In a video released on February 17, 2026, Prince William revealed the next host of his famous Earthshot Prize. He announced the global environmental awards will be taking place in Mumbai in November, taking the event to India for the first time.
The announcement was made during the inaugural Mumbai Climate Week and the award ceremony is expected to bring together environmental leaders, philanthropists and investors from across the world. In the clip shared on the Prince of Wales’ social media account, William, 43, could be heard praising the South-Asian sub-continent for it’s climate leadership.
“The Earthshot Prize in Rio built incredible momentum for the Earthshot decade.
Now, I’m delighted to reveal where we’re going next,” said the heir to the throne. Calling India a “global technology leader” he revealed that it is home to “8% of the world’s biodiversity” and is “the world’s fastest growing major economy with the largest population of young people in the world. “
“We must continue to look to the future with urgency and optimism, which is why I am delighted that Mumbai will host The Earthshot Prize 2026,” Prince William said in a statement on Tuesday.
“India is one of the world’s most important forces for climate and nature. What succeeds in India at scale has the power to inspire progress everywhere. With the largest population of young people in the world, there is a real sense of momentum – to not only imagine a better future, but to inspire change and make it a reality. Together we can rise to meet our greatest challenge, to repair and restore our planet by 2030. ”
Additionally, he pointed out that the country is home to more “Earthshot Prize finalists and winners than any other country on the planet.
We are going to India” he said. India is home to seven Earthshot finalists, twice in 2021 and 2022, and once in every subsequent year of the awards. Previous winners include S4S Technologies, which used solar-powered dryers to reduce food waste among farmers, and Boomitra, which incentivised soil restoration through a verified carbon-credit marketplace. Kheyti’s “greenhouse-in-a-box” supported small farmers facing climate-affected harvests while Takachar developed technology to reduce emissions from agricultural waste burning.
CEO of the Earthshot Prize, Jason Knauf described the event as “one of the biggest celebrations of climate leadership the world has ever seen,” in a statement on the website.
The Prince will be expected to travel to the country for the awards that celebrate innovators and investors finding solutions to the planet’s environmental problems. Founded by the Prince in 2020, the Earthshot Prize annually awards $1 million to winners in five categories, and is set to run for a decade.
The categories include themes like protecting and restoring nature, cleaning the air, reviving oceans, building a waste-free world, and fixing the climate.
The inaugural awards took place in London in 2021 and have been followed by Boston, Singapore, Cape Town, South Africa, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. These have all been attended by the Prince while Princess Kate was present in London and Boston in 2022. Since its launch, the prize has acknowledged more than 5,600 environmental innovations from 156 countries and awarded £25m to winners along with scoring $500m in investment and philanthropy to scale the projects.
Prince William and Princess Kate last went to India in 2016, as part of a successful and extensive tour of the country, and will now be returning a decade later.
