Prince William took to the stage in Rio de Janeiro to reveal the latest winners of the Earthshot Prize — a global environmental award he launched in 2020. The ceremony, held at the Museum of
Tomorrow, featured performances from Kylie Minogue, Shawn Mendes, Seu Jorge and Gilberto Gil, adding plenty of star power to the night.
This year’s five winners, chosen from nearly 2,500 nominations across 72 countries, will each receive £1 million to help scale up their solutions for repairing the planet. William called the winners an “inspiration” and said they show that “progress is possible”.
A number of well-known figures helped present the awards, including Brazilian football icon Cafu, Olympic gymnast Rebeca Andrade and former Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel. UK leaders such as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and London Mayor Sadiq Khan were also in attendance.
William said he founded the prize to make the 2020s “the decade in which we transformed our world for the better,” inspired by John F. Kennedy’s historic Moonshot challenge.
The Earthshot Prize focuses on five major environmental goals:
Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World, and Fix Our Climate.
Earthshot Prize 2025: The Winners
Protect & Restore Nature: re.green (Brazil) – Working to restore the Atlantic Forest and make conservation financially sustainable.
Clean Our Air: City of Bogotá (Colombia) – Transforming the capital’s air quality with clean-air zones and large-scale re-greening projects.
Revive Our Oceans: High Seas Treaty – A major international agreement that will protect marine life in international waters starting January 2026.
Build a Waste-Free World: Lagos Fashion Week (Nigeria) – Showcasing designers committed to sustainable, waste-reducing fashion.
Fix Our Climate: Friendship (Bangladesh) – Supporting vulnerable communities with healthcare, education, disaster preparedness and access to essential services.
Thiago Picolo, CEO of re.green, said winning the prize is “validation” that their work is headed in the right direction and opens doors to major partnerships.
Prince William praised all the winners as innovators and said their “unyielding belief” in creating a better world is exactly what the Earthshot mission is about. Christiana Figueres, chair of the Earthshot board, said the winners are building a “global legacy” and proving that the spirit of collective action is stronger than ever.
Earlier in the day, William met with all 15 finalists at the Christ the Redeemer statue — even posing in the same spot his mother Princess Diana did more than three decades ago.
Most of his five-day trip to Brazil has centered on climate and environmental issues. He condemned illegal Amazon deforestation at a United for Wildlife event, visited the island of Paquetá to learn about mangrove conservation, and planted tree saplings with local residents.
Next, he heads to Belém, deep in the Amazon, where he’ll deliver remarks at COP30, the UN’s major annual climate summit. Photo by Office of U.S. Ambassador to U.K., Wikimedia commons.