Earthshot Prize 2026 finalists unveiled, wildlife crossings plan among contenders
Prince William's Earthshot Prize has named 15 finalists for 2026, including a Rocky Mountains wildlife corridor project and an AI wildfire tracker.
Fifteen projects have been named finalists for the 2026 Earthshot Prize, the environmental award founded by Britain's Prince William, with winners set to be announced at a televised ceremony in Mumbai on November 17.
The prize, launched in 2020 and inspired by US President John F. Kennedy's 1962 "Moonshot" address, awards £1 million (about $1.34 million) to winners in each of five categories, along with support to expand their work. Its stated aim is to speed up environmental innovation and help "repair the planet" by 2030.
Among this year's contenders is the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which works to keep the Rocky Mountains an open migration route for wildlife from Wyoming to northwestern Canada. Based in Canmore, Alberta, with US offices in Bozeman, Montana, the group has been operating since 1993. It collaborates with local communities, ranchers, Indigenous peoples and governments to protect wild lands and build crossings and fencing that allow animals to pass busy roads safely.
Jodi Hilty, the group's president and chief scientist, said in a video statement that the approach is straightforward: animals need room to move and do not recognise borders. She said the initiative brings different stakeholders to the same table to find ways for wildlife to move freely. According to the group, the region now has 204 wildlife crossings and roughly 24 million hectares (59 million acres) of protected land.
Other finalists include an Argentine project that uses artificial intelligence and satellite data to detect and track wildfires across Latin America, the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions from shipping, and Orsted, one of the world's largest offshore wind developers.
Jason Knauf, chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, said finalists such as Yellowstone to Yukon work to overcome barriers of the kind that have emerged between Canada and the United States during their recent trade dispute. He said protecting nature for future generations is a widely shared goal in both countries and beyond, and that short-term political noise should not distract from it.