Prince William Reveals the Eco-Friendly Habits He, Kate Middleton and the Kids Practice at Home

"I think every family has these conversations. You just try to do what you can," the Prince of Wales said

Prince William and Kate Middleton are leading the way in teaching Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis how to be environmentally mindful.

The Prince of Wales, 42, who is in South Africa for the 2024 Earthshot Prize Awards, spoke about the environmental strategies he and his family follow at home.

"Every family tries to do what they can to sort of help with the environment," he told broadcasters on Nov. 6. "We go through all the basics of recycling and making sure we minimize water use and turning off lights when we leave the house and stuff like that, and making sure, which is sensible in what we do around the environment."

"I think every family has these conversations. You just try to do what you can," he added.

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The Prince and Princess of Wales live in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor with Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6. William also spoke about how he hopes his children learn from his work with the Earthshot Prize.

"The Earthshot Prize has got to be a bit more global than that. We are trying to do big-scale ambition and big-scale business to tackle some of the solutions," said the heir to the throne. "But I brought the children along that journey and tonight I hope they are watching and they are proud of what we are trying to do here, which is to really galvanize that energy that enthusiasm to make real impact."

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Inspired by former President John F. Kennedy's "Moonshot" mission of 1962 to land a man on the moon within a decade, Prince William launched the Earthshot Prize in 2020 to promote impactful approaches to the world's most urgent environmental challenges over the next ten years. Through a prestigious international contest, the Earthshot Prize welcomes solutions and ultimately awards $1.3 million each to five winners across in the flagship categories of Protect and Restore Nature, Clean Our Air, Revive Our Oceans, Build a Waste-Free World and Fix Our Climate.

The Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony has previously been held in London, Boston and Singapore, and the fourth awards cycle is being celebrated in Cape Town. While Princess Kate (who recently announced that she completed chemotherapy treatment) didn't join her husband in South Africa, Prince William said he hopes she'll be following along.

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"She's doing really well thanks. And hopefully, she is watching tonight. So cheering me on," he told broadcasters before the awards. "She's been amazing this whole this whole year. I know she will be really keen to see tonight be a success."