainable world.”

The Prince also commented, “We owe it to the generations that will follow us to work together both for their future, and for the future of our planet. It is my belief that we will find the courage to do so. We will find the courage because we will hold on to the most powerful motivators of all – optimism and hope.”

These winners were selected by the Prince of Wales and the Earthshot Prize Council, chaired by Christiana Figueres, who is one of the architects of the climate agreement, which was signed in Paris in 2015.

Also, speaking at the event through a video, was Sir David Attenborough, a member of the Earthshot Prize Council. Attenborough told the audience, “We can live both well and responsibly on our planet. Tonight, we celebrate those who are leading the way to this better future.”