Your Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales,

Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

1       Let me first of all congratulate everyone who has worked so hard over many months to bring The Earthshot Prize to Singapore.  Special thanks to His Royal Highness Prince William for founding and inspiring Earthshot.  To Hannah Jones and your team, we have enjoyed working so closely with you and admire your relentless drive; to our Strategic Partners - Temasek, GenZero, Conservation International, Temasek Trust and its ecosystem partners, thank you for your excellent support to bring about this week-long series of events.

2       What an incredible Awards Ceremony this evening!  Such an energetic show and more importantly, an amazing celebration of human spirit and endeavour with so many exciting innovations for timely and positive impact in protecting and restoring our planet.

3       My heartiest congratulations to the 15 Earthshot Prize finalists.  In my mind, you are all winners - because you dared to try, and in so doing, you inspire other aspiring impact innovators to step forward.     

4       We wish each of you every success as you drive toward scalable solutions.  It will require an ecosystem approach with timely access to catalytic capital, continuing scientific exploration, multi-disciplinary systems thinking, and most definitely, collective will, collaborative action, and enlightened leadership across sectors.

5       Speaking for Temasek Trust, we have set out on a journey to nurture just such an ecosystem to support these innovations, as part of our shared purpose to build better for every generation.

6       In this regard, we are very pleased to announce this week that we are now a Founding Partner with The Earthshot Prize.  We share a bias for action, and a common goal to catalyze change by showcasing and scaling innovations, harness global learnings and insights, and accelerate the momentum toward a more sustainable tomorrow.   

7       As they say: the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The next best time is now.  You can take this literally.  But it is of course about seizing the moment, taking responsibility for what’s before us, and striving to leave an impactful legacy for the future. Earthshot exemplifies this. 

8       Thank you again, The Earthshot Prize, for stopping by in Singapore, spotlighting Asia, and inspiring the urgent optimism that we all need in coming together to tackle our most pressing environmental and social challenges. 

9       We have, after all, only one Planet Earth, so let’s give our shared future our very best Shot.