Celebrities join Prince William on the Singapore green carpet for his Earthshot Prize awards

SINGAPORE – Celebrities joined Britain’s Prince William on the green carpet in Singapore on Tuesday for the third Earthshot Awards ceremony, where five winners were announced, from solar-powered dryers to tackling food waste to cleaning electric car batteries .

The Prince of Wales said at the first ceremony in Asia that the solutions put forward by all 15 finalists proved that “hope remains” as the devastating effects of climate change are felt around the world.

Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, actors Donnie Yen, Lana Condor and Nomzamo Mbatha, and Australian conservationist Robert Irwin presented the award to winners in five categories: conservation, clean air, ocean revitalization, waste disposal and climate change.

The winners, who each won £1 million ($1.2 million) to expand their innovations, are:

— Acción Andina, for a community-based initiative in South America that brings together tens of thousands of local and indigenous people to restore tall forests in the Andes;

— India’s S4S Technologies for solar-powered dryers and processing equipment that helped millions of farmers preserve their crops and combat food waste;

— Boomitra to eliminate emissions and increase farmers’ profits in Asia, South America and Africa by incentivizing land restoration through a verified carbon credit marketplace;

— Hong Kong company GRST for developing a way to make electric vehicle batteries less polluting and easier to recycle;

— Global nonprofit WildAid Marine Program to work with governments to strengthen enforcement to deter illegal fishing and strengthen marine conservation.

“Our winners and all of our finalists remind us that the spirit of ingenuity and the ability to create change surrounds us all, no matter where we are on our planet,” said William. He called on people to become “architects of change” to ensure a safer planet for future generations. Global warming has led to severe weather conditions such as floods in Libya and Greece, as well as wildfires in many parts of the world.

The winners were chosen by a 13-member council including Queen Rania of Jordan, Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma, British fashion designer Stella McCartney, broadcaster David Attenborough, World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweale and former NBA star Yao Ming belong.

In addition to prize money, all 15 finalists – selected from more than 1,100 nominations – will receive a year of technical support and resources to help them accelerate and expand their work.

Other finalists included a US company that found a way to recycle polycotton fabrics, which account for half of all textile waste; a program to plant, grow and digitally track trees in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown, where 70% of the trees have been felled; an anti-smog movement in Poland, which has the dirtiest air in Europe; and a British company that makes low-emission tires for electric vehicles.

The Earthshot Prize was launched in 2020 by the charity William’s Royal Foundation as a 10-year program to strengthen innovative solutions and technologies against the planet’s greatest environmental threats.

In keeping with the sustainability theme, William wore a 10-year-old dark green Alexander McQueen blazer. Other celebrities, including Donnie Yen, wore a vintage suit, while South African actress Mbatha wore a bright navy dress by Stella McCartney, known for her eco-friendly clothing.

The glittering ceremony in the theater of the state-run Media Corp. was co-hosted by actors Hannah Waddingham and Sterling K. Brown. The bands One Republic and Bastille as well as the US singer Bebe Rexha performed that evening.

Singapore ministers and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern were also present. Ardern, a trustee on the Earthshot board, said before the ceremony that Earthshot had helped amplify the solutions needed to combat climate change.

“We need speed and pace and Earthshot is focused on providing both,” she said.

The ceremony took place ahead of the UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai, which begins on November 30 and will include a speech by his father, King Charles III.

COP28 is expected to take stock of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement, which limits global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), or at least 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times should. It has already warmed by about 1.1 degrees (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since the mid-19th century.