Prince William says climate change 'positivity' has been 'missing'

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William, 39, is participating in his first online Q&A. The Duke of Cambridge shared his most personal Instagram Story, when he announced he would be “taking questions on the Earthshot Prize” today.

The story, signed off with a ‘W’ to let people know it was a personal message from William, included a question box allowing Instagram users chance to submit their questions.

The box was shared alongside a picture taken inside William’s office at Kensington Palace – his London residence.

Among most striking details was a document placed on the desk titled ‘Earthshot Prize – Q&A’.

Unlike his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, William has never interacted directly with his Instagram followers. 

It comes almost one year after Kate ran her own Q&A session on Instagram, focused on her work on the early years.

After royal fans and followers submitted their questions, Kensington Palace released a video showing the mother-of-three replying.

Among topics, Kate spoke about what sparked her interest in the early years, challenges as a mother and her own childhood.

Asked what she liked most about being a young girl, she said: “That’s a very good question. 

“I loved spending time outside and that has stuck with me for my whole life.”

This Q&A session was launched after the Duchess delivered a keynote speech during the first Royal Foundation’s early years online forum in November 2020, which presented a comprehensive study of the early years and how Britons perceive them.

Highlighting the importance of better understanding the first five years in the life of children, and its impact on their development, Kate, 39, said: “Parenthood isn’t a prerequisite for understanding the importance of the early years.

“If we only expect people to take an interest in the early years when they have children, we are not only too late for them, we are underestimating the huge role others can play in shaping our most formative years too.” 

While the Duchess’ Q&A came after her key event, William will tackle questions about the Earthshot Prize – two days before its first-ever award ceremony.

On October 17, William will be joined by his wife and a string of celebrities at Alexandra Palace in London.

The ceremony, to be aired by BBC World Service, will be hosted by Clara Amfo and Dermot O’Leary.

But it will also have five exceptional guests presenters, introducing the winner of each £1million prize, including Kate, Emma Thompson and Mo Salah. 

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who sits in the Council choosing each year five winners, will also take the centre stage to speak more about the prize and the importance of finding solutions to the environmental challenges.

Explaining what to expect on Sunday, the Royal Foundation CEO Jason Knauf said in a statement: “The Earthshot Prize has been designed to celebrate our finalists as the visionary leaders that they are.

“The blockbuster roster of artists, athletes, and presenters that have signed on for our inaugural awards show proves just how much excitement there is for optimistic action to rise to the great challenges of our time.

“This will be an award show unlike any you’ve seen before that will entertain you and inspire you to take action to repair the planet in this decisive decade.”

William launched the Earthshot Prize last October with the goal to inspire projects to help fix the environmental crisis. 

Inspiration came after William visited Namibia in 2018 where he witnessed first-hand community conservation work.

The Duke told BBC Newscast on October 14: “For me, I came away having met loads of good people there and I felt really inspired, really energised about what I’d seen, and then coming back to the UK and seeing the headlines around the world, the media like to concentrate sometimes on the negativity.

“I felt like you’re losing people every single time you have those headlines, we all get that there’s a really big, urgent message and I’m not saying we shouldn’t talk about the urgency or the big issues, but ultimately if we want to tackle this, if we want to get on the front foot, we need to bring people with us.

“People have got to feel like there’s hope, there’s a chance we can fix this.”   

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