jennifer: welcome to the best of the earthshot prize innovation summit 2024. i am jennifer zabasajja. founded by his royal highness prince william, the earthshot prize is a global environmental

challenge that aims to repair and regenerate the planet by helping to discover and scale solutions to climate change. this year's summit brought together policymakers, global business leaders and climate activists to put a spotlight on the solution that could help address the world's biggest environmental challenges. nba superstar joel embiid spoke on the need to invest in the use of his home continent of africa. joel: we keep going back to our first infrastructure, the largest in sports. education. you know, health. you know, mentors. i think those are some of the keys. role models like masai has been a role model. especially for me. being in the situation for a long time, i always wanted to do. all i cared about is helping people.

since i became a father, that became even more amplified because i look at my kids and a legacy that i want to leave. i want them to understand the world. they have everything, but growing up, we didn't have everything. but i want them to understand that is not -- in other countries where we grew up, it is not that way. so i think the focus on youth, infrastructure and mentorship i think is a big deal because it has helped me a lot. antha: same question to you, you mentioned youth and women. what is needed to help our continent flourish and to help the youth flourish and to help young women flourish? masai: inside the continent, leadership needs to be better. i think outside the continent, the diaspora are doing an incredible job affecting. you don't need to do big, big things. people sometimes think you have to go back and do grand things. you can start like little. i want people to actually think

of africa as a place of investment. i know sometimes it's not that straightforward, but there are unbelievable people that you can work with, you know, many people i think in our circles and in our world, in different aspects of life, that you can actually work with in africa. they are incredible countries you can go to. i will reemphasize it again, where every other continent is getting older and africa is getting younger, there is something there. there is something that will change. and we have to pay attention to that. to say one out of every four people will be african by 2050, let's go back and really think about that. and think about the talent that comes from there. antha: how have you approached the work with local communities, and why are they important to your work?

rocky: we have seen what a good mayor can do in the great city like new york, right? [laughter] and i think in coastal 500, we have had the chance to see what good mayors in a fourth and fifth class municipality and countries like the philippines can do. they can pass legislation, they can convince fishers that following these rules will actually pay off for them in the future. they can make conservation a priority in their annual plans and their budgets. as we have seen in honduras, we can also see how they can come together and actually ask the national government to change legislation so that it is the small-scale fishers that are prioritized in the near shore waters. so there is a lot that can happen. and we have seen mayors grow into this in different ways. they come at it from different paths. for some, it is personal, because their father was a fisherman, or that they have

seen what devastation a typhoon can cause in their community. for others, it is being brought in by their peers. so we have alliances of mayors from neighboring towns that have come together and actually cooperate with each other, because somebody had pulled them in from their neighbors. and then lastly, i think, and this is what we are hoping will happen with coastal 500, is that they feel like they are part of something bigger. antha: i want to turn to you because you are an ambassador for oceana. one of their taglines in protecting the ocean is "save the ocean, feed the world." so it's very much about this issue of not just protecting the planet, but protecting the people who are here. how have you seen oceana's work protect people and the planet? maya: it's interesting. because we can't think of those are separate things, you know.

[laughs] once we protect people, we protect the planet. once we protect the planet, we protect people. it is unity, right? we see ourselves as individuals, but truly we are altogether all the time in this universe. with oceana, we have been two very interesting launches we were able to conquer. one in south of brazil was the bottom trawling. and that allowed small-scale fishers to find again lobsters and red snappers which was being completely depleted. with that law which was passed by the supreme court at the very end of the fight, it also allowed for, of course, less of an impact of co2 once we stopped bottom trawling. also saving petroleum use. so a lot of good things happen when you can tap into and create one big law of protection.

same thing in peru. when we -- they were able to, our beautiful team of oceana peru, they were able to pass the law of protecting the five miles close to the coast off industrial fishing, that allowed artisanal fishers to go out and fish. that protected food in that area and protected food and families. i think it was 40,000 families that now could actually go out and fish and have food to eat. and i think we say in oceana that you could have one billion meals a day of seafood if you actually protect it and allowed the ocean to heal, because it's unhealthy right now. but that's the potential. and i think as food is a major issue right now in our near future, scarcity, to not protect something that nature has given us and once we deplete it, it is saying, if you give us a break, we will make sure we get healthy again very soon. it's crazy not to do it.

prince william: these finalists are breaking down barriers. they are inventing the future we all need to accelerate towards. but we need to make a change in how invest, how we take risks. how we make bold, collaborative moves that shape the future faster. this is a call to urgency at a new level. we need to speed solutions to scale so that by 2030 we will be able to say to one another that we have successfully protected 30% of oceans, nature and water, and lowered emissions by over 40%. business as usual is no longer an option. we need new forms of lending capital to help take game changing ideas to scale. we need corporations to invest in the solutions of the future, in their supply chains. we need markets to reward these incredible innovators. together, we hold the pen of future history books.

