Earthshot

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer actually traveled to Brazil for a few days last week. He attended a few events for Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, and then both men traveled to Belem for the first two days of the COP30 conference. PM Starmer was back in England in time to attend the Festival of Remembrance on Saturday night. It’s widely believed that Starmer and William traveled back to the UK together, but William still skipped the Festival of Remembrance. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Well, according to Kensington Palace, William and Starmer have a great relationship, and William is whinging to Starmer about how the government needs to “do more” on the environment. There isn’t an eyeroll big enough. Some highlights from Roya Nikkhah’s big post-Earthshot clean-up, with some exclusive info about next year’s Earthshot Prize ceremony.

Big Boy Billy takes on big business: The Prince of Wales has criticised big businesses for “falling short” and lacking “courage” in their attempts to tackle climate change. Prince William, who spent five days last week in Brazil for his Earthshot prize awards and the Cop30 climate conference, is deeply frustrated by the private sector’s apathy on the environment.

William raised concerns, bless his heart: A royal source said: “During his visit to Brazil, the Prince of Wales raised his concern about the lack of meaningful support from global businesses in tackling the climate crisis when he met with the prime minister and the secretary of state for energy security and net zero. He believes that major companies are still not doing nearly enough. He wants to see bold leadership in the private sector and, honestly, many businesses are still reluctant to get involved. Even when some are making genuine progress, they’re rarely talking about it. There are positives, companies such as Ikea, Uber and [the food giant] Compass Group are showing real leadership and deserve credit, investing in Earthshot prize finalists. But far too many others are still falling short and it’s time for more of them to step up to the plate.”

William & Starmer: The prince has developed a “warm relationship” with Starmer, the first prime minister to attend William’s environmental awards since they began in 2021, and urged the government to encourage more action from the private sector on green issues.

Next year’s Earthshot will go to India: William plans to take next year’s Earthshot prize to India, in a sign of his determination to engage with the world’s biggest polluters. India, the most populous nation in the world with more than 1.4 billion people, is the world’s third-biggest polluter after China and America. The country is responsible for about 8 per cent of global carbon emissions, with coal as its primary power source, but has set a goal of reducing emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and for the economy to be net zero by 2070. Neither Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, nor President Xi of China attended the Cop30 leaders’ conference last week.

Willy will go to China too: A royal source said: “This is about bringing people on the journey. We always said we’d like to take Earthshot to every corner of the planet. There are so many interesting things happening in India in the sector and the prince is looking forward to seeing it.” The Sunday Times has also revealed that William wants to take the prize to China in the next five years, despite the UK’s strained relations with the world’s biggest polluter, in marked contrast to his father’s approach. The King has never visited mainland China because of his views on the regime’s treatment of Tibet and its human rights record. William, however, is said to believe that you “can’t exclude a big chunk of the planet when thinking about fighting for its future”. Sources close to William said he had a “renewed sense of purpose” about taking the prize to China.

[From The Times]

I actually forgot that Charles has never stepped foot in China. That’s a bit crazy, especially considering how well-traveled he was as Prince of Wales. As for William’s plan to go to India next year… lol. He is really going to march into India and try to lecture and bully the whole country, meanwhile India has become a thriving economic powerhouse and vibrant democracy with no need for an ugly white savior, especially one from a member of a supposed royal family which looted many of India’s treasures. William should arrive in India with the Kohinoor diamond in hand before he lectures anyone on the environment. As for all of the stuff about Basher Billy lecturing businesses about the environment – he just comes across as so deeply unlikeable, unaccomplished and pitiful.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.