Prince William is working on the Earthshot Prize set to be the focus of a new documentary hosted by Hannah Waddingham, Daily Mail reports.
The Prince of Wales Prince William, 41, will be joined by the Emmy-winning actress in The Earthshot Report, which will premiere on BBC One on 15 September.
The Ted Lasso actress, 50, from Wandsworth, has been a vocal supporter of the royal and his environmental initiative – having hosted the Earthshot Prize in Singapore last November and participated in a panel with the Prince this summer.
The upcoming documentary will be hosted by Hannah and follow Prince William’s recent travels the US, South Africa and the UK, where he has met innovators at the cutting edge of environmental technology.
Prince William founded The Earthshot Prize in 2020 – having been inspired by John F Kennedy’s Moonshot initiative that united millions of people around the common goal of putting put a man on the moon.
Each year, the global campaign selects 15 finalists to take part in a Fellowship Programme and awards five programmes with £1m to scale up their groundbreaking projects.
The television special features interviews with current and former finalists and how they are driving progress towards the five ‘Earthshots’: Fix Our Climate, Protect and Restore Nature, Build A Waste-Free World, Revive Our Oceans, and Clean Our Air.
Hannah Jones, CEO of The Earthshot Prize, said in a statement: ‘At a time when there is so much pessimism about the environment, The Earthshot Report is the dose of urgent optimism we need.
‘We are proud to be able to amplify the inspiring stories of Earthshot innovators and showcase the growing global movement of climate creativity they are leading.
‘We are honoured to collaborate with the BBC and PBS to bring these compelling stories of Earthshot innovators and entrepreneurs to millions of people across the globe.’
Since it was founded in 2020, The Earthshot Prize has given more than £20m away in prize money for environmental causes and been the catalyst for over £86m in direct support for 60 Prize Winners and Finalists.
On top of this, Earthshot alumni from 2021-2023 have reduced, avoided, or captured 420,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions—equivalent to taking around 100,000 cars off the road for one year—and protected and restored 170,000 square kilometres of land and ocean, an area the size of Ireland and Iceland combined.
Earlier this year, Hannah Waddingham left Prince William in fits of laughter with a cheeky quip she made during an Earthshot Prize panel.
While the father-of-three was giving an answer to a question about the future of the environment, Hannah saw an opportunity to lighten the mood.
The Prince of Wales Prince William said: ‘I always say to the [team] what’s the next thing? What are we doing? And Hannah [Jones], over the past four years she’s been not only flying the plane, she’s been building it, serving drinks and also providing all the emergency exits and landing it.’
However before William could finish his sentence, Waddingham interjected and said: ‘It’s because she’s a woman [sir],’ which was met with a round of applause from the room.
This seemed to tickle the Prince of Wales who then responded: ‘She is,’ before chuckling with the actress.
Panellist Tokunboh Ishmael then chimed in and said: ‘She can multitask!’
The event, called the Stories of Impact, heard updates from Earthshot Prize finalists ahead of the awards ceremony which was held in Cape Town for the first time last month.
Although the Princess of Wales has often accompanied her husband on Earthshot Prize engagements, the royal remained at home – having only recently completed a course of chemotherapy.
When reporters asked after the Princess, Prince William replied: ‘She’s doing really well thanks. And… hopefully she is watching tonight.
‘So cheering me on. She’s been she’s been amazing this whole this whole year. I know she will be really keen to see tonight be a success.’
He said that he and his family, like so many, have conversations about trying to ‘do what they can’ at home.
The prince said: ‘Yeah, well, you know, every family tries to do what they can to sort of help with the environment.
‘We go through all the basics of recycling and making sure we minimise water use and turning off lights when we leave the house and stuff like that, and making sure, which is sensible in what we do around the environment.
‘I think every family has these conversations. You just try to do what you can. ‘
‘The Earthshot Prize has got to be a bit more global than that. We are trying to do big scale ambition and big scale business to tackle some of the solutions.
‘But I brought the children along that journey and tonight I hope they are watching and they are proud of kind of what we are try to do here, which is to really galvanise that energy that enthusiasm to make real impact.’
He also spoke about the friendship bracelet he has been seen wearing bearing the word ‘Papa’ on, made for him by his daughter Princess Charlotte, which he has ‘promised’ not to lose.
The Earthshot Report will premiere exclusively on BBC One and iPlayer at 5pm on 15 December and on PBS at 8pm on 18 December.