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Prince William wows environmental innovators with his deep knowledge of Earth's challenges

The Royal Rota photographing Prince William meeting the 2024 Finalists of the Earthshot Prize at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, 6 November 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)

By Julia Evans

10 Nov 2024

During a whirlwind tour of Cape Town to present prizes for environmental ingenuity, Prince William shows experts that he knows his stuff.

The Prince of Wales touched down – on a commercial British Airways flight, and wearing sustainably made or vintage clothes – in Cape Town this week for his prestigious Earthshot Prize.

“When I founded the Earthshot Prize in 2020, my ambition was to champion the spirit of ingenuity that put a man on the moon within 10 years,” said Prince William, referring to President John F Kennedy’s Moonshot initiative, which challenged his nation to land the first man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.

With Earthshot, each year from 2021 to 2030, five people are awarded £1-million to scale up their innovative businesses and ideas that work to solve an environmental problem. There is a prize for each Earthshot category: Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate.

In addition to the awards ceremony held on Wednesday, 6 November – where 15 finalists waited to see if they were among the five to win a prize – the prince had 11 engagements squeezed into his four days in Cape Town.

As I stood in the penned-in “fix point” during the prince’s seventh engagement of the week on Wednesday morning, the British press who have been following the royal family around for their whole careers told me that this trip was nothing compared with the scrummage they’re used to.

They said that if Princess Catherine had been there, if it had been an official royal visit or if the US election hadn’t been happening at the same time, the energy would have been completely different.

But even with the subdued energy of the press on this trip, as the Prince of Wales walked down the lawn at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden on his way to meet the 15 finalists, I couldn’t help but wonder what it must feel like to try to have a normal conversation with someone while pretending that the photographers jogging behind you aren’t there.

The previous evening, at the United for Wildlife Global Showcase (engagement number six), as 10 photographers leant over, I overheard William telling Cathy Dreyer, head ranger at the Kruger National Park: “Your community’s doing an amazing job – you need to hear that.”

The prince was referring to the work that Dreyer and the 400 rangers who patrol the Kruger do to combat rhino poaching. Between 2011 and 2023, the park alone lost 5,561 rhinos to poaching.

When meeting other rangers from Africa, Australia, Ecuador and Malaysia, the prince asked about the main problems they face and whether their voices are being heard.

A legacy rooted in Africa

Prince William in Kirstenbosach Prince William, accompanied by garden director Werner Voigt, tours the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, ahead of the Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony, in Cape Town on 6 November 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)

Performers dance as William, Prince of Wales, arrives with Earthshot Prize chief executive Hannah Jones for the 2024 awards ceremony in Cape Town on 6 November. During his visit, the prince also took part in environmental initiatives and events held in Cape Town as part of Earthshot Week. He founded the prize in 2020. (Photo: Ian Vogler / Pool / Getty Images)

According to William, the idea for Earthshot was born on African soil during a trip to Namibia and Tanzania when he witnessed the impact local people were having on the environment around them.

“I saw first-hand the extent to which people were dedicating their time, talent and vision to fixing environmental challenges,” he said during his speech after the five winners of the 2024 Earthshot Prize were announced on Wednesday evening.

“But they weren’t getting the support they needed to scale up or replicate their solutions worldwide. That sense of optimism I witnessed planted a seed that brought us here today.”

He also emphasised that despite contributing the least to global warming, Africans are among the most vulnerable to its impact.

Francis Nderitu, founder of Keep It Cool, which won the prize in the Waste-Free World category, told me that his impression of the prince was that he was easy to talk to, and had an impressive understanding of Kenya and of environmental solutions.

“He wanted to host the event in Africa because he felt there was an injustice, where developed countries have contributed heavily to climate change, yet it’s Africa who suffers much more from the impacts,” said Nderitu, whose company helps small farmers and fishers to preserve their produce by installing solar-powered cold-storage units where fish are processed. That reduces spoilage and waste by ensuring the catch stays fresh during its transport to market.

“So I believe he wanted to bring the event here so that Africa can articulate its climate problems, in the hope that we can attract more investments and attention to the climate issues surrounding Africa and, in that, somehow bring justice to Africans,” Nderitu said.

A genuine interest in solutions, amid a tough year

Prince William, Earthshot, Signal Hill, Table Mountain National Park (From left) Prince William speaks to Australian conservationist Robert Irwin, Table Mountain National Park manager Megan Taplin and City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, during a walk on Signal Hill, Cape Town, on 5 November 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)

Prince William, Press scrum The Royal Rota photographing Prince William meeting the 2024 Finalists of the Earthshot Prize at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in Cape Town, 6 November 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)

When my friends asked me this week what William was like, or whether his passion for environmentalism was genuine, I thought about what one British photographer who’s been covering the royal family for more than three decades told me when I asked the same question: “Even if you speak to someone, you can’t really know who they are.”

We can’t know much about the prince. I followed him for a week (albeit from a distance; I was penned behind a white fence for most of it), but even after overhearing snippets of conversations he had, it’s hard to get a real impression. He is very well trained in handling the media and used to engaging with strangers.

But something that did stand out was his genuine interest in conservation and the breadth of his knowledge – from the issues rangers face when it comes to dealing with poaching in Kruger to the science behind climate change and being aware of the entire lifecycle of material.

Adi Reza, a finalist from Indonesia who co-founded MYCL – a company creating sustainable leather-like material using mushroom technology – mentioned his surprise at William’s understanding of technical terms like “material lifecycle”.

That kind of knowledge and interest isn’t common among people who are not environmentalists, Reza said.

Similarly, Kelly Adams, the US-based CEO of Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems, which won the Earthshot prize in the Climate category, told me that William was very engaged.

Adams said: “You can tell he understands everything that’s going on. He’s making really interesting connections between concepts, and really gets the big picture and all the small details.”

He added: “It was really impressive to see how all 15 of us could converse with him, and he had really in-depth knowledge, not only of our solutions, but how the solutions potentially work together.”

The British press, who were allowed to interview the prince before the awards ceremony on Wednesday night, asked, “It’s been a tough year for you. How is the princess?”, referring to the cancer diagnosis that Catherine disclosed this year.

“She’s doing really well, thanks, and hopefully she’s watching tonight and cheering me on,” he replied.

“She’s been amazing this whole year. I know she will be really keen to see tonight be a success.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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A legacy rooted in Africa

A genuine interest in solutions, amid a tough year