The Earthshot Prize, in collaboration with philanthropic organisation Alana and the youth initiative Design for Change, announced fifteen student finalist teams for the inaugural I CAN Earthshot Challenge. Mobilizing nearly one million students across 15,000 schools in India, the program tasked participants aged 9 to 17 with engineering localized solutions across five ecological categories. Notably, multiple student teams integrated pyrolyzed carbon media—specifically biocharBiochar is a carbon-rich material created from biomass decomposition in low-oxygen conditions. It has important applications in environmental remediation, soil improvement, agriculture, carbon sequestration, energy storage, and sustainable materials, promoting efficiency and reducing waste in various contexts while addressing climate change challenges. More and activated carbon—into practical, low-cost filtration hardware targeting agricultural runoff and indoor particulate pollution. Finalist teams will present their systems at The Children’s Earthshot event in Mumbai, with five category winners receiving US$2,000 grants to support deployment.

The student initiatives address persistent public health and ecological vulnerabilities in underserved areas where conventional filtration remains cost-prohibitive. Rural farming settlements frequently cope with agricultural runoff that washes dissolved chemicals, suspended solids, and fertilizers into shallow drinking water sources. Simultaneously, educational and residential buildings situated near heavy transit routes and industrial centers experience elevated indoor particulate levels. Because motorized, high-efficiency purification equipment requires reliable electrical grids and substantial capital, vulnerable communities are left without viable means to purify their air and water.

To bridge this infrastructure gap, students designed passive, non-electric purification devices built around accessible porous carbon adsorbents. In Uttar Pradesh, a student research team from Brainz Edu World created the Sustainable Purification & Agricultural Runoff Control (SPARC) unit, combining bentonite clay settling processes with layered filter beds of gravel, sand, zeolite, ferric oxide, and biochar. In the clean air category, student inventors from National Public School in Bengaluru designed the PureVaYu filter using activated biochar, jute, bamboo silica, zeolite, and cotton, while fifth-grade pupils from Mumbai’s Jasudben M.L. School engineered a manual air filtration cartridge containing coconut-shell activated carbonActivated carbon is a form of carbon that has been processed to create a vast network of tiny pores, increasing its surface area significantly. This extensive surface area makes activated carbon exceptionally effective at trapping and holding impurities, like a molecular sponge. It is commonly More.

Field and laboratory trials conducted by the students demonstrated tangible filtration efficiencies. The SPARC prototype delivered reduced turbidity and visibly clarified farm runoff samples taken from nearby agricultural acreage. For air treatment, the PureVaYu team recorded an ambient air quality index drop from roughly 160 to under 98 alongside significant PM2.5 reductions during community hall trials, while the Jasudben student model reduced smoke concentrations during sealed prototype testing. These outcomes highlight how youth-led engineering can translate biochar science into accessible, community-level remediation tools.