Barcelona has a bold plan to protect its vulnerable coastline – and it could be prize-winning

This summer, Barcelona recorded its highest temperature in more than a century. It’s part of a worrying trend: the Mediterranean is warming around 20 per cent faster than the global average, while record-warm waters are fuelling stronger storms, sea level rise and coastal erosion.The collapse of a stretch of a storm-hit promenade on Barcelona’s northeast coast in 2023 underlined the need for climate resilient infrastructure.

Around 70 per cent of the artificial sand added in 2010 has since disappeared.“ Cities like ours must learn to live with climate change while protecting the places and communities that define them,” says Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona. The Spanish city’s ambitious coastal resilience project is now in the running for a prestigious environmental award.Barcelona is a finalist for The Earthshot PrizeBarcelona has been announced as a finalist for The Earthshot Prize in the Revive Our Oceans category.

First launched in 2020 by Prince William, the awards recognise environmental solutions to “repair” the planet.The Spanish city is pouring €150 million into restoring one of Europe’s most intensively used urban coastlines. The project will create 22 hectares – roughly the size of 31 football pitches – of climate- and heat-adapted public space along the Sant Martí seafront, integrating restored marine habitats, natural coastal protection and waterfront access.It is hoped that it will become a blueprint for coastal cities around the world facing increasingly severe sea-level rise, stronger storms, flooding, biodiversity loss and extreme heat – something The Earthshot Prize will help with by boosting visibility and knowledge-sharing opportunities.

“Every year, our Finalists give me renewed optimism,” says Prince William, President and Founder of The Earthshot Prize. “They show us that, even as the environmental challenges remain urgent, extraordinary people around the world are already proving that progress is possible.” ‘Climate-resilient infrastructure designed for everyone to enjoy’Instead of repeatedly rebuilding its vulnerable northeast shoreline, Barcelona is intentionally moving parts of the waterfront inland, including relocating a popular seafront football pitch, and moving the sea walls back.

This will allow for wider beaches that act as natural buffers, absorbing wave energy and creating more space for storms, erosion and rising sea levels, as well as providing a vital refuge during increasingly severe heatwaves.Scheduled for completion in spring 2027, Passeig Marítim de la Mar Bella will encourage sustainable use of the coastline while boosting air quality and biodiversity with a 15,000-square-metre linear park.Visitors will be able to stroll along a 12-metre-wide pedestrian path or cycle down bike lanes – stretching all the way to the Fòrum – resting at energy-producing solar pergolas along the way.“

The choice facing coastal cities is no longer whether to adapt, but how,” says María Buhigas, Chief City Architect of Barcelona. “This is not a defensive structure added to the edge of the city; it is a new piece of climate-resilient public infrastructure designed for everyone to enjoy.” Who else is in the running for The Earthshot Prize 2026? From nearly 7,000 nominations across 169 countries, 15 finalists have been selected for The Earthshot Prize.Each is aligned with one of the five ‘Earthshots’: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate – with winners in each category poised to receive a £1 million (€1.17m) prize.For the first time, positive tipping points were part of the selection process, rewarding innovations where progress builds on itself, costs fall with scale and recovery becomes self-propelling.Other European finalists include Ørsted (Fix Our Climate) – the Danish renewable energy company behind some of the world’s largest offshore wind projects – and PFAS-Free France (Build a Waste-Free World), the policy and civil-society campaign that helped securing, and is now implementing, France’s ‘forever chemical’ phaseout in everyday products.

Further afield, Argentina’s Satellites on Fire is being recognised for its AI-powered wildfire detection and alert platform, alongside zero-emission shipping alliance ZEMBA, and India’s electric three-wheeler pioneer Mahindra Last Mile Mobility.Reconnecting a vast mountain landscape across Canada and the US so wildlife can move freely once again, conservation collaboration Yellowstone to Yukon is among the contenders for the Protect and Restore Nature prize.“

Seeing solutions work gives us all confidence to act. When they succeed, they inspire others and accelerate change,” says Prince William.The five winners of The Earthshot Prize 2026 will be announced at an awards night in Mumbai, India, on 17 November.