Mumbai to host sixth Earthshot Prize Awards on November 17; organisers promise biggest edition yet

Mumbai will host the sixth annual Earthshot Prize Awards on Tuesday (November 17, 2026), with Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, attending the ceremony that will recognise five winners from among 15 finalists developing solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. The event will be part of a series of programmes organised during Earthshot Week, including the first-ever Children’s Earthshot Awards and an international gathering of environmental innovators, investors and business leaders.The royal couple will arrive in Mumbai on Monday (November 16, 2026), marking their first visit to India together since 2016. They are also scheduled to participate in a game of gully cricket alongside young people from communities across Mumbai at Ballard Estate.Speaking at a media briefing in Mumbai on Sunday (November 15, 2026), a Kensington Palace spokesperson said the Prince and Princess were looking forward to returning to India after a decade.“The Prince is hugely excited to be here. For him, Earthshot has always been about urgent optimism—not simply talking about the environmental challenges facing our planet, but identifying the people who are solving them and helping those solutions reach more people more quickly,” the spokesperson said.The spokesperson said India had produced more Earthshot Prize winners and finalists than any other country, making it a fitting destination for what organisers described as their largest Earthshot programme yet.The Earthshot Prize, founded by Prince William in 2020, identifies and supports environmental solutions across five categories. Each of the five winners will receive £1 million to help scale their innovations.The awards ceremony on Tuesday will feature appearances and performances by several Indian and international celebrities, including Sachin Tendulkar, Alia Bhatt, Shreya Ghoshal, Rami Malek and British pop group Take That.The ceremony will also feature the first Earthshot Orchestra, with Mumbai-based all-female hip-hop collective Wild Wild Women performing a version of The Chemical Brothers’ Galvanize. Take That will perform their new song Higher ,alongside one of their popular hits, while Indian composer Shashwat Sachdev will close the show.For the first time, the ceremony will be streamed through Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories, organisers said.The Earthshot Prize’s Executive Director of Communications said the organisation had considered nearly 7,000 nominations from 169 countries since 2020. This year’s finalists represent a range of approaches, from community-led environmental initiatives to artificial intelligence-based climate technologies.For the first time, major corporations are among the finalists, including India’s Mahindra Last Mile Mobility and Denmark’s Ørsted.The royal couple will also attend the inaugural Children’s Earthshot Awards on Tuesday. According to organisers, the programme has engaged more than 15,000 schools across 24 Indian states, encouraging students to develop their own solutions to environmental challenges.The event will feature Earthshot Prize ambassadors Robert Irwin and Nomzamo Mbatha, alongside actor Simone Ashley. The Prince and Princess are expected to interact with young participants and learn about their environmental initiatives.On Monday, the Earthshot Prize will host its Impact Assembly in Mumbai, bringing together environmental innovators, investors, businesses and international partners to discuss ways to expand promising climate solutions.Prince William is expected to address the gathering and meet finalists, partners and supporters of the Earthshot community. Organisers said new partnerships aimed at expanding environmental solutions to hundreds of millions of people worldwide would be unveiled during the assembly.The programme also includes Generation Earthshot, which has brought together 130 young climate leaders from India, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and Latin America.Acting British High Commissioner to India Ben Mellor said India was an important partner in addressing global environmental challenges, highlighting cooperation between the two countries in clean energy, finance and climate resilience.“India’s ability to innovate and scale solutions makes it a natural home for The Earthshot Prize,” Mr. Mellor said.He added that the visit came at an important time for U.K.-India relations, with growing cooperation across trade, technology, clean energy, education and security.Organisers said the Mumbai edition would be the largest Earthshot Prize programme so far, bringing together environmental innovators, young climate leaders, businesses and international partners to accelerate solutions to climate and environmental challenges.