HRH Prince William
Africa has always held a special place in my heart – as somewhere I found comfort as a teenager, where I proposed to my wife and most recently as the founding inspiration behind The Earthshot Prize. It was in Namibia in 2018 that I realised the power of how innovative, positive solutions to environmental problems could drive transformative change for humans and nature.
I am proud that since its inception The Earthshot Prize has travelled to Europe, North America and Asia, spotlighting and scaling 45 groundbreaking solutions, all of which are having a tangible impact as we work as a global collective to secure the future of our planet.
This week we’ll travel to South Africa to spotlight our next cohort of 15 Finalists and have the opportunity to join partners from across Africa to celebrate the inspiring approach to environmental innovation that is taking place across the continent.
By the end of the week, I want The Earthshot Prize to have provided a platform to all those innovators bringing about change for their communities, encouraged potential investors to speed African solutions to scale and inspired young people across Africa who are engaged in climate issues. I firmly believe that if we come together with collective ambition and urgency, we can reshape the future of our planet.
Earthshot Prize 2024
The Earthshot Prize event in Cape Town is generating significant excitement as it highlights groundbreaking solutions to environmental challenges. Hosted by Prince William, the ceremony will take place on November 6, 2024, and will showcase finalists working to combat climate issues like pollution, ocean health, and nature preservation. This event, a part of a global initiative by the Earthshot Prize Foundation, offers each winner £1 million to advance their projects.
Africa was chosen as the fourth continent to host the star-studded event in acknowledgement of its enormous contribution to enhancing climate action and tackling the biggest environmental challenges our planet faces. Despite contributing the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the impacts of a changing climate. Yet in the face of these challenges, African innovators are already unlocking the potential of climate solutions to create green jobs, address urgent environmental and health issues while improving the livelihoods of millions of people.
As the Earthshot+ event kicked off in Cape Town today, The Earthshot Prize has announced that the support galvanised for its alumni has reached £86M in value, highlighting the Prize’s impact and ability to accelerate game-changing environmental solutions to scale.
With over 200 investors now on board, Launchpad (Earthshot’s match-making platform) has mobilised networks of investors, donors, and corporations to accelerate breakthrough solutions chosen from the pool of Earthshot Prize nominees. The announcement comes as a series of further deals for Earthshot Finalists are confirmed.
The fourth-annual Earthshot Prize Awards will be hosted by Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner Billy Porter and award-winning television presenter Bonang Matheba. The night will include extraordinary storytelling and musical performances to celebrate the work of global environmental innovators and spotlight the creativity and innovation across African countries.
In addition to featuring the stories of The Earthshot Prize Finalists and Winners, the broadcast will include special performances and appearances from exciting musical artists and celebrities across East, West, Northern, Southern, and South Africa, as well as a host of international stars, including Grammy nominated artist and producer Davido, award-winning, internationally renowned artist Diamond Platnumz, Tony Award nominee and Grammy Award Winner Lebo M, supported by the internationally acclaimed Ndlovu Youth Choir, and international headlining DJ and producer Uncle Waffles.
Supermodel and television host Heidi Klum, actor and activist Nina Dobrev, multi-hyphenate artist and actor Tobe Nwigwe, and supermodel and beauty entrepreneur Winnie Harlow will join the broadcast to announce the five Prize Winners from each Earthshot category, which correspond to critical environmental goals we must meet within this decade.
Going Live from Cape Town
The five Winners of this year’s Earthshot Prize will be unveiled during the Awards Ceremony on the evening on Wednesday 6th November. The event will take place in The Earthshot Prize Dome, a purpose-built venue beside Cape Town Stadium using a structure designed and engineered in South Africa, which has been used previously and will be used again for future events in the country. It is the biggest of its kind in Africa, with a width of 36m, a height of 15.5 metres and a length of 144m, twice as long as a rugby pitch. The production of the Ceremony has created approximately 650 jobs locally, contributing significantly to Cape Town’s creative industries.
The show will open with an exclusive performance by Lebo M. of Circle of Life from The Lion King, pre-recorded at the top of Table Mountain. It is the first time that such a performance has been recorded at Cape Town’s most iconic site, providing a groundbreaking opening to the Awards Ceremony which will be broadcast in 50 countries across Africa via the Multichoice network, in the UK on BBC iPlayer, and around the world on YouTube.
For the first time, over 1000 members of the public have been invited to join The Prince of Wales, The Earthshot Prize Finalists and special guests at the Awards Ceremony in Cape Town. Attendees have been invited in recognition of their long-serving commitment to their local communities.
Ahead of the Awards, The Earthshot Prize will host its first ever Green Carpet Event, which will be broadcast live globally via the Earthshot Prize’s YouTube channel, with hosts Ebuka Obi-Uchenduand Moozlie. The event will profile the need to focus on sustainable approaches to fashion – by reducing, recycling and using low impact materials. Guests have been asked to ‘rewear’ their wardrobe or spotlight African designers in order to highlight the importance of sustainable fashion and local creatives.
As with previous years, sustainability is at the heart of the event, with green principles guiding all aspects of the Ceremony’s development. The City of Cape Town is supplying Renewable Energy Certificates from Darling Wind Farm, meaning that for every kWh of electricity used during the event, a kWh of locally produced renewable energy is allocated.
