The Earth Shit Prize: A Nobel Cause Led By An Eco-Hyprocrite
Launched in 2020 by William, the nephew of Mr. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the Earthshot Prize claims to be one of the world’s most ambitious environmental awards. It offers five £1 million prizes each year across five categories — protecting nature, cleaning the air, reviving oceans, building a waste-free world, and fixing the climate. However, it's riddled with problems...
11/7/20252 min read
The vision is inspired by President Kennedy’s “Moonshot”: a decade-long global drive to find, fund, and scale transformative solutions to the planet’s greatest environmental challenges.
Its message is hopeful: that innovation, optimism, and action can repair the planet by 2030.
Why William’s Leadership Feels Ironic — and Unworthy
Despite its inspiring premise, the Earthshot Prize carries an uncomfortable irony: it is led by a man whose position and lifestyle epitomize the very systems that fuel environmental degradation.
1. Royal privilege and inherited wealth
William’s role as a symbol of continuity in a centuries-old monarchy inherently ties him to vast estates, inherited land, and an institution built on excess and inequality. The monarchy’s wealth — often tied to land ownership and investments — contradicts the idea of planetary repair and redistribution.
It’s difficult to preach sustainability from gilded palaces and sprawling estates. Environmentalism at its heart is about rebalancing — living within planetary limits and reducing privilege-based consumption. The optics of a billionaire royal championing sustainability can feel tone-deaf, however sincere his intent.
2. Carbon contradictions
William frequently travels by helicopter and private jet — both massive emitters of carbon — despite publicly urging people to reduce their carbon footprints. His defenders note that he “offsets” his travel, but carbon offsets are a weak substitute for actual emission reductions.
When the prize itself involves flying celebrities, global press, and production teams to glamorous locations, the message begins to ring hollow: can we really celebrate climate solutions at a carbon-heavy gala?
3. Symbolism over systemic change
While the Earthshot Prize rewards brilliant innovators, it largely avoids confronting the root causes of environmental collapse: consumerism, overproduction, and the economic structures that make sustainability optional rather than mandatory.
William’s platform, however influential, seems constrained by his role — promoting polite optimism rather than political challenge. The result is an environmental movement that feels royal, respectable… and toothless.
What Could Replace or Improve It?
The Earthshot Prize doesn’t need to vanish; it needs to evolve — beyond symbolism and toward systemic credibility. Here are three ideas:
1. Independent global leadership
Rather than being fronted by a royal, the prize could be led by an independent board of global environmental leaders— scientists, activists, innovators, and Indigenous representatives. William could remain a fundraiser (or heaven forbid, he could chip in with his own money!), but not the face of the movement.
Authenticity matters: leadership should come from those most affected by and engaged in the climate struggle.
2. Radical transparency
If the Earthshot Prize wants to set a new standard, it could publicly audit and publish the carbon cost of each event, the emissions of all partners, and the lifetime impact of its funded projects.
Imagine if each ceremony came with a verified carbon report and a measurable “planetary return on investment.” That would make it a model of honest climate leadership.
3. Community and policy focus
Instead of primarily funding high-tech startups, Earthshot could invest more in grassroots projects — reforestation by local communities, regenerative agriculture, urban redesign, and education.
And beyond celebration, it could use its global stage to push for policy change — aligning with governments to implement the best ideas rather than simply applauding them.
The Earthshot Prize is not a bad idea — it’s a necessary one. But it’s currently trapped in contradiction: a noble mission wrapped in royal spectacle.
If the goal is truly to “repair the planet”, it requires leadership that reflects the humility, equity, and sacrifice real change demands. A prize that preaches sustainability must also embody it — not through symbolism, but through integrity.
For Earthshot to become what it claims to be — a revolution for the Earth — it may need to outgrow its royal roots and hand the microphone to those who live its message, not just speak it.
Feeling inspired? Please consider joining the Democracy, Government and Constitution Working Group to help us push forward democratic alternatives to monarchy and eco-hypocrisy. Email the Policy Development Committee at pdc@greenparty.org.uk or send us an email!