The Earthshot Prize Announces Bonds for Ocean Conservation as a 2025 Finalist

Oceans are essential to all life on our planet, including human life. Despite oceans covering two-thirds of the Earth, funding to protect them remains critically low. Many of the world’s richest marine ecosystems are located in countries burdened by significant debt, making it difficult for them to afford their protection despite being among the most vulnerable to climate change.

Bonds for Ocean Conservation scales conservation outcomes through sovereign debt conversions, a financial solution that allows countries to refinance expensive debt and replace it with more favourable terms, unlocking significant cost savings and channelling vital resources into protecting people and our planet.

Coalition members have already deployed this innovative finance solution in partnership with six sovereign nations to date, with an emblematic example in the Galápagos Islands. Ecuador’s Galápagos debt conversion, supported by Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy and other partners, saved the government more than $1 billion and unlocked more than $450 million for marine conservation. As a result, Ecuador made new commitments to improve the sustainability of its fisheries and create the 6-million-hectare Hermandad Marine Reserve, which is home to sea turtles, dolphins, sharks and other endangered marine life. Marine protected areas like this generate a ripple effect of healthy biodiversity, which supports fishing stocks that provide livelihoods and vital food sources across the world.

To date, members of the Coalition have unlocked more than $1.4 billion in funding that supports the conservation of nearly 3 million square kilometres of nature’s finest, and most vulnerable, ecosystems. Debt conversion projects have been successfully deployed by the Coalition in Seychelles (2016), Belize (2021), Barbados (2022), Gabon (2023), the Galápagos (2023), The Bahamas (2024) and Ecuadorian Amazon (2024). In the next five years, by 2030, the Debt for Nature Coalition aims to double current figures, unlocking more than $3 billion in funding for conservation and climate action across the globe.

It is this leadership, progress and future potential that impressed The Earthshot Prize during the selection process in the search for outstanding candidates for the 2025 Prize.

Prince William, Founder and President of The Earthshot Prize said: “As we reach the halfway point of the Earthshot decade, I am truly inspired by this year’s Finalists, which embody the urgent optimism sitting right at the heart of our mission. In just five years, The Earthshot Prize has shown that the answers to our planet’s greatest challenges not only already exist, but that they are firmly within our grasp.”

Tom Dillon, senior vice president of environment and cross-cutting initiatives at The Pew Charitable Trusts, a member of the Debt for Nature Coalition, said: “The Galápagos debt conversion exemplifies how financial innovation can drive conservation. Ecuador not only secured significant savings but also created a lasting funding stream to protect one of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems. By collaborating across organisations and sharing our collective expertise, the Coalition is setting a high bar for quality and ambition in future deals.”

Jennifer Morris, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, a member of the Debt for Nature Coalition, said: “The world’s biodiversity and climate crises are compounded by the global debt crisis. The ‘Nature Bonds’ debt conversion model is a proven, scalable solution which uniquely addresses all three. We are exceedingly proud of the innovative debt conversion work we have supported in six different sovereign nations and yet recognize that our planet needs more and faster. The radical collaboration, scalability and transparency made possible through the Debt for Nature Coalition are exactly the type of ambition required in this moment for our planet and for future generations.”

Adam Tomasek, executive director for the Debt for Nature Coalition, said: “No single institution can solve the interconnected crises of nature loss, livelihood insecurity and sovereign debt stress on their own. The Debt for Nature Coalition is built on the belief that collaboration can unlock solutions greater than the sum of their parts—transforming fragility into resilience, crisis into opportunity and debt burdens into engines for nature conservation. Through collective action, we're helping to solve the planet’s greatest challenges by supporting a new economic architecture for a thriving, sustainable future.”

The new Finalists join a community of 60 Finalists who are making significant progress in protecting and restoring our natural world. This includes progress by:

• d.light (Clean our Air 2024 Finalist), which has transformed 200 million lives in Africa with their solar-powered products.
• Notpla (Waste Free World 2022 Finalist), which has replaced 21.5 million single-use plastic items with sustainable seaweed packaging, and 11.6 million in 2024.
• Pristine Seas (Revive our Oceans 2021 Finalist), which has established 30 of the largest marine protected areas in the world, covering a total area of 6.9 million square kilometers, more than twice the size of India, and helped to create David Attenborough's groundbreaking Ocean film.
• Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative (Protect and Restore Nature 2024 Winner), which has helped bring the Saiga antelope back from the brink of extinction, growing the population from around 40,000 to more than 4 million in 20 years. They’ve also reintroduced Przewalski’s horses to Kazakhstan’s wild after more than 200 years.
• Boomitra (Fix Our Climate 2023 Winner), which has worked with more than 10,000 farmers in Africa, India, the Americas and Mongolia to adopt regenerative agricultural processes and remove nearly a million cars’ worth of CO₂ from the atmosphere.

