Prince William has said that it’s time to ‘stop talking’ and instead ‘take action on climate change‘ as the science is ‘irrefutable’.
The royal, 38, will appear on Outrage + Optimism podcast tomorrow to discuss his newly launched Earthshot Prize, which has been dubbed ‘a green Nobel Prize’.
In the episode, the Duke of Cambridge will outline plans for the Prize and reveal his personal determination to protect the environment in a conversation with hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson.
Prince William has said that it’s time to ‘stop talking’ and instead ‘take action on climate change’ as the science is ‘irrefutable’.
‘The science is out there and is irrefutable. We have the data. So let’s stop talking about it and let’s actually provide the action,’
‘I think that’s what’s going to be really needed over these next ten years,’ he will say.
In an effort to help repair the planet by 2030, Prince William has launched The Earthshot Prize, a £50 million global prize that will open for nominations on 1st November
More than one hundred selected nominating partners will begin to submit nominations of those individuals, communities, businesses and organisations who could win the grant – which has already been described as the ‘most prestigious in history’.
Prince William has launched the most prestigious global environment prize in history, as the five challenges at the heart of The Earthshot Prize are unveiled. Pictured, with Sir David Attenborough
The inaugural five winners of The Earthshot Prize – one for each Earthshot – will be announced at an awards ceremony in London in the autumn of 2021, ahead of the COP26 negotiations, where countries will put forward their enhanced contributions to cutting carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement.
The Earthshot Prize will provide at least 50 of the most ambitious and viable solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030.
Announcing the prize earlier this month, William praised his father Prince Charles, 71, for his passion on climate change.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme the royal said: ‘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.’
Prince William said his father Charles was ‘ahead of his time’ as he launched the most prestigious global environment prize in history
Taking inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which united millions of people around an organising goal to put man on the moon in under a decade and catalysed the development of new technology in the 1960s, the Earthshot Prize 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.
Outrage + Optimism is the most widely listened to climate change podcast.
Now in its second season, each weekly show highlights how to channel the outrage into incremental actions in the face of the climate crisis, toward the stubborn optimism needed to forge ahead with ambition.
Previous guests have included Sir David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, sustainable fashion designer, Stella McCartney, Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, Bernard Looney, CEO of BP.
Others that have appeared include Sauthor Yuval Noah Harari, Nobel Prize winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, popstar Ellie Goulding, environmentalist Jane Goodall, Richard Branson, Wanjira Mathai, David Miliband and many more.
Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC who oversaw the delivery of the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2015, spoke with Prince William on the podcast and is a member of the Earthshot Prize Council.
On the release of this podcast episode, Ms Figueres said, ‘I have been inspired by Prince William’s recognition and foresight in using his platform for the good of humanity in this way.
‘The Earthshot Prize will not only deliver important innovations to make progress on the most pressing issues of our time, but it will inspire a generation so that many more change-makers will no doubt emerge.
‘Tackling climate change is not a far-off challenge – we have the technologies, tools and resources to achieve a halving of emissions this decade, as science shows is necessary.’