Scottish start-up social enterprise nominated for Earthshot Prize

Powering Futures, the start-up social enterprise which brings together the employers of today and the employees of tomorrow, working towards the shared goals of prosperity and sustainability, has been nominated for The Earthshot Prize.

Falkirk-based Powering Futures, which aims to bring together one million young people and the industries which will employ them by 2030, has been nominated for the prize by Zero Waste Scotland.

The Earthshot Prize, founded by Prince William, the Prince of Wales, is a global environmental award that is rewarded to five winners each year for their contributions towards environmentalism.

Powering Futures is one of only 1,000 accepted nominations globally, and the next stage involves the creation of a shorter list of 150 potential winners, chasing a £1 million prize.

Powering Futures brings Scottish businesses into Scottish education, making sure that school leavers, whether they are going into work, into college or into university, have a grounding in the skills that they will need to enter, excel in, and change the world of work.

Our programme, which can also be deployed in colleges and the workplace, develops young people’s abilities and meta-skills through the lens of sustainability. They take on real-world sustainability challenges, set by the sponsoring business. They research and collaborate on a solution. And they present it to a panel of industry judges. 

At the end, as well as receiving an SCQF level 6 qualification, young people have been supported by industry, and exposed to future industries and potential employers. 

“This is a massive vote of confidence in our ground-breaking sustainability education programme.

Young people want a bright future, just like their parents wanted, and their grandparents before them. Too often our young people are being told that climate change means they need to stop the world and get off; we are telling them that they can change the world so that we can all stay on. 

Scotland – at the heart of the net zero energy transition from hydrocarbons to renewables, and in need of a high-skilled future workforce to make it happen, is the perfect fit for Powering Futures, and Powering Futures is the perfect fit for The Earthshot Prize.

We are incredibly excited to be on this journey, and our fingers are crossed that we can go all the way to a date with the Prince and Princess of Wales and a game-changing million pound boost.”

— David Reid and Jen Tempany, Co-Founders of Powering Futures