The Earthshot Prize Council

Prince William has long been an advocate for conserving the natural world. He has led international efforts to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade, through United for Wildlife, helped deliver an ivory ban in the UK, and continues to support many global initiatives that focus on conservation and ending human wildlife conflict. However, he believes that if we are to succeed in our fight to protect the planet, we need to redouble our efforts over the next decade. The launch of The Earthshot Prize comes after two years of work by Prince William and The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to develop a project which will support the global effort to protect and restore the environment.  As well as identifying evidence-based solutions to the biggest environmental problems the planet faces, The Earthshot Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism that we can rise to the biggest challenges of our time.

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah is an international human rights advocate whose work focuses on education, cross-cultural dialogue, and finding innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. A mother of four, Her Majesty has won international recognition for her efforts to shed light on the global plight of refugees and to promote acceptance between people of all cultures. Through her position on their boards, Queen Rania contributes to the work of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). She is also UNICEF’s first Eminent Advocate for Children, a member of the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Board of Advisors, and a recipient of several international awards for her humanitarian work.

Cate Blanchett is an internationally acclaimed and multi award-winning actress, producer, humanitarian, and dedicated member of the arts community. In recognition of her continued advocacy for the arts and support of humanitarian and environmental causes, Blanchett has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia in the General Division; the Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society; the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; the Stanley Kubrick Award for Excellence in Film; and the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Award for expanding the roles of women in film. She is a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, and was honoured with the Crystal Award at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos. She is also a Patron of the Sydney Film Festival; an Ambassador for the Australian Film Institute and The Old Vic theatre; a BFI Fellow; and a Lifetime Ambassador for the Australian Conservation Foundation. Blanchett holds Honorary Doctorates of Letters from the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, and Macquarie University.

Christiana Figueres is a Costa Rican citizen and an internationally recognized leader on climate change. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010 to 2016. During her tenure at the UNFCCC, Ms. Figueres brought together national and sub-national governments, corporations and activists, financial institutions and NGOs to jointly deliver the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, in which 195 sovereign nations agreed on a collaborative path forward to limit future global warming to well below 2°C, and strive for 1.5°C, in order to protect the most vulnerable. For this achievement, Ms. Figueres has been credited with forging a new brand of collaborative diplomacy and received multiple awards. Since then Ms. Figueres has continued to accelerate the global response to climate change. Today she is the co-founder of Global Optimism, co-host of the podcast “Outrage & Optimism” and is the co-author of the recently published book, “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.

Daniel Alves da Silva is a world renowned Brazilian football player that currently plays at São Paulo Futebol Clube and is the captain of the Brazilian national team. Throughout his career, he has won forty titles, which makes him one of the most successful players in football’s history. Amongst these titles, he has won three FIFA Club World Cups, three UEFA Champions Leagues, one UEFA Europa League and two FIFA Confederations Cups.  He started his career in Juazeiro, a small Brazilian city, in which he was born. He also played for Esporte Clube Bahia before he went to Spain, where his career took off. Between 2002 and 2008, he played for Sevilla Fútbol Club. In 2008, he was transferred to Futbol Club Barcelona, where he became internationally admired. He also had positive experiences with Paris Saint-Germain Football Club and Juventus Football Club before returning to Brazil. Despite his international success, he has never forgotten his home country, its people and their struggles, being a voice of the Brazilian people on several issues.

British broadcaster, writer, and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, is best known for his innovative and educational television programmes focussed on the natural world. His broadcasting career spans over 50 years and has seen Sir David visit every continent on the globe, documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. He has made and presented numerous landmark natural history series, including the iconic programmes Life on Earth, The Living Planet, Planet Earth, Blue Planet and Our Planet. Amongst many other accolades, Sir David was knighted for services to broadcasting in 1985.

Ernest Gibson is a youth climate activist from Fiji who currently sits on the 7-member United Nations Secretary General's Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change as the only Pacific Island representative. Ernest has worked in climate change projects across the Pacific, supporting community-led approaches to Climate Diplomacy and climate policy development. He works as a communications and development professional and has worked for development cooperation agencies like the European Union and INGOs like Oxfam. Ernest has a particular interest in development communications around bridging the gap between communities and the broader development sector, through circular communications and community engagement practices. Ernest now works as a technical officer in Risk Communication and Community Engagement at the World Health Organization's Western Pacific Office.  Prior to joining the WHO, Ernest worked for the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office, coordinating the Public Outreach component of the UN75 Campaign and supporting digital communications for the UN in the Pacific, across 10 countries.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim is an environmental activist and member of Chad’s pastoralist Mbororo community. She is a member of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC) and served as co-chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change during the historic Paris climate conference. Hindou began advocating for indigenous rights and environmental protection at age 16, founding the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) to build sustainable ecosystems and reduce nature-based resource conflicts. Her work with indigenous communities at the local and global level has achieved broad recognition and support including, the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award; the 2020 Refugees International Holbrooke Award; the Daniel Mitterrand Prize; appointment as a UN SDG Advocate, Conservation International Lui-Walton Senior Fellow; and National Geographic Explorer Hindou’s TED talk on Indigenous knowledge meets science to solve climate change has surpassed more than 1 million views.

Indra Nooyi is the former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo (2006-2019); a Fortune 50 company with operations in over 180 countries.

