Prince William heads to Cape Town within days to mark Earthshot at incredible eco-dome

Prince William is heading to South Africa for his fourth annual Earthshot Awards held in Cape Town on Wednesday, where he will deliver a landmark speech and aim to shine a light on young people and the next generation of climate innovators.

, 42, will spend four days in Cape Town for Earthshot Week where he will spend time with local communities and learn more about the innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity which is being harnessed across Africa to tackle the environmental crisis.

On Tuesday, he will make a landmark speech on nature, the environment and his support for rangers at the 2024 United for Wildlife Global Showcase.

But the bulk of his engagements will focus on Earthshot, the environmental prize he founded in 2020 that recognises innovative solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges. Five winners are chosen annually and receive £1million.

"Unlike most prizes, we don't give awards to people for what they have already achieved," said Hannah Jones, Earthshot CEO. "We award for the future potential of their solutions."

During his trip, the Prince is keen to celebrate African innovation from across the continent and inspire young people to put their time and talent to fixing the planet.

William's first engagement will see him meet over 120 young people from Africa and Southeast Asia for the inaugural Earthshot Youth Programme.

The Prince will learn how he and The Earthshot Prize can support the 18-35 year-olds on their mission to save the planet.

He'll also visit 2023 Earthshot Finalist Abalobi, which created game-changing technology for fishermen to demonstrate that they are fishing sustainably and in turn receive a fair price for their catch.

William will conclude his trip with a visit to meet seaweed businesses from the region to celebrate local innovation, learn about the diverse applications of seaweed in Africa and the potential for it to repair and regenerate the planet.

The main event will take place on Wednesday evening at Green Point Shared Fields - an eco-dome - where guests will walk the green carpet before the five 2024 Earthshot winners are announced.

Hosted by American actor Billy Porter and South African TV presenter Bonang Matheba, the fourth-annual Earthshot Prize Awards will feature special appearances from Davido, Heidi Klum, Ndlovu Youth Choir, Nina Dobrev, Robert Irwin and Winnie Harlow.

Those performing at the show were chosen with Gen-Z in mind, as part of Earthshot's focus on inspiring and engaging young people.

The awards night will be broadcast across the African continent and later released on BBCiPlayer with Kensington Palace, expecting millions of people to tune in and watch.

Sustainable fashion is a key theme for Earthshot, with the awards ceremony's green carpet providing a platform for guests to dress sustainably.

Last year William rewore a dark green velvet blazer that he wore to the awards in 2021 and the Princess of Wales rented a green gown for the 2022 ceremony in Boston.

Africa was chosen to host the 2024 awards ceremony as despite contributing the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, it is the most vulnerable continent to the impacts of climate change.

Since 2021 almost 1,000 African-focused solutions have been nominated for The Earthshot

Prize and nearly 1 in 5 of all existing Earthshot Finalists were founded or operate in Africa.

This will be The Prince of Wales' first official visit to South Africa since 2010 and his first to Africa since 2018 when he visited Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya.

It was during his 2018 trip that His Royal Highness was inspired to establish The Earthshot Prize.

Kensington Palace said: "His Royal Highness is looking forward to spending time with people from South Africa and across the wider continent, as well as celebrating the incredible climate solutions that will be spotlighted during The Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony."