Such an honour to be invited to speak at Prince William’s The Earthshot Prize first-ever Innovation Camp in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies!
It was a pleasure to share my latest research and insights on ‘Future-Proofing Your Solutions’ with climate innovators, investors, business leaders, celebrities, and experts from around the world.
As I said in my keynote:
We are at a pivotal place in our relationship to technology – and the environment. We need to find ways to make emerging technologies sustainable, advocate for regulation that draws a line in the sand, and incentivises companies to use renewable energies. Leadership, creativity, diversity, and innovation are needed now more than ever.
Slightly starstruck and immensely humbled to amongst a truly impressive line-up, that included Stella McCartney, Hannah Waddingham, Richard Curtis, June Sarpong OBE, and Prince William himself. I was especially thrilled to meet a person I have long respected and admired – my favourite NYC Mayor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Mike Bloomberg (as you can see from my huge smile!). 😄 Always awesome to work with people and organisations making a positive impact in the world!
You can read more about the inspiring event here: https://lnkd.in/e_5gz2v2
Big ‘Thank You’ to Meg Szabo, Laura Chapman, Chloe K., Maja Lindholm, Martin Holm-Knudsen, and A-Speakers for making it all such a brilliant day and pleasurable experience! 🙏🏼
#futurist #earthshotprize #LCW2024 #keynotespeaker
Press Release:
Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Earthshot Prize Team Up at London Climate Action Week to Elevate and Empower Climate Innovators from Across the Globe
June 27, 2024Environment
At the first-ever Earthshot Prize Innovation Camp, 50 climate innovators from The Earthshot Prize’s portfolio of solutions joined investors, business leaders, celebrities, and experts to strengthen and scale cutting-edge solutions to repair and restore the planet
Programme included fireside chats, keynote remarks, and panel discussions with Michael R. Bloomberg, Richard Curtis, Es Devlin, Amelia Kallman, Stella McCartney, Hannah Waddingham, and The Earthshot Prize Founder Prince William
London, UK – Today during London Climate Action Week, Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Earthshot Prize held the first-ever Earthshot Prize Innovation Camp, connecting 50 inspiring climate innovators, representing six continents and 20 countries, with experts, investors, and business leaders to accelerate their transformative solutions and place them on a fast-track to scale.
Earthshot Finalists and other solutions representing the richness and diversity of The Prize’s growing climate portfolio were invited to the day-long Innovation Camp at Sky Garden in the City of London. The programme featured opportunities to network, participate in skill-building sessions to challenge, stretch, and build upon their ideas, and hear directly from influential voices across business, finance, arts and culture, technology, and the environment.
Prince William, Founder and President of The Earthshot Prize, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and Global Advisor to the Winners of The Earthshot Prize, spoke at the event and were joined by special guests including Richard Curtis, British screenwriter and film producer and co-founder of Comic Relief; Es Devlin, renowned artist and stage designer; ‘Tokunboh Ishmael, Founding Trustee of The Earthshot Prize; Hannah Jones, CEO of The Earthshot Prize; Amelia Kallman, leading London futurist and author; Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber (video); Stella McCartney, fashion designer and Earthshot Prize Council Member; June Sarpong OBE, TV presenter, author and advocate; and Hannah Waddingham, Emmy-award winning actress.
Prince William, in conversation with Hannah Waddingham, ‘Tokunboh Ishmael, and Hannah Jones said, “Impact is a key word that we’re looking for in The Earthshot Prize. The main sort of headline of The Earthshot Prize is to showcase, award, and highlight brilliant people. But ultimately, that’s only going to get us so far, and this is a critical decade for change. And so impact is something I’m very alive on at the moment in all the work I do.”
In his remarks, Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and Global Advisor to the Winners of The Earthshot Prize, said, “As Prince William recognized in creating The Earthshot Prize: Climate change isn’t only the biggest challenge we face, it’s also our greatest opportunity to build a better future. To fully seize that opportunity, we need to marshal all of humanity’s creativity, we need to search across every part of the world for solutions, and we need to support more collaboration. Over the centuries, London has been a launching pad for so many ideas that have changed the world. Some of the brilliant ideas The Earthshot Prize innovators are bringing to the table could be next – and the stakes really could not be any higher.”
