India’s environmental innovators join a global cohort of 15 finalists as Mumbai prepares to host the Earthshot Prize Summit and Awards Night, bringing world leaders, climate entrepreneurs, young changemakers and international stars to the city.
If there was ever a moment for Mumbai to take centre stage in a global conversation that concerns every one of us, this is it. From 13 to 17 November 2026, India hosts the sixth edition of The Earthshot Prize, the prestigious global environmental award founded by His Royal Highness Prince William. Making its India debut, the five-day programme brings together environmental innovators, business leaders, investors, philanthropists, young climate advocates and global personalities, with Mumbai hosting the Summit and the much-anticipated Awards Night on 17 November.
For Mumbai, this is more than another high-profile international event. It places the city at the heart of a global platform focused on finding, funding and accelerating solutions to some of the planet’s most pressing environmental challenges. The wider programme begins with the Jaipur Momentum Retreat before moving to Mumbai for the Summit, Impact Assembly, youth initiatives and the grand finale. Prince William is also expected in Mumbai for the celebrations.
The choice of India is particularly significant. The country is home to more Earthshot Prize Finalists and Winners than any other nation, with seven Finalists and four Winners to date. Two of the 15 contenders in the 2026 cohort are Indian: Mahila Housing Trust and Mahindra Last Mile Mobility. They join previous Indian Winners Boomitra, Kheyti, S4S Technologies and Takachar, whose solutions have demonstrated how locally developed ideas can address challenges with relevance far beyond national borders.
It is an important message at a time when countries are increasingly being challenged to balance economic development with environmental responsibility. India’s experience shows that these ambitions need not be mutually exclusive. From cleaner mobility and agricultural innovation to waste management, heat resilience and conservation, homegrown solutions are finding ways to make sustainability practical, scalable and economically meaningful. With the world arriving in Mumbai, these stories will have an international platform.
The urgency behind the Prize is reflected in the cumulative impact of its Finalists. At the halfway point of what it calls the Earthshot Decade, their work has helped improve air quality in regions home to 600 million people, protect or restore 85 million hectares of ocean and coastline, and safeguard 58 million hectares of land and forests. Their efforts have also avoided or captured 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions and removed, upcycled or avoided 465,000 tonnes of waste. These are achievements built over the Prize’s first five years, demonstrating that the initiative is not simply about recognising promising ideas but helping proven solutions reach greater scale.
Fifteen finalists, one shared ambition
The 2026 cohort was selected from nearly 7,000 nominations across 169 countries. Its 15 Finalists represent an unusually broad cross-section of environmental action, from grassroots organisations and Indigenous-led conservation initiatives to cities, national programmes, technology innovators and major corporations. For the first time, a major publicly listed company has also made the list.
The range of ideas is striking. Argentina’s Satellites on Fire uses artificial intelligence to detect and track wildfires, with its technology already operating across 21 countries. Uganda’s AirQo is working to close gaps in air-quality monitoring through affordable sensor networks, while Denmark’s Ørsted brings large-scale offshore wind expertise to the effort to accelerate the transition towards cleaner energy.
Nature conservation takes centre stage through Bhutan, whose constitutional commitment to maintaining forest cover underpins its conservation model, and Australia’s Indigenous Desert Alliance, which supports Indigenous-led land stewardship. The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is working to reconnect a vast mountain landscape across Canada and the United States, creating a more connected habitat for wildlife.
The oceans have their own champions. The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance, or ZEMBA, is bringing cargo owners together to accelerate zero-emission shipping. Niue Ocean Wide Trust is advancing marine conservation in the Pacific island nation, while the City of Barcelona is exploring ways to protect and adapt its coastline in the face of rising seas.
The waste challenge brings together South Korea’s Zero Waste Movement Network, France’s PFAS-Free France initiative and the Philippines’ Mother Earth Foundation. Their approaches range from community-led waste reduction to policy advocacy and the fight against harmful forever chemicals. Kenya’s Pula, meanwhile, is developing insurance solutions to help smallholder farmers manage climate-related risks.
India’s two Finalists bring the focus closer home. Ahmedabad-based Mahila Housing Trust is recognised for its work in helping vulnerable communities withstand extreme heat, including affordable reflective roof coatings that can reduce indoor temperatures and climate-risk insurance that helps protect women workers’ livelihoods. Mahindra Last Mile Mobility has transformed its supply chain and emerged as the country’s leading seller of electric three-wheelers, demonstrating how cleaner transport can also be commercially viable.
Together, the Finalists show that there is no single route to environmental progress. Technology, traditional knowledge, public policy, community participation and business innovation all have a role to play. Five of the 15 will be named Winners in Mumbai, with each receiving £1 million to help scale their solutions.
Five days of conversations, collaboration and climate action
The India programme brings together several strands of activity, ensuring that the Summit extends beyond the Awards Night. The Jaipur Momentum Retreat, scheduled from 13 to 15 November, brings the 2026 Finalists together with the Prize’s wider network of partners and leaders. The focus is on building momentum for the second half of the Earthshot Decade and identifying ways to take successful solutions further.
