BOSTON (WHDH) - Members of the Royal Family are Boston-bound after Prince William and Kate Middleton teamed up with the Red Sox to announce their upcoming trip this December.
The family has chosen Boston to host its annual award ceremony for a global environmental foundation called the Earthshot Prize.
The Earthshot Prize, which was founded by Prince William and the Royal Foundation in 2020, was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot,” and aims to discover the best solutions to help repair the planet.
Kelly Lynch, a Royal Expert who runs theduchessdiary.com, told 7NEWS Boston she believed Boston was the perfect fit to host the event.
“When they announced Boston I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s fantastic,” Lynch said. “Boston does so much for climate change, to make everything greener.”
The announcement comes on the anniversary of the moon landing. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation will serve as a host partner alongside Mayor Michelle Wu and the City of Boston as the global awards ceremony is brought to the U.S. for the first time.
On September 12, 1962, in a speech at Rice University, President Kennedy issued a challenge to the country: to land a man on the moon within a decade and bring them safely back to Earth. In July 1969, the Apollo 11 mission successfully landed the first two human beings on the moon.
“There is no more important Moonshot today than repairing the planet and no better place to harness the Moonshot spirit than the City of Boston,” said Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. “It is a great tribute to President Kennedy that The Earthshot Prize will partner with the JFK Library Foundation to host the 2022 ceremony in Boston and inspire a new generation with the possibility of a sustainable future.”
According to a release from the Earthshot Prize, “that spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship and service continues in the City of Boston sixty years later and serves as the inspiration for the selection of Boston as host city.”
“In Boston, we’re not just aiming to improve Boston’s ability to tackle climate change—we’re setting an example for how imaginative, community-driven climate leadership can reshape what’s possible. We are honored and excited that Boston has been selected to host the 2022 Earthshot Awards,” said Wu. “This is an opportunity to shine a global spotlight on our efforts to combat climate change and demonstrate that, together, we can meet the urgency this moment demands with innovative solutions that protect our planet and future generations.”
The release noted the Wu administration’s commitment to making Boston a “Green New Deal” city.
Every year, the Earthshot Prize finds and rewards solutions to five “Earthshot” goals – Protect and restore nature; Clean our air; Revive our oceans; Build a waste-free world; and Fix our climate.
These winning solutions will have the greatest impact on the biggest environmental challenges facing our planet and each winner will receive £1 million to scale their solutions.
The last time William and Kate were in the United States was in 2014, when they visited New York.
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