Prince William met Amazon chief Jeff Bezos during the Cop26 summit. This comes just days after Prince William urged billionaires in space to put their money and minds into fixing planet Earth.
The 39-year old Duke of Cambridge was seen shaking hands yesterday with the American entrepreneur, who is the world’s most successful man, at the climate conference in Glasgow.
According to reports, the pair discussed the newly launched Earthshot Prize (an environmental award scheme created by the Royal Foundation of the Cambridges),
The image, shared on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official Twitter page, was accompanied with the caption: ‘Great to meet Jeff Bezos earlier today to discuss the Earthshot Prize and how we scale up our Winners’ and Finalists’ incredible solutions.’
Last week, the prince attacked the race to leave Earth and suggested that instead we need the greatest minds and minds in the world to ‘fix this planet’.
The comments, made in an interview with BBC Newscast’s Adam Fleming at Kensington Palace, came hours after Bezos blasted Star Trek’s William Shatner into space aboard his Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
The Duke of Cambridge, 39, was pictured shaking hands with the American entrepreneur – the world’s richest man – at the climate conference in Glasgow yesterday
The pair, who yet yesterday, are said to have discussed the newly launched Earthshot Prize, an environmental award scheme set up by the Cambridges’ Royal Foundation
The comments were made in an interview with Adam Fleming, BBC Newscast, at Kensington Palace. They were made hours after Bezos launched William Shatner, Star Trek’s Captain, into space aboard his Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Pictured: Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez and his New Shepard rocket
The comments were made by the royal as William Shatner, a sci-fi star best known for his role in Captain Kirk’s 1960s series, soared 351,186 feet above the Earth’s surface in New Shepard
Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, had revealed days earlier that he would like Tesla cars to be built on Mars.
The Duke said in an interview about climate change that he needed the “greatest brains and minds” to focus on repairing the planet and not looking for the next place to live.
The royal’s comments came as William Shatner, who is famed for his role as Captain Kirk in the 1960s sci-fi series, ventured 351,186 feet above Earth’s surface where he spent three minutes in weightlessness with astronauts Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries and Audrey Powers.
Shatner, who was shaking as he emerged from the capsule with his hands in his pockets, immediately wrapped his arms around Blue Origin and Amazon founders and stated that he was struck at the vulnerability of Earth’s atmosphere and its relative lightness.
He said, “Everybody in the universe needs to do it,”
“To see the blue colour whirl by and now you’re staring at blackness, that’s what it’s all about.
“The blue blanket, this sheath and blanket, the comforter of this blue that we have around us, we say, “Oh, that is blue sky.”
“And then suddenly you shoot through everything, and it all becomes blackness, black ugliness.
“As you look down, you’ll see your blue down there with your black up there. There is Mother Earth and comfort and there is — is there death? I don’t know. Is this the way death is?
“I don’t know. Was that death? Is this the way death is?
Shatner broke down and told Bezos, “I’m so overwhelmed with emotion with what just occurred.” I pray that I never forget this.
“It’s so bigger than me and life, it hasn’t got anything to do w/ the little green orb.
The space venture was announced just one week after Elon Musk (50), who has a SpaceX Mars programme that aims to place humans on Mars said that although it may not be possible in the near future, the idea of an “off-planet facility” for his cars was still possible in his lifetime.
Musk stated that Tesla’s first off-planet facility was many years away during the shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas.
“I mean, before I die, I would like one. That would be cool.
“So, I don’t really know what we got for 40 years. Hopefully, it will be before I die. That would be amazing.
Tesla currently has four manufacturing facilities in Earth: Fremont (California), Sparks (Nevada), Buffalo, New York (focused solely on solar energy), and Shanghai, China.
During his interview Prince William spoke about the importance of our actions now – as he warned that inaction on Climate change will ‘rob from our children’s future’.
During an interview with Adam Fleming, BBC Newscast at Kensington Palace, Prince William criticised the race for Earth to end during a discussion about the race to leave Earth.
Prince William (pictured left) stated that Prince Charles was a “really rough ride” but that he was a ‘well ahead the curve’ in terms of the environment.
The prince praised his father The Prince of Wales (pictured), 72, as he warned that inaction on climate change will ‘rob from our children’s future’
The comments of the royal came just hours after Star Trek’s William Shatner, at 90, became the oldest person to have ever been in space. This was following a trip aboard the rocket of Jeff Bezos, an Amazon tycoon.
He said: ‘I want the things that I’ve enjoyed – the outdoor life, nature, the environment – I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else’s children.
“If we’re not careful, we’re robbing our future children’s of what we do now.
“And I think that’s unfair. I want to use some of my influence to highlight extraordinary people doing amazing things and help to fix some of these problems.
He also spoke out about his concerns regarding the climate conference, speaking ahead of the Cop26.
He said, “It is crucial for COP to communicate very clearly to the public what the problems are and the solutions.
“We can’t have cleverer talk, clever words, but not enough action.”
The father-of-three, who shares Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, said his father Prince Charles had a ‘a really rough ride’ but was ‘well ahead of the curve’ on the environment.
