Prince William has announced the winners of his Earthshot Prize, a £1m award for green innovators.

Fifteen finalists hailing from all over the globe gathered at the MediaCorp Theatre in Singapore ahead of the Prince of Wales’s speech aimed at recognising solutions to “repair” the planet.

The ceremony was hosted by Emmy Award winning-actress and Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham and Golden Globe actor Sterling K Brown.

Pop bands Bastille and One Republic performed music and some famous faces handed out the awards made with recycled materials to the five winners.

Among the award presenters were The Lord of the Rings star Cate Blanchett, Hong Kong actor and martial artist Donnie Yen, and Robert Irwin, an Australian conservationist and the son of the late Steve Irwin.

Earthshot Prize Council member Sir David Attenborough, 97, also made a video appearance in which he said “we can live both well and responsibly on our planet”.

This year’s winners were Accion Andina, GRST, WildAid Marine Program, S4S Technologies, and Boomitra. Each will receive £1m to scale their climate and environmental solutions.

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‘Hope’ amid ‘climate crisis’

Prince William acknowledged the climate crisis during his speech but maintained “optimism and hope” for the future of the planet.

He said: “The last year has been one of great change and even greater challenge. A year in which the effects of the climate crisis have become too visible to be ignored. And a year that has left so many feeling defeated, their hope dwindling.

“However, as we have seen tonight, hope does remain. The light of optimism is burning bright in our Earthshot finalists.

“It is my belief that we will find the courage to do so. We will find the courage because we will hold onto the most powerful motivators of all – optimism and hope.”

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Earthshot, launched by the prince in 2020, is named after President Kennedy’s Moonshot prize which spearheaded the goal to land a man on the moon.

Each of the winners focuses on different aspects in order to benefit the environment.

Accion Andina works across South America to protect the Andean forests, while Indian-based S4S Technologies harnesses solar power to combat food waste and enable crop preservation.

GRST seeks to make electric cars even cleaner by recycling lithium-ion batteries; WildAid aims to end illegal fishing and strengthen ocean conservation, and Boomitra focuses on regenerative farming to remove emissions with more profits to farmers.

The Prince of Wales was not accompanied to Singapore by the Princess of Wales, who stayed at home to help Prince George with school exams.

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