British Prince William will present environmental awards for the best ideas and technologies to solve the climate crisis.
These awards, the Earthshot Prize, are to become the most pretentious global environmental awards, comparable to the Nobel Prizes.
From 2021, the prince will present five different awards for the Earthshot Prize each year. The winners will each receive £ 1 million to restore the planet.
Anyone can contribute ideas, from scientists to activists and governments to companies. The project’s founders, including wealthy philanthropists, provide the prize money totalling more than £ 50 million.
Prince William, second in line to the throne, wants to use the prize to change the pessimism surrounding environmental issues to optimism.
“The award is about much more than recognizing exceptional achievements – it’s also a decade of action. It’s there to inspire people around the world to work together so that the planet can recover.”
The project, which will run for ten years, focuses on five goals for 2030: protecting nature, making the air cleaner, reviving the oceans, building a waste-free world and restoring the climate. The nominations will be open from 1 November.
The annual global awards ceremony, held in a different city each year, will be held in London for the first time in the fall of 2021.
The British prince is more often concerned with the welfare of the planet. A documentary about him was recently released, Prince William: A Planet For Us All, in which he works against climate change. He doesn’t get that interest from a stranger.
His father, Prince Charles, has been committed to fighting the climate crisis for years. “I’ve always listened to him and taken his words seriously,” said William of his father.