Earthshot Prize 2024: Prince William unveils plans for celebrations in Cape Town

British royal and climate campaigner will announce 15 finalists at a ceremony this week

Prince William first staged the awards ceremony three years ago in London. AP

Prince William will travel to South Africa on Monday to begin the fourth annual award celebrating environmental innovation.

The prize is awarded to ideas and initiatives that will help save the planet and will be held alongside a week of events.

More than 400 nominations from across the African continent were made for the prize, which will announce its winners from 15 finalists at a ceremony at Cape Town's stadium on Wednesday.

Cape Town’s Table Mountain and other landmarks will be lit green for Earthshot Week, which leads up to the prize’s ceremony.

South African composer Lebo M who wrote and sang The Lion King’s 'The Circle of Life', will perform the song at the top of Table Mountain and the pre-recorded performance will premiere at the awards ceremony.

“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,” the Prince of Wales said.

“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,” he said.

“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’s green carpet has been a fixture since Prince William first staged the awards ceremony three years ago in London, followed by Boston, with Singapore the host last year.

Guests have been asked to “re-wear” their outfits or spotlight African designers to highlight the importance of local talent and sustainable fashion, and arrivals will be live-streamed on the Earthshot Prize YouTube channel, with hosts Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and Moozlie.

The ceremony will be held in a reusable dome that has staged several events, with the production ceremony creating around 650 jobs locally.

The finalists, from countries including France, Ghana, Britain, Indonesia and Nepal, are vying for a £1 million prize pot awarded to each winner of five categories, with the money earmarked to develop their ideas.

The five categories are: protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.