The Innovation Camp concluded with a ‘Stories of Impact’ event, presented by Bloomberg TV correspondent and anchor Jennifer Zabasajja and broadcaster June Sarpong OBE, to showcase inspiring success stories from the Earthshot Prize Finalists, highlighting the high-impact collaborations accelerating their progress, and inviting investors, business leaders, and other influencers to join The Earthshot Prize and Bloomberg Philanthropies in continuing to grow and cultivate this promising pipeline of environmental innovations.
Hannah Waddingham, leading a discussion with Prince William said, “How glorious to be back discussing all the bountiful jewels of The Earthshot Prize. We are here in our beloved London where four years ago you founded The Earthshot Prize. It started as a beautiful glimmer in your eye and now has grown into, without doubt, the world’s most prestigious environmental Prize.”
Stella McCartney said, “My SOS Fund is helping to create scalable solutions that are kinder to Mother Earth and her creatures – replacing dirty business with clean alternatives. Together, we can show the world a better way is possible – one where we do not need to compromise on either desirability or sustainability. I am so grateful for The Earthshot Prize and Bloomberg Philanthropies, who not only give us the space to come together and share ideas, but also celebrate each other.”
‘Tokunboh Ishmael, Trustee, The Earthshot Prize said, “The Prize starts by enabling finalists to be seen. But then to be connected with a platform that enables them to begin to scale is so important. Because they’re no longer alone – they become part of a bigger community and they’re able to use the tentacles of these corporations and the partners to be able to scale and grow. It’s so important to be able to have the opportunity to connect through those corporations, be seen, and inspire.”
Maha AlQattan, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, DP World said, “DP World moves 10% of the world’s trade and 90% of that trade goes through the ocean. For us, the ocean is a critical part of our sustainability strategy and we are always looking for partners who help us accelerate our work around the ocean. Earthshot is a great platform to meet those partners.”
Kat Lampen, Partner, Deloitte said, “As an alliance partner we look to see where we can make the biggest impact, so where organisations can take the biggest leap through our help. We provide time across lots of different areas to support the finalists. The Earthshot Prize is not just giving money to help, it’s a real partnership. Every year, every single employee globally wants to be involved in some way. It inspires everyone that gets involved and has become not just a corporate partnership; it’s something that everyone wants to get behind.”
At the event, The Earthshot Prize innovators met with global and local leaders across climate, business, philanthropy and arts and culture, including Maha AlQattan, Chief Sustainability Officer, DP World; Sharon Ament, Director, Museum of London; Laura Citron, CEO, London & Partners; The Honourable Jane Hartley, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, United States Department of State; Bettina Korek, CEO, Serpentine Galleries; Kat Lampen, Partner, Deloitte; Andrew Morlet, CEO, Ellen Macarthur Foundation; Gavin Poole, CEO, Here East London; and The Right Honourable Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General, The Commonwealth.
Today’s Earthshot Prize Innovation Camp marked the culmination of a week-long programme of activity hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies. This cohort of climate innovators had access to events across London Climate Action Week, including workshops, bespoke training, site visits to leading environmental organisations, and a series of networking moments with investors. This most recent collaboration between Bloomberg Philanthropies and The Earthshot Prize continues their long-standing partnership to ignite growth in the environment, finance, and technology sectors and pioneer the next wave of climate solutions.
Nearly four years after the first Earthshot Prize Awards in London, The Earthshot Prize has grown into a powerful global search engine, unearthing transformational environmental solutions and helping them speed to scale. With the support of Global Alliance Founding Partner Bloomberg Philanthropies and other partners across business and civil society, The Earthshot Prize has become a global platform for impact and an incubator for a growing movement of climate creativity and innovation.
