Prince William says his father Charles was 'ahead of his time' at £50m Earthshot Prize launch

Prince William said his father Charles was ‘ahead of his time’ as he launched the most prestigious global environment prize in history. 

The Earthshot Prize, which has been likened to a green Nobel Prize, will drive change and help to repair the planet over the next 10 years.

The ambitious decade-long project will see a total of 50 environmental pioneers each awarded a £1million prize for their work tackling major problems across climate and energy, nature and biodiversity, oceans, air pollution and fresh water. 

The £50million project is funded by a network of philanthropic organisations and private companies and individuals including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Jack Ma Foundation and US billionaire Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne.

During an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, The Duke of Cambridge, 38, praised Prince Charles, 71, for his passion for the topic, saying: ‘He’s talked about this for a long time and long before people sort of cottoned on to climate change. So, I’ve always listened to and learnt and believed in what he was saying. But I knew it’s a very hard sell, you know, 40 years ago to kind of predict and see some of the sort of slow-moving catastrophes that we were headed towards’.

The father-of-three said he ‘personally feels there must be some hope and optimism’ when discussing the impact of climate change on the planet, explaining: ‘I do feel you have to have the urgency and the importance of what’s going to happen and the seriousness of what’s coming along. There are plenty of people talking about that. But I personally feel we must have some hope and some optimism. It’s all very apocalyptic about things.’

He added that ‘we all want to do our bit to help in progress’ but ‘shouldn’t feel guilty or bad about some of the things we do’, saying: ‘I worry from a mental health point of view the anxiety and the worry that many of these younger generations are going to have hearing about what we’re talking about. 

‘It’s going to weigh on them and they don’t want to inherit a world that is going to be, you know, full of doom and gloom.’ 

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Elsewhere in the interview, the Duke said: ‘These are grave times for the environment but I do believe with human ingenuity and younger generations speaking up now that they will not stand for this lack of hope, the lack of idea that we can’t fix some of these big solutions.’

He continued: ‘There’s a lot of people wanting to do many good things in the environment and what they need is a bit of a catalyst, a bit of hope, a bit of positivity that we can actually fix what’s being presented. And I think that urgency with optimism really creates action.’ 

Prince William said he aimed to take up the baton from his father, saying: I feel right now it’s my responsibility’.

He continued: ‘I really feel we are at a tipping point and I wanted to make sure my grandchildren, or rather, my children and my grandchildren, because this is going to happen relatively fast, that we hand the planet in a better state than we found it.

‘There is no other pressing issue like the planet right now.’  

The Duke was also asked whether he was willing to take on the risks involved with driving these issues forward given that his father has in the past been criticised for being ‘dotty’ when discussing similar issues. 

He replied, ‘I think the dotty person now would be the person who doesn’t believe in climate change’.

Meanwhile the Duke also revealed his children are ‘jealous’ that he gets to work with Sir David Attenborough, saying: ‘Last night we started watching one of David’s documentaries as well.’

He continued: ‘At bedtime when I can corral the children, I just shout, “we’re going to watch one of David’s documentaries” and they come herding in. It’s the easiest way to catch my children and get them ready for bedtime’. 

In an interview with CNN today, William said that Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh, 99, had inspired his interest in the natural world.

He said: ‘My grandfather started doing stuff with conservation a long time ago, WWF, my father was ahead of his time talking about climate change.

‘I don’t want to be ahead of my time because we are already too late. Now is the time to act. 

‘My children look to me and ask me lot of questions, they love the natural world. 

‘And they want to know answers and want to know why there is so much negativity and why is everyone so worried and how bad can it get?  

‘And I want to turn round to them and say, “we have solutions, we can find a way through this”.

‘Human ingenuity and human spirit and innovation is huge. We put a man on the moon, we can do this.

‘Going through Covid has been horrendous for people and we have lost a lot of people, very sadly. I think what Covid has taught us is that this is the first difficult time that my generation and younger generations have faced. 

‘Obviously older generations have been through the war and there is nothing like that. It was truly horrendous. But this has been a tricky time for everyone. 

‘If there is one ray of light that can come out of this is that people have been outside more, they have experienced nature, they have heard the birds because the aeroplanes have been less and the roads have been calmer. 

