Prince of Wales: Inch-by-inch action won’t tackle climate change
Prince of Wales: Inch-by-inch action won’t tackle climate change
Hannah FurnessMon, September 14, 2026 at 11:53 AM UTC
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The Prince of Wales founded the Earthshot Prize to award innovations that tackle environmental issues - Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire
The Prince of Wales has warned that “inch-by-inch” action is no longer enough to tackle climate change.
Prince William, the founder of the Earthshot environmental award, said “this crisis demands urgency”, but that the public should remain optimistic that solutions were at hand.
Writing after a summer of wildfires, which he described as “devastating” and “frankly alarming”, the Prince said they were a “powerful reminder of the risks associated with a warming climate”.
In November, the Prince will attend the sixth annual Earthshot Prize, which awards £1m to five winners for presenting solutions to environmental issues.
The Prince of Wales at the 2025 Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Rio de Janeiro - Andrew Parsons
Writing in the Independent, the Prince said: “The crisis demands urgency. But without a belief that change is possible, its scale can leave us feeling overwhelmed.
“Optimism gives us confidence that our actions can make a difference. We need both.
“This is what I mean by urgent optimism; seeing the danger clearly while believing in our ability to respond.
“For the first time in history, our greatest challenge is not inventing the answers. It is deploying and scaling the solutions we already know work.
“It is not naivety or blind hope. It is optimism grounded in evidence. I believe that our ability to respond can be the biggest story of this decade.”
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‘Change must be systematic’
Previous winners and finalists of the Earthshot Prize include a company that makes takeaway containers out of seaweed, avoiding plastic landfill, a washing machine filter that takes microplastics out of the ecosystem, and an Indian ironing business that swapped charcoal for solar power.
The Prince has emphasised that he does not want to deliver lectures on climate change or ask ordinary people to make their lives more difficult. A spokesman said: “What he or the Earthshot Prize will never do, is tell people not to get on planes and not to get in their cars.”
“I have seen solutions already working and the impact they are capable of,” the Prince said. “That gives me optimism.
“Knowing that we no longer have time for inch-by-inch improvements, that change must be systemic and at scale, gives me urgency.”
The Prince of Wales visited Sugarloaf Mountain while in Brazil for the 2025 Earthshot Prize awards - Chris Jackson/Getty Images
This year’s Earthshot Prize will be held in India, with the Princess of Wales expected to join her husband for the trip.
Explaining the choice of host, the Prince said: “India is home to more Earthshot finalists and winners than any other country, and it combines extraordinary creativity, scientific talent and a remarkable capacity for change at scale.”
Previous events have been staged in London, Singapore, Cape Town, Boston and Rio de Janeiro.
Prince William highlighted the efforts of previous Earthshot finalists, who “have already helped avoid or capture 18 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions, protected and restored over 85 million hectares of ocean and coastline and improved air quality in regions home to 600 million people”.
Awards are presented in five categories, or Earthshots – Protect and Restore Nature; Clean Our Air; Revive Our Oceans; Build a Waste-Free World; and Fix Our Climate.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
