Prince William, in biodegradable sneakers, attends his Earthshot environment awards in South Africa

Britain's Prince William poses with Billy Porter and Bonang Matheba before the start of the Earthshot Prize Award ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -

Prince William wore white biodegradable sneakers as he walked the “green carpet” at his Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Cape Town on Wednesday, the centerpiece of a four-day environment-focused trip to South Africa by the heir to the British throne.

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The Prince of Wales set up the Earthshot Prize in 2020 to help entrepreneurs develop their climate-friendly businesses and he took the annual awards ceremony to Africa — the continent where he conceived the idea — for the first time this week.

“We want to make this the decade in which we transform the world for good, one solution at a time, from the ground up,” William said in a speech on stage in a giant reusable dome that was put up for the ceremony near Cape Town's harbor.

The Earthshot Prize, which William set up through his Royal Foundation, awarded $1.2 million in grants to five businesses for their sustainable, eco-friendly innovations. The winners included an American company that developed technology to use heat waste from heavy industries to generate electricity, a Ghanaian organization that trains people to collect and manage waste, and a Kazakhstan conservation group that is protecting a vast grassland and saving the Saiga antelope from extinction.

William, wearing his no-plastic sneakers and a classic double-breasted gray blazer, said his Earthshot Prize was created “to champion the dreamers, the thinkers and the innovators from every walk of life who share an ambition to build a better, more sustainable world.”

The Earthshot Prize said it has raised around $110 million to support its projects.

William pulled in some star power, with “America's Got Talent” judge Heidi Klum, Canadian model Winnie Harlow and rapper Tobe Nwigwe, who has Nigerian heritage, presenting awards. Actor-singer Billy Porter was a co-host for the evening.

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William arrived in Cape Town on Monday and his engagements throughout the week have been heavily focused on climate change and conservation. He met with young environmentalists from his Earthshot youth program, went on a nature walk near Cape Town's Table Mountain to highlight the work of conservation rangers, attended a global wildlife summit, and visited a botanical garden. He will spend time at a sea rescue base and meet local fishermen on the final day of his visit on Thursday.

William's wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis did not travel with him, although William wore a bracelet with the letters “Papa” that he said Charlotte made for him.

Kate has only recently returned to some public duties after treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer. Ahead of Wednesday's awards, William told the BBC that Kate was doing “really well” and has been “amazing this whole year.”

William has long-standing links to Africa and traveled to the continent as a boy after his mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a car crash in 1997. Kate and William got engaged at a wildlife conservancy in Kenya in 2010.

William met South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the president's Cape Town residence this week and South Africa's second biggest city has paid tribute to the prince's visit by lighting up the face of its iconic Table Mountain in green to recognize his environmental awards.

“Africa’s been a big part of my life since I’ve been a young boy, since I first came to Africa,” William said. "Every time I come here I can be myself and get away from all the stuff that happens in my normal life. And so it’s a really special place, a home from home for me.”