Overview

The Earthshot Prize, in partnership with the Brazilian organisation Alana and the global youth movement Design for Change, announced the fifteen finalist teams of the inaugural I CAN Earthshot Challenge. The challenge, which invited children aged 9 to 17 to submit ideas between June and October, engaged close to one million students across 15,000 schools in 24 Indian states, making it the biggest youth outreach initiative in the prize’s history.

Programme Details

The fifteen finalists—drawn from nine Indian states and Delhi—will travel to Mumbai in November to participate in a two‑day Children’s Earthshot programme at the Museum of Solutions, coinciding with the Earthshot Prize’s 2026 Summit. The programme will culminate in the Children’s Earthshot Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, 17 November, where one winner from each of the five Earthshot categories will be announced.

Winners and Grants

Each of the five winning teams will receive a US$2,000 grant to further develop, implement and scale their environmental solution. The grants are intended to expand reach and create lasting impact within the respective communities.

Reach and Engagement

India has produced more Earthshot Prize winners and finalists than any other country, a record that includes 2026 finalists Mahindra Last Mile Mobility and Mahila Housing Trust. The challenge’s nationwide digital platform complemented the school‑based outreach, allowing children from across the country to participate.

Selected Finalist Projects

Protect and Restore Nature

  • Boond‑Boond Sahejein, Bhavishya Sanwarein (Jamnalal Kaniram Bajaj Trust, Rajasthan) developed a rain‑water recharge system that redirected water underground, preventing playground water‑logging over a 30‑day trial and benefiting 280 people while being shared with over 100 community members.
  • Tiny Actions, Mighty Impact (Kaligi Ranganathan Montford Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Tamil Nadu) launched a school‑wide environmental initiative with a Carbon‑Neutral School Dashboard, water‑reuse, waste segregation and tree‑planting, reaching 23,000 people and planning ongoing monitoring.
  • SPARC – Sustainable Purification & Agricultural Runoff Control (Brainz Edu World, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh) created an electricity‑free filtration system using bentonite, zeolite and bio‑char, tested over 7‑15 days, engaging 20 local farmers and community members.

Revive Our Oceans

  • A Diya for the River, A Light for Life (Espalier The Heritage School, Nashik, Maharashtra) produced approximately 200 biodegradable, oil‑free diyas, submitted 100 to Kumbh authorities, and reached 1,000 people.
  • Clean rainwater harvesting by installing a counterweight cover on an unused well (Purva Madhyamik Vidyalaya Ghosiyar, Uttar Pradesh) cleaned a polluted well, built a plywood‑and‑bamboo counterweight lid prototype, and benefited 100 people, though the permanent system remains incomplete.
  • Sunday Mandali – Turn the Tide (Sunbeam Suncity School & Hostel, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh) mobilised over 150 school students and 500 college volunteers, collected more than 800 plastic items, and reached 100,000 people through weekly clean‑ups and a Plogathon.

Clean Our Air

  • PureVaYu: A Breath of Change (National Public School, Bengaluru, Karnataka) engineered a low‑cost, electricity‑free air filter using jute, bio‑char, bamboo silica and zeolite; testing showed AQI falling from ~156‑160 to 96‑98 and PM2.5 dropping from 98 to 12‑30, with installations in four homes and the school, impacting 127 people and reaching 50,000 online.
  • Heal the World (Mother’s Pet Kindergarten, Nagpur, Maharashtra) introduced slower‑driving campaigns, a car‑sharing “FriendPool”, and a prototype exhaust‑pipe filter called Smoffler, benefiting 1,000 people.
  • B‑Air, Clean Air, One Small Space at a Time (Jasudben M.L. School, Mumbai, Maharashtra) built a manually operated air‑filter using a bicycle pump and activated carbon; a 100‑stroke test reduced AQI from 500 to 100, impacting 30 people.

Build a Waste‑Free World

  • Decom POSSIBLE (SSATN Panchayat Union Middle School, Tamil Nadu) replaced polythene bags with newspaper‑jute bags, set up an 8 × 2 × 3 ft compost pit, benefitting 502 people and prompting the local panchayat to require segregated waste from 1 October.
  • RE‑Float: From Waste to Life Line (Pokamura Higher Secondary School, Jorhat, Assam) fabricated a floating platform from over 300 discarded plastic bottles for flood‑relief supplies, reaching 261 people (≈250 community members, 8 teachers, 3 committee members).
  • Greenswap (Vidya School, Gurugram, Haryana) launched a notebook and paper‑swap platform; surveys covered 563 students, awareness reached 1,200, 700+ participants collected ~5,990 kg paper, of which 690 kg was recycled.

Fix Our Climate

  • Cool Crate (Satya Elementary School, Dhulka, Punjab) designed a low‑cost evaporative cooling crate for roadside vegetable vendors, reaching over 100 vendors and receiving positive feedback.
  • Solar Bloom – Smart Care for Plants (The High Range School, Munnar, Kerala) created a solar‑powered automated watering system with soil‑moisture sensors; the prototype was simulated in Tinkercad and engaged 30 people.
  • Evapocool (Bluebells School International, New Delhi) built a clay‑pot evaporative cooler (“Clay Ka AC”) for classrooms of 300 students, impacting 301 people and planning replication in other schools.

Partners and Quotes

Jason Knauf, CEO of The Earthshot Prize, emphasized that the finalists “are already building environmental solutions right now” and highlighted the importance of local community action. Pedro Hartung, CEO of Alana, stressed children’s right to shape their world and the need to treat them as citizens and changemakers. Kiran Bir Sethi, Founder of Design for Change, described the “I CAN” mindset as limitless and praised the finalists’ use of the Feel‑Imagine‑Do‑Share framework.

About The Earthshot Prize

Founded by Prince William in 2020 and now independent, The Earthshot Prize is the world’s most prestigious environmental award, aiming to discover 50 winners over ten years across five challenges: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste‑Free World and Fix Our Climate. The prize operates with a Global Alliance of Partners that includes major corporations such as Amazon, Microsoft, Unilever and Standard Chartered Bank.