Sir David Attenborough, Cate Blanchett and Shakira join Prince William on The Earthshot Prize Council
The list of people joining the Duke of Cambridge on The Earthshot Prize Council has been unveiled.
On Thursday, Prince William announced the launch of the environmental prize, which aims to incentivise change and help to repair the planet over the next 10 years. It is hoped that the money will provide at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030.
William will be joined by a host of high-profile leaders from the environmental, philanthropic, business, sporting and entertainment worlds to form The Earthshot Prize Council.
The organisation states that each member is committed to championing positive action in the environmental space.
The list of influential figures includes natural historian David Attenborough, actor and humanitarian Cate Blanchett, singer Shakira, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, professional footballer Dani Alves and basketball player Yao Ming.
Other names highlighted on the list are former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, environmental activist Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi, philanthropist Jack Ma, economist Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.
In the coming months, additional members of The Earthshot Prize Council will be announced as the global coalition supporting the Prize expands.
To mark the launch of the prize, a short film has been released which shows William and Sir David at Kensington Palace, speaking about their passion for the environment and the critical role that The Earthshot Prize can play in repairing the planet.
The film also features each of the 11 other announced members of The Earthshot Prize Council, who explain their motivations for becoming involved in The Earthshot Prize and the differing environmental challenges faced globally.
Speaking about The Earthshot Prize, Blanchett said she feels “extremely honoured” to have been selected for the council.
“I feel humbled and invigorated to be amongst such extraordinary activists, experts and leaders in the environmental sector,” she said.
“All around the world, science and community-based initiatives are leading to ground-breaking inventions and solutions which, if provided with the platform and resources to be implemented on a larger scale, could have a significant and positive impact on the environment and global economy.”
Sir David added: “I really do think things are about to start to move, and this sort of idea could be the spark that is really going to give it the lift and the impetus to develop into something huge. It’s a great source of hope, and I hope it spreads around the world.”
Nominations for the prize open on 1 November, and an annual global awards ceremony will be held in a different city each year, the first of which will take place in London in autumn 2021.
The scheme is centred around five “Earthshots”, which are goals for repairing the planet, including protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world, and fix our climate.
The scheme takes its name from President John F Kennedy’s “Moonshot” which united millions of people around the goal of putting man on the moon and catalysed the development of new technology in the 1960s.
You can find out more about the Earthshot Prize here.
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