The Duke of Cambridge has joined world leaders across industries for a new Audible podcast series highlighting the work being done to tackle the Earth’s biggest environmental challenges.
In ‘Climate of Change,’ Prince William speaks about the environmental work of his grandfather, the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and his father, the Prince of Wales and how they have inspired him to take on his own causes, including the Earthshot Prize.
“I think my grandfather and my father both kind of having a deep passion and interest in this area for many years has sort of piqued my interest and my curiosity,” said William. “So growing up, I was surrounded by kind of this adventure and this idea of exploring and being out in the garden. I used to spend hours climbing trees, digging ditches and all sorts of things, hiding in dens and all sorts from the garden, so I used to love being out in the wild and the wet.”
Also joining William are Earthshot Prize finalists Vidyut Mohan of Takachar, Olugbenga Olubanjo of Reedi and Dr Katherine Dafforn from Living Seawalls.
William also called himself a ‘stubborn optimist’ about finding solutions to environmental problems, saying that seeing the work being done by others, including Christiana Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat, has “given me a lot of hope that this can happen, and I believe I’m seeing it with my own eyes—it’s really inspiring, it’s really hopeful.”
About his hopes for the future of the Earthshot Prize, William said he’d like to see more female-led and Indigenous-led initiatives. “But these next nine months, what we’ve got to really focus on is the scaling of the 2021 winners and finalists, that’s what’s really important to us—that’s the game changing nature of what the Earthshot Prize is about.”
Co-hosted by Danny Kennedy and Cate Blanchett, an Earthshot Prize Council Member who helps find and nominate worthy people and organisations for prizes, ‘Climate of Change’ features interviews with people including Mary Robinson, Adam McKay, Katy Milkman, Imogen Heap, Rutger Bregman, Jeraiza Molina, Agamemnon Otero, Becky Paisley.
Prince William’s interview appears in the series’ second episode, entitled “The Disruptive Decade.” According to Audible, the royal “discusses the positive innovations the Prize has already highlighted and the progress being made to support and scale their global impact.”
In a statement, Blanchett and Kennedy said: “Climate innovations are disrupting how the world operates in incredible ways, but this progress is not yet fast enough, nor is it spread equally around the world. We already have a lot of the technology we need – like solar and batteries – to keep the world under 1.5˚C and stave off the worst impacts of climate change. What we need now are more climate innovators all around the world coming up with bundles of solutions and spreading them at speed. That’s why we’re thrilled to shine a spotlight on some of these innovators in this podcast.”
‘Climate of Change’ premieres on 14 April and runs for six episodes. William’s full interview can be found here.
