Prince William used his trip to Singapore to hold bilateral meetings with the country’s president and prime minister before Tuesday’s Earthshot Prize awards ceremony.
According to palace aides, William discussed climate issues and how his Earthshot Prize aims to find real solutions to save the planet during two “warm” and “constructive” 30-minute meetings with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
During his meeting with President Tharman, Prince William thanked him for Singapore’s hospitality in hosting the Earthshot Prize. “President Tharman remarked how impressive the finalists were, including the technology utilized by them. The prince talked about the importance of scaling the finalists and their solutions,” said an aide.
President Tharman spoke of the importance that Singapore was placing on increased renewables, while Prince William discussed young people’s aspirations for the planet with Prime Minister Lee who also remarked on how impressive this year’s finalists are.
Tuesday’s ceremony event awarded Acción Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies, and Boomitra each £1 million in prize money to help them fund their initiatives. The organizations were chosen out of 15 finalists from six continents from a group of 1,300 nominees. Now in its third year, the Earthshot Prize aims to discover and help scale the world’s most innovative climate and environmental solutions to protect and restore the planet.
The prize is centered around five initiatives called “earth shots”: protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world and fix our climate.
In addition to the prize money, winners receive mentorship, resources, and technical support from the Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme to accelerate the growth of their ground-breaking solutions.
The ceremony was hosted by English actor Hannah Waddingham and attended by actress and environmentalist Cate Blanchett who has described the solutions by this year’s finalists as “game-changing.”