Prince William admits green campaigning is an ‘uphill battle’ and says that he talks to his children about food waste – as he meets with Earthshot finalists ahead of awards ceremony tonight

• Prince William also told finalist it’s ‘mad’ you can’t sell mishapen vegetables
• READ MORE:  Prince of the Planet: from the boy who roamed free around Sandringham to the statesman in Singapore

Prince William has admitted he believes green campaigning is ‘an uphill battle’ while wishing Earthshot Prize finalists good luck ahead of today’s awards ceremony in Singapore.

The Prince of Wales, 41,  together with Hannah Jones, chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, met all 15 finalists shortlisted for the awards on Tuesday morning at the base of the world famous Supertrees in Gardens by the Bay.  

While there, he heard more about their projects and how the Earthshot fellowship retreat in Singapore this week has helped them.

Hearing how several of the finalists hoped to scale their projects going forwards, William praised them for their work so far, saying: ‘Campaigning activism is really hard work sometimes, it’s an uphill battle, that’s the point of Earthshot – to elevate the wonderful work you’re all doing. It’s mine and Hannah’s job to scale you up. 

‘Good luck to all of you.’

Prince William has admitted he believes green campaigning is ‘an uphill battle’ while wishing Earthshot Prize finalists good luck ahead of today’s awards ceremony in Singapore. The Prince of Wales poses for a group shot with finalists at the base of the world famous ‘Supertrees’ in Gardens by the Bay, Singapore, ahead of the 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony

William also spoke with Nidhi Pant of S4S Technologies based in India, one of the Build A Waste Free World finalists – revealing that he speaks to his children about food waste.

Her project combats food waste, rural poverty and gender inequality by helping smallholder female farmers preserve and market surplus produce, including misshapen vegetables.

He told Ms Pant: ‘It’s so important. The amount of conversations we have as a family – picking up a carrot with a funny shape and asking why it can’t be sold – it’s mad.’

With the Protect and Restore Nature finalists, the prince spoke to Manja Kargbo, founder of the Freetown the Treetown tree-preservation project in Sierra Leone, a ‘pay as you plant’ scheme for local communities.

He asked her: ‘Has this week and the fellowship been helpful, useful?’

Ms Kargbo told him: ‘It has been an amazing week, with so much energy and engagement with my cohort.’

While chatting to the Clean our Air finalists, Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, the founder and chief executive of ENSO, a London-based company that makes tyres for electric vehicles that are designed to be more sustainable and reduce pollution, asked William how he had found dragon boat racing on Monday.

Laughing, the prince replied: ‘Quite competitive, I felt it a bit in the shoulders this morning.’

The Prince of Wales, 41, together with Hannah Jones, chief executive of the Earthshot Prize, met all 15 finalists shortlisted for the awards on Tuesday morning at the base of the world famous Supertrees in Gardens by the Bay

While there, he heard more about their projects and how the Earthshot fellowship retreat in Singapore this week has helped them

In the Revive our Oceans category, William also heard from Serge Raemaekers, the co-founder of South African-based project, Abalobi, which aims to protect small-scale fishing communities and provide customers with more information about the source of seafood, via an app which connects fishers with a digital marketplace where they can register their catches and log where fish come from.

Wishing all the groups good luck again, before a final group photo, William told them: ‘All of you, whether you win or not, you’re now part of the Earthshot family.’

The awards are aimed at recognising solutions to ‘repair’ the planet, and will see five category winners presented with £1 million each to scale up their environmental ideas.

After meeting the prince, Mr Erlendsson said William told him his category was ‘one of the hardest to judge’.

He told William about the Earthshot Prize’s fellowship retreat which included being introduced to Jacinda Ardern and a team from Bloomberg.

While chatting to the Clean our Air finalists, Gunnlaugur Erlendsson, the founder and chief executive of ENSO, a London-based company that makes tyres for electric vehicles that are designed to be more sustainable and reduce pollution, asked William how he had found dragon boat racing on Monday

He added: ‘We had a brief discussion of course about the next days and he said, in particular, the third category was very difficult to judge, he said basically our category was one of the hardest to judge.

‘Nobody knows who was going to win the award, but winning the award or the prize isn’t really the key thing, it’s really to be part of the community and to be a finalist, everyone gets the same treatment.’

Ms Kargbo said she was ‘really excited’ about the awards and that she was ‘already a winner’.

Orr Yarkoni, chief executive of UK-based Colorifix, which uses DNA sequencing and nature’s own colours to create sustainable dyes that reduce the fashion industry’s use of water and harmful chemicals, said meeting the prince ‘was wonderful’.

He said: ‘He wanted to hear about how long we’ve been going on this journey and what actually got us started into it, which was our passion for water quality.’

During the first two days of his trip to Singapore, William was greeted with cheers as he arrived at Jewel, a nature-themed complex at Changi Airport.

He later won a dragon boat race on the Marina Reservoir against a backdrop of Singapore’s most famous landmarks, and met the president of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, at the Istana.

He also attended a United for Wildlife summit, aimed at tackling the illegal trade in animal parts, where he gave a speech.

Earthshot prize finalists in full.. 

For The Earthshot Prize to Protect and Restore Nature, the 2023 Finalists are 

Acción Andina, Peru: Acción Andina is a grassroots, community-based initiative working across South America to protect native high Andean forest ecosystems for their invaluable benefits to nature and millions of people in the region.

