Prince William spotlights environmental solutions in Rio de Janeiro with Earthshot Prize awards
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian and foreign celebrities joined Prince William for the Earthshot Prize awards in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, the centerpiece of William’s three-day environment-focused trip to the Brazilian megalopolis before the heir to the British throne heads to the United Nations Climate Summit COP30.
The ceremony began with the sound of samba and featured musical performances from Anitta, Gilberto Gil, Shawn Mendes, Kylie Minogue and Seu Jorge, who interpreted David Bowie’s song Heroes.
Applause and shouts rang across the auditorium in the Museum of Tomorrow in downtown Rio as the winners were announced. Winners included Brazilian startup re.green, which restores forests with the help of artificial intelligence, and Bangladeshi non-profit organization Friendship, which assists vulnerable communities across the country prepare for natural disasters.
Other winners included Colombia’s capital, Bogota, for its clean air policies; Lagos Fashion Week, which promotes sustainable, craft-based clothing-makers to counter the wave of fast-fashion rejects that literally wash up on African shores; and the United Nations High Seas Treaty, which seeks to protect marine environments outside of national jurisdictions.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that they are the world’s true action heroes,” William said in a speech. “Their work is the proof we need that progress is possible. Their stories are the inspiration that gives us courage.”
The Earthshot Prize awarded $1.3 million in grants to the five winners out of fifteen finalists for their sustainable, eco-friendly innovations.
Set up through William’s Royal Foundation, the Prince of Wales created the prize in 2020 to encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to develop technologies to combat global warming and mitigate its impact.
Rio marks the halfway point for the venture, as he has committed himself to it for 10 years.
“The Earthshot Prize is a platform, not just to share a message, but to find investors and to scale up their solutions,” former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told The Associated Press before the ceremony.
“You scale up the impact for the planet: the amount of CO2 removed, waste removed, land and ocean put into protection… it’s all significant,” said Ardern, who is a trustee of the prize.
Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, which pushed for the treaty, said the prize money would help the coalition of organizations and groups to support countries in their efforts to ratify the treaty and prepare them for its rapid implementation by providing support and advice.
The High Seas Treaty’s potential “to create huge global change for the ocean has been acknowledged and that’s really wonderful,” Hubbard told journalists after the ceremony.
William began his trip to Rio on Monday. Since then, he has met with former soccer player Cafu in Maracana stadium, played volleyball on Copacabana Beach and visited Sugarloaf Mountain.
Aside from visiting the city’s iconic sites, William’s engagements have focused on climate change and conservation. He attended a global wildlife summit and took a boat to the Guapimirim mangrove area in Guanabara Bay, where he took part in a planting activity.
William also met with Earthshot Prize finalists at the Christ the Redeemer statue, as he took the annual awards ceremony to Latin America for the first time this week.
Earthshot is one of William’s signature ideas, the type of project he may focus on when the time comes to ascend to the throne. His trip to Brazil is the latest installment in the monarchy’s drive to portray the prince as a statesman ready to be king.
After the awards, William will travel to the COP30 summit of world leaders in the Amazon city of Belem where politicians, environmental campaigners and community organizations will debate ways to accelerate efforts to cut the carbon emissions that cause global warming.
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