jennifer: coming up, more from the earthshot prize innovation summit 2024. this is bloomberg. ♪

jennifer: welcome back to the earthshot prize innovation summit 2024. i'm jennifer zabasajja. the earthshot prize supports solutions to the harm brought about by the climate crisis. earthshot prize winners are guided by global partners and leaders on how to accelerate progress and shake up the status quo. here is some of their advice. jacinda: politicians have the ability in this football match that is the climate environment, where they can change the rules that will either speed up or slow down the game, and either cause more goals to be scored or not. and one of the things that i track consistently is the speed at which we remove fossil fuel subsidies. because not only are those incentives $7 trillion worth in entirely the wrong place, but that represents a loss of otherwise investment we could put into alternatives. so that's something i keep a close eye on, as well as, of course, the trajectory for

fossil fuels, generally which we must bring to an end point. the second i am interested in is carbon border adjustments. because again, we need to properly price carbon in our economies. i do think those are things that could speed up the goal-scoring. the one thing i will also say is, politicians are not the only players on the field. so every single person in this room, regardless of how fast governments are moving, can make a difference. so, do not be disheartened by the speed of the game. christina: by the slow speed. [laughter] that is what the earthshot prize is about, accelerating this. i also wanted to ask, wanjira, if you would come in on this question, because policies are important, but they will not occur if the almighty dollar is not behind them.

so what do you track in terms of investment? wanjira: the role and the beauty of nature. we have literally one currency at the moment, which is carbon. but we know that forests, and especially forests on my continent play such a huge role in keeping our planet alive and we don't value this ecosystem services that they provide. water, pollination, soil. everything that keeps us alive. we undervalue nature. so, policies that continue to incentivize the protection of green spaces and incentivize the creation of new ones, i track. florent: we look around this room, and there is a lot of hope, energy, and optimism, yet out there is a whole different world from many of us. there is a lot of fear, fear of crises, of despair. how can we use the combined collective power and message of the earthshot prize as a platform to foster hope in the communities and young people

that most need it today. jose: the best of life and the best opportunities are actually at the end of your comfort zone. beyond that horizon we don't see. don't be afraid to be on that horizon, because there is where the true opportunities are going to happen. i used to have one guy, robert elgar, 30 years ago, a portanty life, a food fighter. he said, in terms of social change and philanthropy, it seems like philanthropy was always about the redemption of the giver. when philanthropy must be about the liberation of the receiver. let's start doing things to give dignity to the voiceless. let's start making sure we don't feel pity for the people, but we give them our respect. showing up there, creating opportunity, creating new ideas

into real agents of change. i am jose andres and i endorse this message. [laughter] [applause] thomas: i want to stress that, of course, the wrong tree in the wrong place can undoubtedly do a lot more harm than good. it is worth noting, that is the same for everything that has ever existed. if you stick a toothbrush in the wrong place, it will do more harm than good. so i'm told. [laughter] of course, we are not going to be getting out of this by engineering our way out. this doesn't tackle the underlying threat, the underlying challenge that we are facing, which is ultimately the inequitable distribution of wealth on our planet. we have a small number of people with a huge, massive environmental footprint, but we also have billions of people living day-to-day, trapped in an economy where they have very few non-extractive alternatives. but there is a growing body of research that suggests that these are the people that actually hold our greatest opportunity for hope. because if we can redistribute

the wealth of this planet towards those land stewards, they are the ones who can find the sustainable options. then in time, the regenerative options that help build a world in which we can all thrive. global restoration is not about excluding people and securing nature. it is about finding and empowering the millions of local land stewards. the indigenous populations, the farmers, the communities who are the stewards of nature on our planet. and that is the mission of restore. a free online digital platform to support the movement. where any local landowner can draw around their land and get get free information about the carbon, water, and biodiversity. just like dexter, this example in ethiopia, where you can see the huge footprint of coffee production as forests have been removed. but as you zoom in, it looks like that forest is pretty much intact. that is because that is exactly what it is. instead of removing the forest, they plant the trees underneath the canopy of this beautiful intact rainforest. which traps water and nutrients so those trees grow really well,

without the need for fertilizers and irrigation. which means they make more profit. and when nature is a profitable option, you know you can't stop it from recovering around landscapes. that is why all the farmers in the nearby region are allowing trees to return on their ecosystems so that they can have more profitable coffee production. hannah: each one of you, i know, wakes up knowing that you are in a race against time to use your platform and your influence to unlock the future we want. and here is what i know. when you leave here now, you are going to run around the whole of new york negotiating, agreeing, pitching, pushing, risk-taking, leading. and it is exhausting. and sometimes the no's and the inertia and the resistance you meet can sap the soul. in the dark of the night, how many of us have quietly held grief and fear when we ask ourselves the question, "is what we're doing enough?"

so as you prepare to leave us, we want to put some wind in your sails, oxygen in your lungs, and optimism in your hearts, because today, 15 new earthshot finalists are launched to the world. and they join a family 45 past winners and finalists, all of whom have gone on to do so much incredible work and deliver meaningful change. jennifer: coming up, more from the plaza hotel and the earthshot prize innovation summit 2024. this is bloomberg. ♪

jennifer: welcome back to the best of the earthshot prize innovation summit 2024. i'm jennifer zabasajja. the solutions of the earthshot prize helps to fund need to scale and scale quickly. i spoke with a group of climate leaders to see the impact they could have with access to capital to help their solutions scale. orianna: climate and water are intimately linked. so, number one to scale, awareness. number two, policy. because it is risk-averse, and it should be. water and access to clean water is public health 101. and so, providing that access requires trust in infrastructure, trusts in technologies. right now, there is not an incentive for a lot of big water companies or infrastructure operators to change to a new technology.

