Inside the Earthshot Prize 2025: Royal Vision, Real Change
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a year when climate news can feel relentlessly bleak, the Earthshot Prize offers something vital - proof of progress. And in this year’s fifteen finalists, that proof is taking many forms, across many corners of the globe.
This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Fiona McRaith bring us behind the scenes of the Earthshot Prize. Recorded in Rio de Janeiro as the world’s attention turned to the 2025 ceremony.
As Chair of the Earthshot Prize, Christiana reflects on Prince William’s vision to turn his platform into a catalyst for global good, and how the Prize has evolved into one of the most visible platforms for environmental innovation. Tom and Christiana sit down with Jason Knauf, CEO of The Earthshot Prize, who shares how the idea first took shape during a trip to Africa and what it means to inject “a big dent of optimism” into the climate story. Christiana also speaks with Nonette Royo of the Tenure Facility - one of this year’s finalists - about empowering Indigenous communities to protect forests and secure land rights.
Later, Fiona takes us inside the Earthshot hub in Rio to speak with more of this year’s finalists. Omoyemi Akerele of Lagos Fashion Week, Runa Khan of Friendship in Bangladesh, and Fred Holt of Key Quarter Tower in Sydney share what this recognition means for their work and the change they hope to spark in their fields.
From floating hospitals to circular fashion, from forest protection to upcycled skyscrapers, hear the extraordinary creativity driving climate action around the world - and the energy building as the Earthshot movement looks toward its next chapter.
Learn more:
⚡Explore all this year’s Earthshot Prize finalists and winners
📜 Read Christiana in the Economist on the innovation driving climate action
🌍Join the global citizens demanding faster action on climate change
🌊 Listen to our episode Hope for the High Seas on the "blue marble"!
🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
Follow us on social media for behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:
Instagram @outrageoptimism
LinkedIn @outrageoptimism
Or get in touch with us via this form.
Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Edited by: Miles Martignoni
Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay, so this is so exciting. We're here at the launch of the Earth Shop Prize. |
| 0:05.0 | This is the award winners are going to be on that stage in about 15 minutes time, together with some incredible music performances. I've run into my old friend Leah Seligman, who runs the B team. So, Leah, what do you feel? Is this the first one you've been to? This is my first Earth shot, and it's amazing to see the energy. You really feel like things are actually happening here |
| 0:21.4 | and it's positive and courageous and exciting. |
| 0:24.7 | Amazing, all right, let's do it. |
| 0:26.5 | Welcome, the founder and president of the Earthshot Prize. |
| 0:32.9 | Is Your Highness Prince William. |
| 0:42.3 | The choices we made during this decade will define us. But more importantly, they will define their lives of young people. |
| 0:47.3 | The future belongs to them. |
| 0:49.3 | There are us who will continue to drive one hand to pause. So tonight, if only seems fitting, we should hear about their vision, Miguel. |
| 1:00.0 | Hello and welcome to outrage and optimism. |
| 1:03.0 | Hello and welcome to ourrage and Optimism. |
| 1:12.1 | I'm Tom Riffickane. |
| 1:12.9 | And I'm Christina Figueres. |
| 1:14.5 | Welcome to our special episode on the Earthshop Prize. |
| 1:17.0 | Thanks for being here. |
| 1:21.8 | So, Cristiano, we are now actually a few days in the past from the audio that our listeners will have just heard. |
| 1:27.9 | It's Monday morning. You have an incredibly busy few days ahead of you. Wait a second. How are we in the |
| 1:32.9 | past? We're actually recording this. Yeah, we're recording it in the past. It's nice, isn't it? |
| 1:37.3 | It's time warp. You have an incredibly busy few days ahead of you as chair of the Earthshot Prize. |
| 1:45.1 | This is the Earthshot week here in Rio and it's going to culminate on Wednesday night with the award ceremony where |
| 1:50.3 | the winners of this year's five categories will be announced. So what we want to do here is to give |
| 1:55.5 | our listeners a bit of a sense of the context and the background of the Earthshot Prize as well as |
... |
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