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King Charles IIIPrince & Princess of Wales

Prince William meets Earthshot winners as he helps connect them with market leaders

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hosted a reception for the eco-conscious key players of their respective environmental initiatives on the first night of COP26.

The royals, who are in Glasgow for COP26, met with some of the key members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the Winners and Finalists of the first Earthshot Prize.

The Earthshot Prize Facebook page notes that the winners and finalists in Glasgow are largely meeting each other for the first time this week, as well as meeting Prince William and that this opening event is “kickstarting an important few days at the global summit, where they will discuss and showcase their ground-breaking innovations and add their voices to the critical discussions.”

One of the Earthshot Prize winners, Gator Halpern, who won the Revive Our Oceans Earthshot for his company Coral Vita, said in an exclusive interview with The Mirror, “[F]or a leader like Prince William to spend his time, his energy and his influence in order to elevate that conversation is an incredible step in moving towards real tangible change in this space, and we need more leaders and politicians from the likes of Prince William to corporate leaders and other politicians around the world to step up and take this issue as serious as it needs to be taking, no longer paying lip service to what we are going to do with climate change goals we set at Cop but really making impactful and urgent changes to the systems we need to.”

Halpern did not travel to COP26, but his business partner, Sam, is attending events this week with the other Earthshot Prize winners and finalists to discuss plans to save the planet. Kensington Palace has announced that the Duke of Cambridge will work with the winners and finalists to showcase their projects and innovations to the broader global community.

Kensington Palace said: “The Sustainable Markets Initiative and The Earthshot Prize together demonstrate how innovation and a shift in market structures can lead to a more sustainable lifestyle. The Sustainable Markets Initiative brings together business leaders to collaborate and identify solutions that will help the transition to a sustainable future. The Earthshot Prize finds and scales sustainable solutions in their relative infancy.”

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.