Earthshot Prize 2024 Winners: Tech & Community

Published 29 November 2024

Author
Adam Speight
2 min read

The 2024 Earthshot Prize winners included three projects demonstrating how technologies and community-focused initiatives can address critical environmental challenges. Launched in 2020 in collaboration with Prince William and British broadcaster and biologist Sir David Attenborough, this annual £1m ($1.27m) prize spotlights transformative projects addressing urgent planetary needs.

  • Advanced Photovoltaic Systems Turns Waste Heat into Energy: US-based energy company Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems won its prize for modular technology (smartphone-sized rectangular plates) that converts waste heat into clean electricity, specifically targeting high-emission industries, such as steel and cement production. The system’s key innovation is its simplicity: generating electricity without moving parts, reducing both operational complexity and maintenance costs.

Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems

  • Keep It Cool’s Solar Refrigeration for Solving Post-Harvest Food Loss: In the agricultural sector, Kenyan refrigeration company Keep It Cool received the prize for its attempt at tackling post-harvest food loss through strategic technological intervention. Its solar-powered refrigeration units offer off-grid cooling solutions for small farms and fisheries in regions with limited infrastructure. By extending produce shelf life, the technology addresses multiple challenges simultaneously: reducing waste, improving food security and creating economic resilience for small-scale producers.

Keep It Cool

  • Green Africa Youth Organization’s Local Waste Management Solution: The Ghana-based advocacy group Green Africa Youth Organization gained its prize for demonstrating how community-driven waste management can create systemic environmental change. Its Zero Waste Model approach focuses on skill development and local empowerment, bringing together waste management specialists and vulnerable communities most affected by climate change. Through waste management best practice and commercial skills training, locals can then earn money from selling compost and charcoal briquettes made from waste. This circular waste management system shows how environmental solutions can simultaneously address ecological and social challenges.

Green Africa Youth Organization