Prince William announced the winners of the fifth annual Earthshot Prize at the ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.
The Prince of Wales opened his speech with a warm greeting in Portuguese and thanked the Brazilian people for their hospitality.
The future King reflected on the launch of the award in 2020 with the aim of making the decade a decade of positive changes for the planet.
Highlighting the hard work and innovative ideas of the winners, he said their efforts show that real progress is possible and called them “the world’s real action heroes.”
“Good evening and welcome,” William began his speech. “We are delighted to have him with us at the fifth annual Earthshot Award ceremony from the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro.”
“I would like to start by thanking you for the incredibly warm welcome I have received this week,” Kate Middleton’s husband continued.
“When I founded the Earthshot Prize in 2020, we had a ten-year goal of making this the decade in which we transformed our world for the better. It was a mission driven by the kind of extraordinary optimism we feel here tonight from these innovators,” he added.
“Their work is the proof we need that progress is possible,” he said. “Their stories are the inspiration that gives us courage, and there is much we can learn from their determination and vision for scale, as well as their unwavering belief that we can create a better world.”
“It’s no exaggeration to say that they are the world’s true action heroes.”