because we are selling it to the market that we are, it is slow adoption. and so, financial investors are largely allergic to what we do. and so, raising awareness, bringing in the capital, and seeing some more policy incentives to bring in new technologies like aquacycle to solve some of these really pressing challenges. jennifer: as a 2024 earthshot winner, have you experienced some of those challenges as well? aadith: certainly, i think one of the key challenges, as our other colleagues have said is, how can we funnel more finance into these sectors at the scale that is necessary for them to be done? so that has definitely been a challenge. what we have been trying to do for that is demonstrate some key milestones towards definitely de-risking our entire sector as a whole. in the next 12 to 15 months, we plan to transfer over $100 million to farmers in local

communities around the world while also demonstrating that our business can be extremely profitable at the same time. extremely profitable while also transferring huge amounts of climate finance back to the communities. but this is just the start. we want to use that as the proving point to allow financial stakeholders from around the world to say yes, we can invest in this and we can take this to the gigaton scale. jennifer: are you too optimistic -- they were just noting the challenges they were just experiencing. as you have been on this journey, are you optimistic that some of these barriers to scaling for founders like themselves and yourself, it will be broken down? matt: yes. and i can relate to everything. [laughter] you know, when we had an event in 2012 to celebrate our first million people reached, president clinton came.

and he had been a big booster of this work and supporter of water.org all along. he looked at the model and instantly recognized it was going to work. to exactly what they are saying, we needed to prove this and prove it over and over again. so what he said -- he pulled me aside and said, you just got to run these numbers up. you got to run these numbers up. you have to make it undeniable. that is what we spent the next decade plus doing. i don't think either of us mentioned, these loans pay back at over 98%. so think about that for a second. 90% of our borrowers are women. these women who are among the most vulnerable on the planet financially speaking, paying these loans back at 98 plus percent. and this is repeated. we have done over 13 million of these loans. so these are very real numbers, and it is emotional for us because it is so heroic. these women who are in a failed market. they are victims of a failed

market. it's really about philosophically looking at people, like gary said, rather than as a charity case to be solved but as human beings. and as customers and citizens. this method has proved that if we just nudge the market towards them and get out of the way people want to solve their own problems. gary: we have gone from the paradigm of everybody in the world is so poor and equally poor that everybody needs a charity solution. and that was the paradigm. now we have gotten to the point where we can actually provide -- not just breakeven, but we can actually use capital to help them and provide the financial returns the market needs. so, we finally have line of sight on that $1.5 trillion. you guys know how much capital is out there to be invested, right? if the market is sending you the right signal. so, if we can actually use that signal with what we are doing, and frankly, looking at investing in businesses like

yours, entrepreneurs around the world that are solving this as well, having the capital to deploy rapidly to scale those solutions, and then going to the capital markets and providing those financial returns, absolutely we can solve it. we solved this problem 100 years ago here in the u.s. there is no reason why we can't solve it around the world. sophie: the philosopher timothy morton said, "in a time of climate change, ecological collapse, and social transformation, art allows us to see hard truths without being destroyed by them." two weeks ago in venice, i premiered a production called "salt of the earth." it was an act of storytelling created by deep collaboration with scientists, activists, and local initiatives. "salt of the earth" shone a light on an overlooked and disregarded, but vital, ecosystem. salt marshes.

globally, we have lost nearly half of our historical salt marshes. in venice, only 1/6 remain. working with scientists and local experts for the last year was humbling and empowering and vital to create a piece of art whose objective is to help the climate emergency resonate both personally and collectively, and to foster a sense of shared responsibility. benedict: and it is not just about the powerful storytelling, it is also about the means by which we tell those stories in an industry that is heavy on resources. and to that end, i'm very happy to announce that i am working with sir david attenborough's grandson, will, to champion the green rider. it is an initiative that brings together actors and producers in finding solutions to the sustainability issues that we face within our industry. by adding a green clause to our contracts, actors can assure climate action is prioritized onset and on screen and at every stage of the production process. so working with our agents, working with sustainability

experts, we can help isolate the areas of the most importance and impact to develop smart, scalable solutions and kickstart systemic progress across our industry, from studios to the guilds, unions, and academies. jennifer: and that is all from the earthshot prize innovation summit 2024. you can find more on the bloomberg terminal, and also at bloomberg.com. i'm jennifer zabasajja, and this is bloomberg. ♪ you founded your kayak company because you love the ocean. not spreadsheets... you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. our matching platform lets you spend less time searching and more time connecting with candidates. visit indeed.com/hire ♪♪ the winter escapes sale is now on. visit sandals.com or call 1-800-sandals.

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