Trump criticised for climate policy as William celebrates Earthshot finalists
William met the 2024 cohort of his environmental award during an event marking London Climate Action Week, and said governments, businesses and innovators needed to work together to 'fix' the problems affecting he globe.
He described how he was 'very excited' to be visiting to Rio de Janeiro in November, the host city for this year's Earthshot Prize, and praised the Brazilians, saying: 'I think they epitomise the approach to what we can do more sustainably – the vibrancy, the energy, the enthusiasm.'
Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes told guests, including William during a discussion with his London counterpart, Sir Sadiq Khan: 'Local governments are the ones that are going to deliver.
'I mean, I don't want to do any politics here but we saw what Donald Trump did in his first term. If it were not for the local governments, the mayors, the US would be in big trouble.'
Mr Trump announced his decision to withdraw America from the Paris climate agreement at the start of his first term in 2017, a move that was countered by some US mayors.
Los Angeles's then-mayor Eric Garcetti helped to rally a number of his counterparts across the US to commit to the agreement that saw world leaders pledge to try to prevent global temperatures rising by more than 1.5C above 'pre-industrial' levels.
The event was hosted by former New York Mayor and business news mogul Mike Bloomberg, a global advisor to Earthshot Prize winners, at his landmark offices in the City of London.
In his introductory speech, Mr Bloomberg also criticised the American administration but did not mention the president by name.
He said: 'There's a good reason to be optimistic, lots of problems around the world, America has not been doing its share lately to make things better, I don't think, nevertheless, I'm very optimistic about the future…'
Rio's mayor announced his city's Museum of Tomorrow, a science museum, would host the Earthshot awards ceremony and it was later confirmed it would be held on November 5.
Before the discussions the future king, Earthshot's founder and president, met some of the 2024 finalists and winners in the five categories, or Earthshots – Protect and restore nature; Clean our air, Revive our oceans; Build a waste-free world; and Fix our climate.
William chatted to Francis Nderitu, founder and managing director of Keep IT Cool, a Kenya-based company using solar-powered refrigeration to help cut harvest waste for farmers, which won the Build a waste-free world award.
When he asked the entrepreneur if he had 'noticed more visibility in your products (because) of Earthshot', Mr Nderitu replied 'of course!'
William took part in a group discussion with Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, which is an Earthshot supporter.
The prince told the guests: 'A lot of people think the Earthshot Prize is just about climate change, it really isn't.
'It's about waste, it's about plastic pollution, it's about the health of our oceans, about the air we breathe, it's all the things that we as human beings care about.'
He added: 'And I think I'm really proud of how the solutions have come together and the impact they've had.
'We've restored 170,000 square kilometres of land and ocean, we've sequestered 420,000 tons of CO2, and we've benefited 4.4 million people so far.'
Co-hosting the event was Earthshot ambassador Robert Irwin, the son of the late wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin, who later when asked about America's lack of leadership on the environment replied: 'At the end of the day, if you're in the environmental space politics is going to play a role, in fact, a very big role.
'And now more than ever before we need policymakers, we need governments to come on the journey with us, with the private sector, with technology, with transport, with businesses, with e-commerce, with individuals, with passionate advocates.
'They've got to come along on this journey with us and create incentives, create a reason, create a why for us all to buckle down and get the work done and face climate change.'
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