This year’s cohort were selected from nearly 2,500 nominees submitted by the Prize’s network of 575 nominators from 72 countries. The 15 Finalists were chosen based on assessments done by The Earthshot Prize’s selection partners and Expert Advisory Panel, a global group of more than 100 subject-matter experts with deep backgrounds in conservation, science, technology, business, finance, academia and policy.

As in previous years, the five Winners of this year’s Prize will be selected by HRH Prince William and fellow members of the prestigious Earthshot Prize Council, a diverse group of individuals dedicated to protecting the climate and our natural environment. The Earthshot Prize Council is chaired by The Earthshot Prize Board of Trustees Chair, Dame Christiana Figueres, architect of the Paris Climate Accord.

Members of The Earthshot Prize Council are Prince William, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Cate Blanchett, Indra Nooyi, José Andrés, Wanjira Mathai, Nemonte Nenquimo, Luisa Neubauer, Naoko Yamazaki, Ernest Gibson and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Solutions selected align to the five “Earthshots”—simple, ambitious and aspirational goals but more relevant than ever before.

To find out more about this year’s Finalists, please visit the website.

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Media Contacts

María Dolben Mantilla, The Earthshot Prize (press@earthshotprize.org)

Lansons (tep@lansons.com)

Notes to Editors 

About Bonds for Ocean Conservation and Debt for Nature Coalition

For more information on the Debt for Nature Coalition, visit: www.debtfornature.org

At the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, six global environmental organisations—Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Re:wild, The Wildlife Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund in the U.S.—announced the formation of a coalition to scale climate and conservation outcomes through the use of sovereign debt conversions. The Coalition will focus its efforts around four pillars:

1. Creating and maintaining practice standards for sovereign debt conversions for nature and climate;
2. Developing a shared pipeline of potential projects;
3. Working to expand the amount of capital available for credit enhancement; and,
4. Coordinating policy efforts and sharing knowledge and best practices.

About the Galápagos Debt for Nature Deal

Ecuador completed the world's largest debt conversion for conservation in May 2023, securing a projected $450 million for marine protection over 18 years. This innovative deal, a collaboration between the Ecuadorian government, local stakeholders, Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy and other partners, protects the Galápagos Islands and the vibrant marine ecosystem. The agreement established a new locally driven non-profit, the Galápagos Life Fund, that manages annual grants and a permanent endowment. This endowment is designed to provide ongoing financial support for conservation, generating about $12 million annually in perpetuity.

About the “Nature Bonds” debt conversion model

For more information on the “Nature Bonds” debt conversion model, visit: www.nature.org/naturebonds

The Nature Bonds model is a holistic approach to leverage debt refinancing for effective, durable conservation and climate action. Working with governments to refinance debt and generate new funding to invest in conservation, climate mitigation and adaptation measures, that “Nature Bonds” debt conversion model can turn a debt burden into a catalytic conservation tool.

About The Earthshot Prize

For more information about The Earthshot Prize, visit: www.earthshotprize.org

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Founded by HRH Prince William and incubated in The Royal Foundation in 2020 for a year before becoming an independent organisation, The Earthshot Prize is the world’s most prestigious and impactful award designed to identify, back and celebrate groundbreaking leadership in environmental action. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which united millions of people around the goal of reaching the moon, The Earthshot Prize is designed to mobilise a decade of action for the planet. The five challenges are: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.

The Earthshot Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism by championing inspiring leadership and helping to scale incredible cutting-edge solutions. It will discover 50 Winners over 10 years with the power to repair the planet. More than an award, The Earthshot Prize works in partnership with a Global Alliance of Partners to support the scaling of the solutions discovered and selected each year.

The Global Alliance Founding Partners are a group of leading global organisations and philanthropists, which act as strategic funding partners to the Prize, including Aga Khan Development Network, Allen Family Philanthropies, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy Foundation, Builders Vision, Coleman Family Ventures, DP World, Elaine and Eduardo Saverin Foundation, Eleven Eleven Foundation, Giving Grousbeck Fazzalari, Holch Povlsen Foundation, Law Family Charitable Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Rob Walton Foundation, Sandy and Paul Edgerley, Standard Chartered Bank, Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, Temasek Trust and Uber.

Global Alliance Partners are non-profit environment and sustainable development organisations that bring expertise, global reach and serve as nominating organisations each year. For a full list of our Global Alliance Partners, visit: https://earthshotprize.org/people-partners/global-alliance/

Global Alliance Members are some of the world’s largest and most influential companies and brands that will support The Earthshot Prize, implement ambitious changes within their businesses and accelerate the advancement of the solutions of The Earthshot Prize Finalists and Winners. They are Arup, Bloomberg L.P., British Airways, Deloitte, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, Hitachi, Ingka Group (IKEA), Microsoft, The Multichoice Group, Natura &Co, Safaricom, Salesforce, Unilever, Vodacom Group and Walmart.