Prince William has teamed up with global leaders to continue finding solutions for climate change worldwide.
Ahead of his second annual Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit, the Prince of Wales laughed and said he went for a "beautiful" and "sunny" run in Central Park on Tuesday morning to get some "fresh air" with New Yorkers.
While Prince William’s ambitious environmental program aims to find new ideas and technologies around the world to tackle climate change and Earth’s most pressing challenges, the royal admitted he’s growing "impatient" waiting for the momentum to move quicker.
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When Vaitea Cowan, co-founder of Enapter — a lighthouse project for green hydrogen in Southeast Asia — sat down with the royal for the "fireside chat," she asked William what he envisioned for the future of the Earthshot Prize.
"For now, we’re quite keen on the scale… when we scale up [solutions], how can we have the biggest change? For me, that’s something I haven’t quite cracked yet, is ‘how do we scale faster?’" William responded.
"I’m impatient with all this," he quipped. "You guys provide the product… the inspiration, the solution, my role is to get you as big, as fast and as scalable as possible… We've still got some work to do on that."
Prince William has collaborated with Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies to reveal this year’s 15 Earthshot Prize finalists and introduce groundbreaking climate and environmental solutions.
During the prestigious environmental summit, the royal is being joined by business leaders and philanthropists, including Bill Gates and World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés.
While the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit marked Climate Week in New York, the royal met with Ecuador's President Lasso Mendoza at the Consul General Official Residence at the United Nations ahead of the global event.
The Prince of Wales greeted President Mendoza and the first lady of Ecuador in front of an Andy Warhol print of Queen Elizabeth II, William's grandmother. The meeting comes one year after her funeral. The longest-reigning British monarch died Sept. 8, 2022.
Prince William reportedly discussed with Mendoza that he was "reminding himself of all the fantastic work that Ecuador has done" for the environment, before listing specific environmental initiatives.
During the meeting between Prince William and Mendoza, the royal shared his experience during his Billion Oyster Project on Governors Island, as he said it was "good to be back in the United States."
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"No one does optimism and ingenuity like the American people, so it’s only right we unveil this year's Earthshot finalists in New York City," Prince William said Monday. "Eighty years ago, the world came together in this great city to find a new way, through the U.N., to solve our shared challenges."
The Billion Oyster Project is a nonprofit focusing on oyster reef restoration in New York Harbor in collaboration with communities in New York.
Before Prince William's visit with the president of Ecuador, he met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, discussing issues on climate change and sustainable development.
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Meanwhile, it is William's second visit to the U.S. in recent months, with William and Kate both on hand in Boston for the second annual Earthshot Prize awards in December.
The Princess of Wales did not join the prince for this particular trip.
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Princess Kate stayed in the U.K. and visited a youth charity called Streets of Growth, which aims to transform the lives of young individuals in the face of adversity.
"It was great to meet some of the young people and communities, and those working with them, to see how they are flourishing under the charity’s programmes," the Prince and Princess of Wales shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Princess Kate was inspired to visit the American organization after she and Prince William visited in Boston last year.
The Princess of Wales was additionally seen speaking about mental health for a podcast and posed for some photos during her charity visit.
