Prince William to visit Singapore for 2023 Earthshot Prize Awards

The royal will bring together businesses and investors with past winners and current finalists

The Prince of Wales. Saturday October 14, 2023. PA

The Prince of Wales will travel to Singapore on November 5 for a four-day trip to take part in Earthshot Week, events bringing together businesses and investors with past winners and current finalists to advance their solutions.

Prince William will also attend the third annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony, which is taking place on November 7.

The Prince of Wales, along with celebrity supporters of Earthshot, is expected to fly to Singapore by a commercial flight, and organisers say other measures will be in place to make the event as sustainable as possible.

During his trip, Prince William will spend time meeting Singaporeans and learning about how local organisations are working to protect and restore our planet, from tackling the illegal wildlife trade and protecting rainforest to nurturing and scaling up innovations.

He will also attend the United for Wildlife Global Summit 2023 and take part in dragon boat racing.

This year's 15 Earthshot finalists will take part in a “fellowship” retreat that will give them networking opportunities.

Prince William meets Earthshot Prize finalists - in pictures

Prince William held his first Earthshot Prize awards ceremony at London’s Alexandra Palace in 2021, with Boston hosting the event last year.

It is an ambitious project that each year presents five category winners with £1 million ($1.2 million) each to scale up their environmental ideas.

“The prince is very much looking forward to being in Singapore and that his ambition with the Earthshot Prize and United for Wildlife while we are out there is huge," a Kensington Palace representative said.

“The prince wants to really seize the opportunity of being in South-East Asia to build more momentum around the Earthshot Prize winners and finalists, and to put their solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges we face firmly on the global map.

“He’s also committed to shining a light on the abhorrent illegal wildlife trade that United for Wildlife works so hard to tackle, and bring in more partners than ever to help us do this.”

Among the 2023 finalists are Enso, a British-based company that has created a more efficient electric vehicle tyre that sheds fewer particles, and Sea Forest from Australia, which has developed a seaweed-based livestock feed to reduce the planet-warming methane emissions from cattle and sheep.

“Singapore is at the heart of climate action movement in South-East Asia and the country exemplifies how to leverage technology, capital and human ingenuity to work collaboratively to solve the toughest of environmental challenges," said Hannah Jones, the Earthshot Prize’s chief executive.

“In the face of worsening climate impacts, Singaporeans are researching solutions to protect coastal cities from rising seas, they’re pursuing novel ways to cool down its citizens on a warming planet and positioning themselves as a global carbon market hub.”