In Mumbai, Generation Earthshot, delivered in partnership with Common Purpose, brings together 130 young climate leaders from India, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The four-day programme, running from 14 to 17 November, is designed to connect emerging leaders through workshops, local immersions and collaborative sessions, while giving them an opportunity to participate in the wider Summit experience. It is the largest cohort of Generation Earthshot to date.
One of the most meaningful initiatives of the week puts children firmly in the picture. The I CAN Earthshot Challenge, run in partnership with Alana and Design for Change, is bringing 15 finalist teams of children to Mumbai for the inaugural Children’s Earthshot. The participants, aged between nine and 17, will present ideas developed to address environmental challenges in their own communities. The two-day programme culminates in an Awards Ceremony at the Museum of Solutions on 17 November, where five winning teams, one in each Earthshot category, will receive US$2,000 apiece to further develop their projects.
The initiative marks the Prize’s largest youth outreach programme so far, engaging close to one million students across more than 15,000 schools in 24 Indian states. From reducing food waste and conserving water to tackling air pollution and managing local waste, the children’s ideas underline an important point: environmental leadership is not something that begins only when people enter boardrooms or positions of influence. It can start in a classroom, a neighbourhood or a school project.
The Impact Assembly on 16 November will bring together business leaders, philanthropists, innovators and government representatives for announcements and discussions around nature and ocean conservation, air quality, waste reduction and climate action. It is intended to help connect promising solutions with the partnerships, investment and institutional support needed to expand their reach.
As Jason Knauf, CEO of The Earthshot Prize, explains, “The Earthshot Prize is coming to India to celebrate global innovation, entrepreneurship, culture, young people and environmental leadership. We are bringing together some of the most exciting environmental solutions in Mumbai, in one of the most dynamic cities on the planet. Above all, The Earthshot Prize is about what comes next. In Mumbai we are spotlighting the people building a better future, backing them, and helping their ideas go further and faster.”
A global Awards Night with Mumbai in the spotlight
The week culminates on 17 November with the sixth annual Earthshot Prize Awards Night, hosted by filmmaker and broadcaster Karan Johar. Five Winners will be announced across the Prize’s five categories: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate. Each will receive £1 million to advance or scale its work.
The ceremony is expected to welcome around 5,000 guests, making it the biggest Awards Night in the Prize’s history. The line-up brings together names from international entertainment, music and sport, including Sachin Tendulkar, Alia Bhatt, Rami Malek, Sonam Kapoor, Simone Ashley and Shreya Ghoshal. British pop group Take That will perform in India for the first time, adding an international musical highlight to the evening. Indian composer and two-time National Award winner Shashwat Sachdev will create the show’s musical finale, while Mumbai-based pianist and composer Merlin D’Souza and Wild Wild Women, India’s first all-female hip-hop collective, are also part of the announced musical line-up.
The occasion will be supported by the Serum Institute of India as principal sponsor of the 2026 Summit. Prime Video, the exclusive global streaming partner, will bring the Awards Night to audiences across more than 240 countries and territories in over 40 languages from 30 November, extending the reach of the Mumbai celebration well beyond the event itself.
The Prize has also announced its India Advisory Council, bringing together leaders from business, philanthropy, sustainable investment, community groups and environmental action. Among those associated with the Council are Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Nidhi Pant of S4S Technologies, Kaushik Kappagantulu of Kheyti and Shishir Joshi of Project Mumbai and Mumbai Climate Week. The Council has guided the Prize’s engagement in India over the past year and will continue to help strengthen partnerships, connect innovators with opportunities and support homegrown environmental solutions.
A defining moment for India — and for Mumbai
The significance of The Earthshot Prize arriving in India lies in what it represents as much as in the event itself. It brings international attention to the people and organisations working on solutions that can make a tangible difference, while creating opportunities for innovators to connect with investors, businesses, governments and collaborators who can help take their ideas to a much larger scale.
For India, the presence of two homegrown Finalists in this year’s cohort, alongside a growing record of previous Winners, is a recognition of the country’s contribution to environmental innovation. For Mumbai, hosting the Summit and Awards Night is an opportunity to welcome some of the world’s most influential voices in climate action and to showcase a city that understands both the urgency of environmental challenges and the possibilities of meaningful change.
Five days of conversations and collaboration. Fifteen global Finalists. Five Winners, each receiving £1 million. And a generation of young people already stepping forward with ideas of their own. As the Earthshot Decade moves into its second half, the world will be looking for solutions that can move from promise to progress and from local impact to global scale.
This November, that conversation comes to Mumbai. And for a city accustomed to being a meeting point for the world’s ideas, ambitions and cultures, it is a moment to take pride in hosting a global gathering with a purpose that reaches far beyond its own shores.
