Robert Irwin Joins Prince William’s Earthshot Prize in New Role

Robert Irwin has a royally good gig with Prince William‘s Earthshot Prize.

The 20-year-old conservationist was named alongside South African actress Nomzamo Mbatha as the first-ever Earthshot Global Ambassadors. Both have several million social media followers, which is part of why they’ve been chosen to use their platforms to spotlight Earthshot solutions.

“I’m very excited and proud to announce that I’m officially an Earthshot Prize Ambassador,” Irwin said in a video via social media on Tuesday, September 3. “My entire life has been centered around conservation and continuing an important legacy that my dad [the late Steve Irwin] and my family [mom Terri and sister Bindi] started, and it’s given me a real deep appreciation for the need to repair and restore our ecosystems.”

He continued, “The Earthshot Prize does such a great job at not only creating that really broad large-scale societal and environmental change, but it also supports the on-the-ground initiatives, the cutting-edge technology, the most passionate individuals and organizations. Being an Earthshot Prize Ambassador means I’ll get to take you guys along on the journey as we find out what some of the Earthshot finalists are doing and really showcasing the hope that we have for the future.”

The Earthshot Prize was launched in 2020 by the Prince of Wales and natural historian Sir David Attenborough to find innovative climate change solutions. Fifteen finalists receive support from Earthshot’s global partners while five winners are awarded £1 million (or $1.3 million in U.S. dollars) to scale their solutions. The annual awards ceremony will be held in South Africa in November.

Earlier this year, the Prince of Wales, 42, helped Robert celebrate the life of his late father, Steve, who died at age 44 following a stingray accident in 2006. He sent a video to the Steve Irwin Gala in Las Vegas, which was shared via social media at the time.

“Tonight is all about conservation and continuing Steve’s global mission to protect life on our planet,” William said in his May video. “His dream was to have the cleanest water, the freshest air and wildlife in abundance. But most of all, he wanted a future for our children. Advocating for the preservation of life on our planet. It is a passion I share and it is why I launched the Earthshot Prize, to search for and scale the most innovative solutions to the world’s greatest environmental challenges. Our mission is to protect and restore our planet in this critical decade leading up to 2030.”

Robert, a native Australian, also previously voiced his support for William’s initiative. “It’s hard to put into words just how massive Earthshot is for wildlife conservation, for climate action, for the world,” Robert told People last year while attending the awards ceremony in Singapore. “For Prince William, who has such a great platform, to lend his voice, his resources into creating positive change is such a refreshing, wonderful thing to see. I applaud what he is doing.”