Prince William launches Earthshot Prize to award £50 million to climate solutions

The Duke of Cambridge has become the latest celebrity to speak out about the urgency of climate action as he announced the Earthshot Prize last week. 

The Earthshot Prize aims to award the most promising solutions to climate change and other environmental issues over the next ten years. Starting next year, a panel of judges, called the ‘Earthshot Prize Council’ and which includes venerated nature presenter Sir David Attenborough, will decide on an annual basis the five individuals or organisations with the solutions most deserving of a £1 million prize. 

The website of the Earthshot Prize states that a ‘distinguished panel of experts’ will shortlist the nominations, while the Council will make the final decisions on the winners. Further detail on this panel of experts is not given. 

Notably this council does not include any climate scientists or academics of a related field. While it includes a climate activist, a nature presenter, and two people with climate-related NGO experience, it also includes two royals, two business leaders, two sportsmen, an astronaut, an actress, and Shakira. While it is a positive that influential people are on board with finding climate solutions, one may wonder why climate scientists were left out and what experience and knowledge this panel will draw from in order to select the most promising solutions.