Global environment prize launched
LONDON: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is launching a multimillionpound global prize aimed at solving some of the world’s greatest environmental problems.
The Earthshot Prize will award five £1 million ($NZ1.97 million) prizes each year for the next 10 years under the categories of protecting and restoring nature, cleaner air, reviving oceans, wastereduction and climate change.
Nominations open on November 1 for the first awards, to be presented next year.
Prince William (38), second in line to the throne, said change was critical in the next decade to help protect and restore the environment.
‘‘By 2030 we really hope to have made huge strides in fixing some of the biggest problems the earth faces,’’ he said in an interview with naturalist David Attenborough to be broadcast on BBC Radio.
‘‘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.’’
The British royals have been vocal campaigners on environmental issues, with Prince William’s father Prince Charles speaking out for decades about the impact of climate change and the importance of conservation.
Kensington Palace said the prize drew its inspiration from United States President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which it said since the 1969 moon landing was synonymous with ambitious and groundbreaking goals.
It said the prizes would provide at least 50 solutions to the world’s environmental problems by 2030.
The Earthshot Prize Council will be set up to decide the winners. It will include names from the environmental, philanthropic, business, sporting and entertainment worlds. — Reuters