It's been five years since the Prince of Wales launched his ambitious £50m Earthshot Prize to find 50 solutions to the planet's biggest problems. Now, midway through a critical decade for the Earth, Prince William's passion project is making great strides, even if there is still a lot to do. But for the future King, there can be no greater motivation than his own children: Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven.
Speaking exclusively to HELLO! ahead of this year's Earthshot awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he said:
"As a father, I think constantly about the world my children will inherit. I want them to grow up surrounded by nature, opportunity and a sense of hope about the future. But I also know that unless we act boldly now, that future is at risk. The Earthshot Prize is about turning the tide, about proving to our children that we are willing to fight for their tomorrow."
This sense of hope is key to the Prince's mindset when it comes to tackling issues such as climate change, pollution and restoring the natural world.
"Urgent optimism is the heartbeat of The Earthshot Prize," he said. "It's the belief that although the challenges we face are immense, the solutions are within reach and we must act with speed and conviction to bring them to life. It's not blind hope. It's hope backed by evidence, by ingenuity and by the courage of those who refuse to give up on our planet."
The Prince launched the environmental prize with the naturalist David Attenborough in October 2020. The first awards ceremony took place in London the following year, and William has since taken the event to the US, Singapore and South Africa. This week, it lands in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the future King will be joined for a glittering awards ceremony by A-list performers including Kylie Minogue, Shawn Mendes and the Brazilian stars Gilberto Gil, Seu Jorge and Anitta.
© Kensington Palace"I feel deeply honoured to be heading to Brazil, a country of extraordinary natural beauty and cultural vibrancy," he told HELLO!. "Rio, with its energy, its people and its iconic landscapes, feels like the perfect place to celebrate the power of environmental innovation"
The Prince, who spent part of his gap year in Chile, is making his first official visit to South America and is visiting Brazil for the first time. He will stay on to attend the start of the COP30 climate summit in the northern city of Belém.
"This region is home to some of the world’s most vital ecosystems and some of its most passionate environmental defenders," William told us. "By hosting the prize in Brazil, we're shining a light on the solutions emerging from this part of the world and drawing global attention to the urgency and opportunity of climate action."
© Getty ImagesIn Rio, the Prince will have a chance to see some of Brazil's ecosystems up close. He will visit some of the city's most famous landmarks, including Christ the Redeemer. He'll also take part in a penalty shoot-out in the Maracanã Stadium, play some beach volleyball and be handed the keys to the city – an honour normally reserved for the King of the Rio Carnival.
Alongside attending Earthshot events, he'll deliver a speech at the United for Wildlife Summit, which is this year focusing on supporting the Indigenous peoples and communities who help safeguard our planet, as well as action against environmental crime.
For the Prince, this midway point in his decade-long Earthshot Prize programme is a moment to reflect on how much the previous finalists and winners have already achieved, from raising more than $500m in funding and protecting more than a million hectares of land and ocean to bringing animals back from the brink of extinction.
He founded it in the first place, according to Jason Knauf, the chief executive of The Earthshot Prize, because "this decade is critical – it is a window in which we still have time to act – and because Prince William believes that it can be a great human success story. That, with urgency and optimism, we can make these years count." Behind the scenes, the heir to the throne is already doing his bit to help this year’s finalists scale up their solutions.
© Getty Images"He's very happy to roll up his sleeves, get on the phone or travel to meetings; he's always thinking about how he can help create new opportunities for our finalists. He enjoys supporting their leadership and their ideas,” Jason tells HELLO!. "He is really, really focused on how we can all do more. He will congratulate our finalists for what they're achieving and help them be even more ambitious. He knows we have to do more. Because of what the science requires and what our finalists want to do, he's never going to be satisfied until they get close to achieving their goals. Especially at this halfway point, it's clear to us that we have to make a big impact."
The Prince's passion for Earthshot stems from his desire to use his unique platform for the good of the planet, Jason adds. "He feels that he has a responsibility to make a contribution in this way. It's a longstanding family tradition, of working on the environment, and he felt that he had to do it in a way that reflected not only who he was, but also what the modern world expects of its leaders. He also felt that there weren't a lot of voices that had the ability to talk about environmental issues in a positive way and give a long-term view, in the way that he does.
© Earthshot"It was like: 'Well, if I can’t do this, if I can't build this movement celebrating and backing the biggest breakthroughs happening to the environment,' it's not as if there was a long queue of other people who were in the same position to do it."
The Prince is uniquely placed to make a difference, Jason continues. "Everything comes from him. He can build an incredible team of philanthropists, business leaders, corporations and scientists to work together, and he has invested his time in making things happen because of who he is and his temperament," he says. "His positive attitude and optimism, it's genuine and it's infectious – people want to work with The Earthshot Prize because of the optimism and can-do attitude at the heart of the organisation. That comes straight from the Prince."
This week, Rio will be transformed into Earthshot City, and a three-day Earthshot Summit will culminate in the awards ceremony at the waterfront Museum of Tomorrow. The presenters will include Brazil's World Cup-winning footballer Cafu, the Brazilian TV star Luciano Huck, the Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, the gymnast Rebeca Andrade, who is Brazil's most decorated Olympian, and Txai Suruí, a leading voice for Brazil's Indigenous communities and the environment.
Speaking ahead of her performance, Kylie Minogue said: "Brazil – I'm coming back! It's a privilege and an honour to be part of The Earthshot Prize in Rio, on stage with the people and the ideas that could save our planet." Meanwhile, the Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey has voiced a trailer for the awards called Meet the World's True Action Heroes, featuring the 15 finalists and showcasing their solutions. And the Brazilian supermodel and environmental campaigner Gisele Bündchen has joined the Earthshot Prize Council, which will select this year’s five winners.
A specially designed Earthshot Boulevard has opened in downtown Rio, featuring Cool Globes, a public art installation of globe sculptures by Wendy Abrams. Trucks will sell Earthshot coffee – a sustainable Macaw bean blend served in recyclable and seaweed-coated cups.
Guests at the summit will include world leaders and some of the world's biggest businesses and philanthropists, as well as global mayors, Indigenous peoples and world-leading scientists. And on the eve of the ceremony, which takes place on 5 November and is expected to reach more than 34 million viewers across Brazil and in the UK, more than 600 drones will light up the world-famous Ipanema Beach with a spectacular display.
The Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer from Saturday.
Pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK now for the full Green Issue coverage. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
