William holds video call with Boston mayor ahead of city hosting Earthshot Prize

Over the 10-year cycle of the awards, £50 million will be awarded to individuals, charities and even countries for the winners to develop their ideas.

The Prince of Wales (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Wire)

The Prince of Wales has held a video call with the mayor of Boston ahead of the city hosting the royal’s Earthshot Prize awards.

William chatted to mayor Michelle Wu about Boston’s work on sustainability and ongoing preparations for the December event, said Kensington Palace.

The inaugural Earthshot Prize awards ceremony was held at London’s Alexandra Palace last October and among those who walked the event’s “green carpet” were Harry Potter star Emma Watson, wearing a wedding dress made of 10 dresses from Oxfam, and Dame Emma Thompson.

The prize aims to discover and scale-up groundbreaking solutions to repair the planet and £1 million in prize money was presented to the winners in five categories, or Earthshots – protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.

Among the winners were projects restoring coral reefs, redistributing unwanted food to the disadvantaged and a project battling the issues contributing to air pollution in India.

Kate, now the Princess of Wales, presented the winning award in the protect and restore nature category to the government of Costa Rica, which has pioneered a project paying local citizens to restore natural ecosystems.

Over the 10-year cycle of the awards, £50 million will be awarded to individuals, charities and even countries for the winners to develop their ideas.

It remains to be seen whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have made their home in the US, will be among the guests when the event is staged in early December.