The Earthshot Prize becomes an independent charity

After two incredibly successful years as part of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Earthshot Prize has formally become an independent charity. We will continue to work in close partnership with the Foundation, and Prince William, who founded the Prize in 2022, will take on the role of President.

Four new trustees have also been appointed to the Board, joining Christiana Figueres, who is Chair, David Fein, who is Vice-Chair, and Founding Trustee, ‘Tokunboh Ishmael. They are:

• M Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International, an environmental non-profit dedicated to protecting the nature humanity needs, which has been a supportive Global Alliance Partner since The Earthshot Prize launched in 2020
• Jason Knauf, Global Leadership Fellow at Conservation International who has worked on the Prize since its conception in his former role as CEO of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
• Zoë Ware, former Assistant Private Secretary to The Duke of Cambridge, who oversaw the creation of The Earthshot Prize from Kensington Palace and now works for the FCDO
• Jean Christophe Gray in an ex-officio role as the Private Secretary to The Duke of Cambridge.

Together, the Trustees will offer globally diverse perspectives and drive the Prize forward as it continues to scale up and achieve its ambition to repair our planet in this decisive decade.

The second cohort of Earthshot Prize Finalists will be announced this autumn with Winners awarded at a Ceremony hosted in the USA later in the year.

“This is an enormously exciting step for The Earthshot Prize and we’re thrilled to welcome the new Trustees to our board. This year will see the Prize deliver its most important work to date as we continue to speed and scale the ground breaking work of our 2021 Finalists, whilst searching for this year’s Winners.”

– Christiana Figueres, Chair of The Earthshot Prize