Prince William and Sir David Attenborough have joined forces to launch The Earthshot Prize, the most prestigious global environment prize in history.

The launch comes after two years of work by Prince William and The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to develop a project which will support the global effort to protect and restore the environment.

The new global prize for the environment is intended to incentivise change and identify evidence-based solutions to the biggest environmental problems the planet faces to help repair the planet over the next ten years – a critical decade for the Earth.

Five awards of £1 million pounds will be made every year for the next decade.

Launching the Prize, Prince William commented:

“The Earth is at a tipping point and we face a stark choice: either we continue as we are and irreparably damage our planet, or we remember our unique power as human beings and our continual ability to lead, innovate and problem-solve. People can achieve great things. The next ten years present us with one of our greatest tests – a decade of action to repair the Earth.”

The Earthshot Prize is the biggest initiative to date from both Prince William and The Royal Foundation and was first introduced on 31st December 2019. Since then a global coalition of individuals, businesses and organisations has been established to maximise the impact of the Prize – a coalition that will continue to grow over the coming months and years.

Taking inspiration from President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot which united millions of people around an organising goal to put man on the moon and catalysed the development of new technology in the 1960s, The Earthshot Prize is centred around five ‘Earthshots’ – simple but ambitious goals for the planet which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for us all, for generations to come.

The five Earthshots unveiled today are:

• Protect and restore nature
• Clean our air
• Revive our oceans
• Build a waste-free world
• Fix our climate

Each Earthshot is underpinned by scientifically agreed targets including the UN Sustainable Development Goals and other internationally recognised measures to help repair our planet.

Over the course of today (Thursday 8th October), a series of five short films will be released bringing each Earthshot to life. Produced by world-leading wildlife filmmakers Silverback Films, the films are narrated by young climate activists including Bindi and Robert Irwin.

The Earthshot Prize aims to find new solutions that work on every level, have a positive effect on environmental change and improve living standards globally, particularly for communities who are most at risk from climate change.

Prizes could be awarded to a wide range of individuals, teams or collaborations – scientists, activists, economists, community projects, leaders, governments, banks, businesses, cities, and countries – anyone whose workable solutions make a substantial contribution to achieving the Earthshots.

Every year from 2021 until 2030, Prince William, alongside The Earthshot Prize Council which covers six continents, will award The Earthshot Prize to five winners, one per Earthshot.

Nominations will open on 1st November, with over 100 nominating partners from across the world being invited to submit nominations of those individuals, communities, businesses and organisations who could win The Earthshot Prize.

An awards ceremony will take place in different cities across the world each year between 2021 and 2030, at which the five winners for each of the Earthshots will be selected from 15 finalists. The first awards ceremony will take place in London in autumn 2021.

Visit https://earthshotprize.org/ for more information