‘And I hope people at the moment connect and realise how special the green and natural world around them is. I think if we can find the money, and the collaboration and the willpower to tackle Covid like we have done, we can do this for the environment as well.’    

As well as identifying evidence-based solutions to the biggest environmental problems the planet faces, The Earthshot Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism that we can rise to the biggest challenges of our time. 

It is the biggest initiative to date from both Prince William and The Royal Foundation and was first introduced on 31st December 2019. 

Since then a global coalition of individuals, businesses and organisations has been established to maximise the impact of the Prize – a coalition that will continue to grow over the coming months and years.    

The Earthshot Prize takes inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which united millions of people around an organising goal to put man on the moon and catalysed the development of new technology in the 1960s. 

It is centred around five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals for our planet which if achieved by 2030, will improve life for us all, for generations to come. 

The five Earthshots unveiled today are: Protect and restore nature, Clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world, and fix our climate. 

Each Earthshot is underpinned by scientifically agreed targets – including the UN Sustainable Development Goals and other internationally recognised measures to help repair our planet. 

Together, they form a unique set of challenges rooted in science, which aim to generate new ways of thinking, as well as new technologies, systems, policies and solutions. 

By bringing these five critical issues together, The Earthshot Prize recognises the interconnectivity between environmental challenges and the urgent need to tackle them together.

Over the course of today, a series of five short films will be released bringing each Earthshot to life. 

Produced by world-leading wildlife filmmakers Silverback Films, the films are narrated by young climate activists including Bindi and Robert Irwin.

The Earthshot Prize aims to find new solutions that work on every level, have a positive effect on environmental change and improve living standards globally, particularly for communities who are most at risk from climate change. 

Prizes could be awarded to a wide range of individuals, teams or collaborations – scientists, activists, economists, community projects, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities, and countries – anyone whose workable solutions make a substantial contribution to achieving the Earthshots.

Every year from 2021 until 2030, Prince William, alongside The Earthshot Prize Council which covers six continents, will award The Earthshot Prize to five winners, one per Earthshot. 

Later today a global list of leaders from the environmental, philanthropic, business, sporting and entertainment worlds will be unveiled as members of the Earthshot Prize Council in a short film which will premiere online at noon BST.

During the film, Prince William will say: ‘The plan is to really galvanise and bring together the best minds, the best possible solutions, to fixing and tackling some of the world’s greatest environmental challenges. 

‘We’ve got to harness our ingenuity and our ability to invent. The next ten years are a critical decade for change. Time is of the essence, which is why we believe that this very ambitious global prize is the only way forward.’ 

In addition to the Prize Council, The Earthshot Prize will be supported by its Global Alliance, a network of organisations worldwide which share the ambition of the Prize to repair the planet. 

Nominations will open on 1st November, with over 100 nominating partners from across the world being invited to submit nominations of those individuals, communities, businesses and organisations who could win The Earthshot Prize. 

Nominators will include the Global Alliance but also academic and non-profit institutions from across the world who have been selected for their ability to identify the most impactful solutions to the Earthshots.

The 5-stage prize process to select a winner for each Earthshot has been designed in partnership with the Centre for Public Impact and a range of international experts. 

Nominations will be screened as part of an independent assessment process run by Deloitte, the implementation partner. 

A distinguished panel of experts will support the judging process, making recommendations to the Prize Council who will select the final winners.

An awards ceremony will take place in different cities across the world each year between 2021 and 2030, at which the five winners for each of the Earthshots will be selected from 15 finalists. The first awards ceremony will take place in London in autumn 2021. 

After the awards, each winner will receive a global platform and prestigious profile, with their stories being showcased over the decade and the ambition that their solutions lead to mass adoption, replication and scaling.

The £1 million in prize money will support environmental and conservation projects that are agreed with the winners. 

Shortlisted nominees will also be given tailored support and opportunities to help scale their work, including being connected with an ecosystem of likeminded individuals and organisations. 

In the months ahead, more information about the design of the physical prize to be received by each of the winners will be revealed.

Over the course of the next decade, The Earthshot Prize will find and highlight the most inspiring solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. 

But the Prize is about much more than awarding achievement – it is a decade of action to convene the environmental world with funders, businesses and individuals to maximise impact and take solutions to scale, to celebrate the people and places driving change; and to inspire people all over the world to work together to repair the planet.