In this role, Mrs. Nooyi was the chief architect of Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo’s pledge to do what’s right for the business by being responsive to the needs of the world around us. As part of Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo was focused on delivering sustained growth by making more nutritious products, reducing its environmental footprint and protecting the planet, and empowering its associates and people in the communities it serves. During her tenure, PepsiCo grew net revenue more than 80%, and PepsiCo’s total shareholder return was 162%.

Mrs. Nooyi has received many prizes, accolades and honorary degrees over the years. In 2007, the Government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan, the country’s 3rd highest civilian honor. In 2007, she was named an “Outstanding American by choice” by the US State Department. In 2019, her portrait was inducted into the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Jack Ma founded Alibaba Group in 1999 and served as executive chairman of Alibaba Group from 1999 to September 2019. He served as chief executive officer of Alibaba Group from 1999 to May 2013. Jack currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum, president of the General Association of Zhejiang Entrepreneurs and chairman of the China Entrepreneur Club. He has been appointed by the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres as co-chair of the UN High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation since 2018. Jack also serves as a Global Board Member of The Nature Conservancy and is co-chair of the Paradise Foundation.

Luisa Neubauer, born in Hamburg in 1996, is one of the co-organisers of the climate strike movement and a prominent representative of the German movement in the media. In 2018 she met the Swedish student Greta Thunberg at the UN Climate Change Conference and then started the movement in Germany together with other activists. Since then, Luisa Neubauer has met various heads of state and government, participated in the world climate conference in Madrid and the World Economic Forum in Davos. In January 2020, Luisa Neubauer protested together with Fridays for Future against Siemens' participation in the planned Australian hard coal mine Carmichael and met Joe Kaeser several times. Luisa Neubauer completed a bachelor's degree in Geography in 2019. She is currently studying resource analysis and management as a master at the Georg-August University in Göttingen. Together with Alexander Repenning, she published the book “From the End of the Climate Crisis - a Story of our Future” in 2019. She is the host of the Spotify Original Podcast “1.5 Grad” (1.5 degrees) and writes a column for the German magazine “Stern”. Luisa Neubauer lives in Berlin. Photo Credit: Oguz Yilmaz

Yamazaki earned a Master of Engineering degree from University of Tokyo in 1996, then started working for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).  In 1999, she was selected as an astronaut candidate and was qualified as a Soyuz-TMA Flight Engineer in 2004 and NASA Mission Specialist in 2006.  On April 5, 2010 Yamazaki was onboard Space Shuttle Discovery on the crew of STS-131, an assembly & resupply mission to the International Space Station.

After retiring from JAXA in 2011, Yamazaki has been serving as a member of Space Policy Committee of Cabinet Office, and devoting herself to space education as an adviser of Young Astronaut Club and a chairperson of “Sorajo (women in aerospace)” under Japanese Rocket Society. As space education emphasizes the sustainability of the Earth, Yamazaki served as an official supporter for Education for Sustainable Development in 2014 and contributed to the round table of studying energy situations in 2017-2018.  To create an ecosystem in space as well as on the Earth, Yamazaki co-founded Space Port Japan Association in 2018 and is serving as its representative director.

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is an economist and international development expert with over 30 years of experience. Dr Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister, from 2003-2006, 2011-2015, and briefly as Foreign Minister, the first woman to hold both positions. She is Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and of the African Risk Capacity (ARC). She is Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. She also sits on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was recently appointed as AU Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19 and WHO Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. She has been ranked by Fortune as one of the 50 Greatest World Leaders in 2015, by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World consecutively for four years, by Time as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014, and by the UK Guardian as one of the Top 100 Women in the World in 2011.

Shakira is a Colombian singer-songwriter and multi-GRAMMY® award winner.  She has sold over 80 million records worldwide and has won numerous awards including three GRAMMYs®, eleven Latin GRAMMYs®, and several World Music Awards, American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards, to name a few.  Shakira’s last album "El Dorado” charted #1 on iTunes in 37 Countries, won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2017 Latin GRAMMY® Awards, and Best Latin Pop Album at the 2018 GRAMMY® Awards. With over 10 billion streams, it is one of the most-streamed female albums of all time, and Shakira is now 5th most-viewed artist of all time on YouTube. In November 2018 she wrapped her hugely successful El Dorado World Tour. She performed at Super Bowl LIV at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Feb 2nd in what became the most-viewed halftime show of all time, and is currently recording her next studio album. Since 1995, she has been building schools in Colombia and advocating for universal access to quality education worldwide. She has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2003, in addition to serving on President Obama's Advisory Commission for Educational Excellence for Hispanics and the UN's SDG Commission.

Yao Ming has been enthusiastically involved in philanthropic and public service work since his early days as a professional basketball player. He has leveraged his celebrity influence to promote environmental and conservation causes. His most notable work involves being an active conservation ambassador in partnership with Wildaid in its global campaigns to protect sharks, and to end illegal wildlife trade in ivory tusks and rhino horns. In 2008, Yao Ming was named by UNEP as its first ever Environmental Champion. Yao Ming is the founder of Yao Ming Foundation, dedicated to bringing physical education and team sports to children of rural China. He is also a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics. Yao Ming is a three-time Olympian, and he is also the first Asian player inducted into Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame after an illustrious career as an NBA player. In 2017 Yao Ming was elected unanimously as the Chairman of China National Basketball Association.