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Prince William has joined a swag of world leaders and celebrities for the annual Earthshot Prize awards in Rio de Janeiro, as part of a three-day environment-focused trip in the Brazilian megalopolis. The Prince of Wales will stay in Brazil to attend the 30th UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, in Belém later this week. The ceremony was held in Rio's Museum of Tomorrow on Wednesday evening, local time, and featured performances from Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes, along with Brazilian singers Anitta, Gilberto Gil, and Seu Jorge. William created the prize in 2020 to encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to develop technologies to combat global warming and mitigate its impact. Set up through his Royal Foundation, the Earthshot Prize awards $US1.3 million ($2 million) in grants to five winners for their sustainable, eco-friendly innovations, selected from nearly 2,500 nominees from more than 70 countries. This year's winners include Brazilian startup re.green for its work to restore forests with the help of AI, and Bangladeshi non-profit organisation Friendship, which helps vulnerable communities across the country prepare for natural disasters. Other winners include Colombia's capital, Bogotá, for its clean air policies and Lagos Fashion Week, which promotes sustainable, craft-based clothing-makers to counter the wave of fast fashion rejects that wash up on African shores. The United Nations High Seas Treaty, which seeks to protect marine environments outside of national jurisdictions, also took home a prize. "Their work is the proof we need that progress is possible. Their stories are the inspiration that gives us courage." Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, a trustee of the Earthshot Prize, also attended the green-carpeted ceremony. "The Earthshot Prize is a platform, not just to share a message, but to find investors and to scale up their solutions," Ms Ardern told the Associated Press before the ceremony. "You scale up the impact for the planet: the amount of CO2 removed, waste removed, land and ocean put into protection … it's all significant." William landed in Rio de Janeiro on Monday and met with former soccer player Cafu in Maracanã Stadium, played volleyball on Copacabana Beach and visited Sugarloaf Mountain during the three-day trip. Aside from visiting the city's iconic sites, the prince's engagements have focused on climate change and conservation. He attended a global wildlife summit and took a boat to the Guapimirim mangrove area in Guanabara Bay, where he took part in a planting activity. William also met with Earthshot Prize finalists at the Christ the Redeemer statue, as he took the annual awards ceremony to Latin America for the first time. Rio marks the halfway point for the venture, as he has committed himself to it for 10 years. Prince William will now travel to the COP30 summit in Belém, where politicians, environmental campaigners and community organisations will focus on accelerating efforts to cut carbon emissions.