He stated, “It’s been hard road for.” [my father].
My grandfather was an early supporter of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), and I believe that my father continued that work and started to talk about climate change. This was before anyone else even thought it was a topic.
“So yes. He’s had a really rough time on that, but I think you know he has been proven to be well ahead.
“Well beyond his time in warning of some of these dangers.
“But it shouldn’t have been that there’s now a third generation coming along to increase it even further.
“And you know, it would be a disaster if George was sat here talking with you or your successor Adam, you know in like thirty years’ time, still saying the exact same thing, because then it will be too late.
He stated that his views had changed since he had children and that he wanted the same things he enjoyed as a child.
“If we don’t take care, we are robbing our children’s future by what we do now. That’s unfair.
During his interview the duke also expressed his concerns about a rise in climate anxiety in young people.
He said, “We are witnessing a rise in climate anxiousness. People, young people are now growing up in a world where their futures are threatened all the time.
He stated, “It is very unnerving and it can be very, you know. anxiety making.”
As he emerged yesterday from his capsule, the Amazon tycoon smiled at Star Trek actor
Along with meeting Prince William, Bezos – who flew to Glasgow on his $65million Gulf Stream private jet – elbow bumped with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, while Mike Bloomberg met with Prince William at the A-list climate event.
He was later accused of hypocrisy for telling world leaders that he went to space and realized how thin the planet’s atmosphere was. Then he said that the private sector must also reduce carbon emissions.
He also arrived at the UN climate change summit in his £48m private jet, fresh from celebrating Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ 66th birthday on a £2million-a-week superyacht off the coast of Turkey.
At Cop26, Bezos pledged $2billion (£1.47 billion) for land restoration in Africa, paid as part of the Bezos Earth Fund.
He told delegates: ‘I was told that seeing the Earth from space changes the lens through which you see the world.
“But I wasn’t prepared for how true that would be.” The atmosphere looks so thin when you look up at the earth from high up.
“The world is finite and fragile.”
“Now in this critical year and what we all know to be the decisive decade, it is time for us all to stand together to defend our world.
Nadia Whittome, Labour MP from Nottingham East, was one of Mr Bezos’s critics. Whittome called him a “hypocrite” and wrote: “Amazon has a greater carbon footprint than most countries.
Lavern Spicer, a US Republican Congress candidate, said that while you’re at home turning off lights or keeping your thermostat down, Jeff Bezos’s $65m Gulf Stream led a parade of 400 private aircraft into COP26. WE are the joke they are LAUGHING at!
Other commenters encouraged the tycoon not to pay taxes and suggested that the fact he was giving a lecture about green issues after going into space was an example of how the one percent live different to the rest.
Bezos previously indicated the investment would be $1billion (£732million) at an event with Prince William’s father the Prince of Wales on Monday.
Last month Prince William held the first £50million Earthshot Prize, which aims to encourage the world’s greatest problem-solvers to find answers to the planet’s biggest environment problems.
The Royal Foundation, a charity supporting the Duke and Duchess’s philanthropic efforts organizes the awards.
The five winners came from all corners of the globe, including India, Costa Rica, India and a whole country. They were chosen because they had innovative solutions for the most difficult environmental challenges we face.
Each of the Earthshot prize winners will receive a grant worth £1million pounds.
Along with the prize, 14 global brands and companies, including Microsoft, Unilever Ikea, Walmart and Ikea, have agreed support and scale the ideas of the 15 finalist.
Prince William, who has been a long-standing supporter of conservation charities in Africa and led work against illegal wildlife trafficking, has awarded the award.
The prince spoke previously about his idea for Earthshot after visiting Namibia in 2018. He was then ‘hit by global pessimism at climate change negotiations’, which he feared could lead to a growing sense dejection.
Elon Musk of SpaceX, the founder, said last week that his ambitious plans include putting humans on Mars. He also revealed that he would love to build cars there.
He stated that the headlines were dominated “by a feeling that world leaders were not moving quickly enough”,
“There was widespread finger-pointing, political and geographical division. It wasn’t an inspiring sight for those of us who were at home.
He said, “It seemed to me (and this is supported by my team’s research), that there was an actual risk that people would turn off; that they would feel depressed, fearful, and so powerless that any real hope for progress would be stopped.”
“You could summarise the mood with a simple equation: urgency + Pessimism = Despondency.”
Clara Amfo hosted Earthshot at Alexandra Palace, London last month. Dermot O’Leary hosted the event.
The Duke of Cambridge announced the 15 finalists of his £50million Earthshot Prize last month
“The prize itself will stimulate solutions, action, that not a lot people have necessarily produced yet, so I’m hoping, You know, the prize prize will galvanise lots of people in positions to, you Know, go further, larger, and actually start to deliver,” the duke stated.
Cop26 is the deadline for countries to present more ambitious plans within a five-year cycle to put the world on track to achieve the Paris goals.
The 2015 Paris Agreement commits countries that they will keep temperature rises below 2C above preindustrial levels. They will also pursue efforts to limit them below 1.5C, which is the threshold at which the most severe climate impacts will be felt.