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Prince William to give TED talk

Prince William is to give a virtual TED talk on climate change.

The Duke of Cambridge will join a star-studded panel at TED’s Countdown Global Launch on 10 October where he and the likes of Jaden Smith, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Al Gore will discuss with engineers, environmentalists and activists how the world can tackle global warming to ensure a better future for the planet.

The 38-year-old royal will take part in the fourth and final session of the conference, which is titled ‘Breakthroughs’ and described as “exploring the nexus of protection, regeneration and transformation using powerful examples.”

An online description of the meeting continued: “The world around us is mainly made of two things: nature and the materials that we extract from it.

“To fight climate change, we need to protect and regenerate nature and transform materials into low or zero-carbon alternatives.”

Part of the conference’s overall aim is to work to find a way to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by half by the year 2030.

The event will be streamed live online on YouTube, with further events planned throughout 2021 ahead of the Countdown Summit in Edinburgh next October.

Late last year, William launched his own climate change initiative, the Earthshot prize.

The venture was aimed at rewarding new ideas and searching for leading innovators, and was unveiled just a week before his father, Prince Charles, unveiled his own environmental endeavour, the Sustainable Markets Council.

The Prince of Wales’ deputy private secretary Scott Furssedonn-Wood previously insisted there was no conflict between the two initiatives as they were both aiming to “find solutions”.

He said in January: “There is no monopoly on action. As long as everyone is pointing in the right direction on this. The prince and [William] are delighted that they have parallel opportunities to pursue the same objectives.”