Prince William’s Earthshot Award to highlight environmental innovation in S-E Asia; ceremony to be held in S’pore

The Earthshot Prize Council, which selects the award winners, includes Prince William himself, celebrated British broadcaster and presenter of natural history documentaries Sir David Attenborough, musician Shakira and co-founder of Alibaba Jack Ma.

“When we’ve selected our finalists, we look after them for at least a year…and we don’t mind whether they go on to win the prize or not. We try to matchmake them to get them additional support, whether it’s in kind or through blended capital,” said Ms Jones.

Blended capital refers to public, multilateral or philanthropic funding that helps to catalyse private investments for green projects.

The week-long event in Singapore will bring together investors, venture capitalists, philanthropists and corporations who will look at how to speed up the time needed for these solutions to scale, and how to overcome the difficulties of doing so.

The prize is supported by philanthropic organisation Temasek Trust, investment company Temasek, decarbonisation investment platform GenZero, non-profit environmental organisation Conservation International and Standard Chartered Bank.

This is the first time the awards ceremony will happen over the course of a week. Celebrities will also be present, and there will be a green carpet, said Ms Jones.

The events will also involve young people, who are “at heart” of what the organisation does, she added.

The vision behind the prize arose from two observations, she recalled.

The first was that young people in particular have been grappling with climate anxiety, and Prince William was concerned that this might later turn into defeatism, helplessness, and eventually a lack of climate action.

“We needed to inject more optimism into the conversation to help push people into action,” said Ms Jones.

Having also visited a project that was “doing really well” in tackling conservation and biodiversity, Prince William felt that it was a pity it wasn’t scaled up and replicated elsewhere around the world, she added.

He was inspired by United States President John Kennedy’s Moonshot Challenge in the 1960s – that involved sending a man on the moon and bringing him home safely – which took seven years, not 10, said Ms Jones.

“So it then became clear to us that this decade would be known as the ‘earth shot’ decade – because by 2030, we would need to reduce our carbon emissions by 40 per cent, protect 30 per cent of oceans and 30 per cent of nature,” she added.

The prize helps to accelerate innovation, scale it up, and drive optimism in young people. It also opens up opportunities for them, especially in the three weeks leading up to the United Nations’ COP28 conference, said Ms Jones.

The COP28 conference will take place in Dubai from Nov 30 to Dec 12.

Singapore was chosen as the host of the award ceremony in 2023 after having shown leadership in innovation, investments, urban planning, and commitment by the government and the community to lead in green growth, added Ms Jones.

Co-founder and chief executive of Ampd Energy Brandon Ng, whose company The Enertainer was an Earthshot Prize finalist in 2022, said that the business really benefitted from the prize’s global reach.