Working with experts in business, philanthropy, academia, and policy, The Earthshot Prize has identified over 3,000 of the best solutions from all sectors and geographies. Since 2021, The Prize has awarded more than £15 million in Prize money, and catalysed £70 million in additional investment in support of the Finalists. And this year, The Prize received its most nominations ever: 2,429 game-changing solutions based in 139 countries worldwide and put forward by more than 430 Official Nominators.
Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies have supported The Earthshot Prize since its inception, including support for the design of the Prize in 2019. Bloomberg Philanthropies is a Global Alliance Founding Partner and Bloomberg L.P. is a Global Alliance Member. Alongside an international network of influential organisations, Bloomberg provides Earthshot Finalists and Winners with unparalleled support to accelerate and implement their ambitious environmental solutions. In 2022 and 2023, Bloomberg Philanthropies co-hosted the Earthshot Innovation Summit in New York City, bringing together government leaders, philanthropists, business executives, and grassroots climate activists to showcase, replicate, and scale groundbreaking solutions. Michael R. Bloomberg is Global Advisor to The Earthshot Prize Winners.
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About Bloomberg Philanthropies:
Bloomberg Philanthropies invests in 700 cities and 150 countries around the world to ensure better, longer lives for the greatest number of people. The organisation focuses on creating lasting change in five key areas: the Arts, Education, Environment, Government Innovation, and Public Health. Bloomberg Philanthropies encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg’s giving, including his foundation, corporate, and personal philanthropy as well as Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy that advises cities around the world. In 2023, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $3 billion. For more information, please visit bloomberg.org, sign up for our newsletter, or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Threads, Facebook, and X.
Media Contact:
Daphne Wang, daphne@bloomberg.org
About The Earthshot Prize:
For more information about The Earthshot Prize, visit: www.earthshotprize.org.
Follow The Earthshot Prize on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
Founded by Prince William and incubated in The Royal Foundation in 2020 for a year before becoming an independent platform/organisation, The Earthshot Prize is a global environmental prize and platform designed to discover, accelerate and scale ground-breaking solutions to repair and regenerate the planet. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot, which united millions of people around the goal of reaching the moon, The Earthshot Prize aims to catalyse an Earthshot challenge to urgently encourage and scale innovative solutions that can help put the world firmly on a trajectory towards a stable climate, where communities, oceans and biodiversity thrive in harmony by 2030. The five challenges are: Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.
The Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism by championing inspiring leadership and helping to scale incredible cutting-edge solutions. It will discover 50 winners over 10 years with the power to repair the planet. More than an award, The Earthshot Prize works in partnership with a Global Alliance of Partners to support the scaling of the solutions discovered and selected each year.
The Global Alliance Founding Partners are a group of leading global organizations and philanthropists, which act as strategic funding partners to the Prize, including Aga Khan Development Network, Bezos Earth Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Breakthrough Energy Foundation, Coleman Family Ventures, DP World in partnership with Dubai EXPO 2020, Eleven Eleven Foundation, Giving Grousbeck Fazzalari, Holch Povlsen Foundation, Jack Ma Foundation, Law Family Charitable Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Marc and Lynne Benioff, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Rob Walton Foundation, Sandy and Paul Edgerley, Standard Chartered Bank, Temasek Trust and Uber.
Global Alliance Partners are non-profit environment and sustainable development organizations that bring expertise, global reach and serve as nominating organizations each year. For a full list of our Global Alliance Partners, visit: www.earthshotprize.org/global-alliance.
Global Alliance Members are some of the world’s largest and most influential companies and brands that will support The Earthshot Prize, implement ambitious changes within their businesses and accelerate the advancement of the solutions of Prize Finalists and Winners. They are: Arup, Bloomberg L.P., Deloitte, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hitachi, Ingka Group (IKEA), Microsoft, The Multichoice Group, Natura &Co, Safaricom, Salesforce, Unilever, Vodacom Group and Walmart.
Media Contact:
earthshotprize@fgsglobal.com
