Eco-dome will host the William Earthshot Prize ceremony in South Africa

The Prince of Wales Earthshot Prize ceremony will take place in the eco-dome during the glittering event in Cape Town.

William’s trophy presentation moment, dubbed the “Super Bowl”, will be broadcast to a potential African audience of millions and streamed online.

On Monday, the heir to the throne will begin a four-day visit to South Africa called Earthshot Week, which will feature young African environmentalists and include a meeting with the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

William will also give what Kensington Palace described as a landmark speech on nature, the environment and supporting wildlife rangers, at the start of a two-day summit of United for Wildlife, his umbrella organization fighting the illegal animal trade.

Hannah Jones, CEO of the Earthshot Prize, said Earthshot Week is “dedicated to celebrating environmental innovation, accelerating solutions to scale, and inspiring young people to invest their time and talent in fixing the planet one solution at a time; this represents over a year and a half of work on the continent with our partners and stakeholders.”

She added: “Unlike most awards, we don’t reward people for what they’ve already achieved, we reward people for the future potential of their solutions.

“And we don’t stop there: since our founding in 2021, we have built a network of more than 500 organizations and partners dedicated to finding and supporting solutions.”

The ceremony will take place on Wednesday in the reusable dome, which has been used for a number of events, with around 600 jobs created or working on the structure’s construction.

The green Earthshot carpet has been a fixture since William first hosted the awards ceremony three years ago in London, and the 2,000 guests are expected to wear eco-friendly clothing, made from recycled materials or previously worn clothing as they walk the famous walkway .

Finalists from countries including France, Ghana, Indonesia and Nepal are competing for a £1 million prize fund awarded to each winner across five categories, with the money earmarked to develop their ideas.

Five categories, or Earthshots: nature protection and restoration; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a zero-waste world; and fix our climate.

The initiative was inspired by former US President John F. Kennedy’s Moonshot Project, which challenged scientists to send an astronaut to the Moon and return him safely – and promoted technology development in the process.

Finalists in the Building a Zero-Waste World category include Keep It Cool, a Kenyan company using solar-powered refrigeration to help farmers reduce crop waste.

The Climate Fix category features American company Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems, which converts excess heat generated during steel or cement production into electricity.

UK startup NatureMetrics, a finalist in the Nature Conservation and Restoration competition, uses environmental DNA technology to identify species populations and report environmental and conservation impacts.

Previous Earthshot finalists and winners are in talks with British Airways about a partnership to integrate their innovations into the company’s supply chain.

Notpla, which makes seaweed-based food packaging, is one of the companies along with Enso, a startup that makes more efficient, low-emission tires for electric vehicles.