Image: @earthshotprize / Instagram, Frederic Legrand - COMEO / shutterstock.com and Wikimedia Commons
“The Earthshot prize is really about harnessing that optimism and that urgency to find solutions to some of the world’s greatest environmental problems.”
This week, a slew of dignitaries have joined Prince William’s Earthshot Prize Council to collectively decide which projects will be given prize funding from his £50m Earthshot fund launched in an effort to tackle the world’s climate problems.
The 11 council members on board include Sir David Attenborough, Japanese former astronaut Naoko, Queen Rania of Jordan, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, singer Shakira, actor Cate Blanchett, environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, Brazilian footballer Dani Alves, basketball star Yao Ming and UN climate chief Christiana Figueres.
‘Urgency with optimism creates action’
Launching the prize, which took 2 years of work, Prince William said: “I felt very much that there’s a lot of people wanting to do many good things for 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. And so the Earthshot prize is really about harnessing that optimism and that urgency to find solutions to some of the world’s greatest environmental problems.”
Sir David Attenborough added: “I really do think things are about to start to move, and this sort of idea could be the spark that is really going to give it the lift and the impetus to develop into something huge. It’s a great source of hope, and I hope it spreads around the world.”
To mark the launch of the prize, a short film featuring Prince William and Sir David discussing their passion for the environment and how The Earthshot initiative can help repair the planet has been released.
Nominations for the first five prizes will open on 1 November, and an annual global awards ceremony will be held in a different city each year. The first is slated to take place in London in autumn 2021.
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