Acción Andina is a grassroots, community-based initiative working across South America to protect native high Andean forest ecosystems for their invaluable benefits to nature and millions of people in the region

Freetown the Tree Town, Sierra Leone: Combining community stewardship and digital tools, the City of Freetown’s initiative, Freetown the Tree Town, is galvanising a grassroots movement for tree preservation in Sierra Leone’s capital.

Freetown the Tree Town, Sierra Leone : Combining community stewardship and digital tools, the City of Freetown’s initiative, Freetown the Tree Town, is galvanising a grassroots movement for tree preservation in Sierra Leone’s capital

Belterra, Brazil: Belterra works with smallholder farmers in Brazil to restore forests through regenerative agricultural practices and to create market incentives for sustainably grown crops.

Belterra, Brazil : Belterra works with smallholder farmers in Brazil to restore forests through regenerative agricultural practices and to create market incentives for sustainably grown crops.

For The Earthshot Prize to Clean Our Air, the 2023 Finalists

Polish Smog Alert, Poland: One of the world’s most effective conservation campaign groups, Polish Smog Alert, helps secure policy change and air quality improvements across Poland and has goals to do the same across Central and Eastern Europe.

 Polish Smog Alert, Poland : One of the world’s most effective conservation campaign groups, Polish Smog Alert, helps secure policy change and air quality improvements across Poland and has goals to do the same across Central and Eastern Europe.

ENSO, UK: ENSO creates tyres specially designed for electric vehicles that are more sustainable and reduce harmful tyre pollution, leading to cleaner air for everyone.

ENSO, UK : ENSO creates tyres specially designed for electric vehicles that are more sustainable and reduce harmful tyre pollution, leading to cleaner air for everyone

GRST, Hong Kong: With the development of a new way to build and recycle vital lithium-ion batteries, GRST’s solution offers a pathway to make the electric cars of the future even cleaner.

GRST, Hong Kong : With the development of a new way to build and recycle vital lithium-ion batteries, GRST’s solution offers a pathway to make the electric cars of the future even cleaner

For The Earthshot Prize to Revive Our Oceans, the 2023 Finalists are:

Abalobi, South Africa: Using easy-to-scale technology, Abalobi works with small fishing communities to record their catch data and to ensure a fair and improved livelihood from sustainable fishing.

Abalobi, South Africa : Using easy-to-scale technology, Abalobi works with small fishing communities to record their catch data and to ensure a fair and improved livelihood from sustainable fishing

Coastal 500, Global (US HQ): A global network of mayors and local government leaders, Coastal 500 is restoring ocean habitats and advocating for coastal protection internationally.

Coastal 500, Global (US HQ): A global network of mayors and local government leaders, Coastal 500 is restoring ocean habitats and advocating for coastal protection internationally

WildAid Marine Programme, Global (US HQ): Global non-profit organisation WildAid uses partnership building and knowledge sharing to address the world’s ocean conservation needs.

WildAid Marine Programme, Global (US HQ ): Global non-profit organisation WildAid uses partnership building and knowledge sharing to address the world’s ocean conservation needs

For The Earthshot Prize to Build a Waste-Free World, the 2023 Finalists are:

S4S Technologies, India: S4S Technologies’ solar-powered dryers and processing equipment to combat food waste, enables small-hold farmers to preserve crops and turn produce that might otherwise go to waste into valuable products.

S4S Technologies, India : S4S Technologies’ solar-powered dryers and processing equipment to combat food waste, enables small-hold farmers to preserve crops and turn produce that might otherwise go to waste into valuable products

Circ Inc., US: US based company Circ has created a ground-breaking solution to enable the recycling of polycotton fabrics, which make up half of all textile waste.

Circ Inc., US : US based company Circ has created a ground-breaking solution to enable the recycling of polycotton fabrics, which make up half of all textile waste

Colorifix, UK: Colorifix uses DNA sequencing and nature’s own colours to create sustainable dyes that reduce the fashion industry’s use of water and harmful chemicals.

Colorifix, UK : Colorifix uses DNA sequencing and nature’s own colours to create sustainable dyes that reduce the fashion industry’s use of water and harmful chemicals

For The Earthshot Prize to Fix Our Climate, the 2023 Finalists are:

Sea Forest, Australia: Sea Forest’s revolutionary seaweed-based livestock feed drastically reduces the planet-warming methane emissions from cattle and sheep, and supports sustainable farming and healthy marine ecosystems.

Sea Forest, Australia : Sea Forest’s revolutionary seaweed-based livestock feed drastically reduces the planet-warming methane emissions from cattle and sheep, and supports sustainable farming and healthy marine ecosystems

Aquacycl, US: Using microbial technology, Aquacycl are making the treatment of industrial wastewater more accessible, more efficient, and less polluting.

Aquacycl, US: Using microbial technology, Aquacycl are making the treatment of industrial wastewater more accessible, more efficient, and less polluting

Boomitra, Global (US HQ): Boomitra are removing emissions and boosting farmer profits by incentivising land restoration through a verified carbon-credit marketplace.

Boomitra, Global (US HQ) : Boomitra are removing emissions and boosting farmer profits by incentivising land restoration through a verified carbon-credit marketplace

Source: Read Full Article