The Prince of Wales told young environmentalists you are “going to change the world”, as he arrived in Cape Town for his Earthshot Prize awards ceremony.

William’s words of encouragement came as he met 120 teenage activists at the start of a four-day visit to South Africa to promote his environmental project.

He told the young people: “The Earthshot Prize believes in you and the reason we set the prize up is for moments like this,” after speaking to them about their ideas to tackle climate issues, which included a business making handbags out of old tyres.

“All of you in this room are future change-makers, you’re the leaders, you’re the people going to make the difference going forwards,” he said.

“It’s your platform, use it as you need to, take it away, play with it, turn it into something different.

“Because we believe in you and what you’re going to do is change the world, I really believe that.

“This is the generation that are going to do that. And your solutions and your impact are so important and so needed right now.

“This is not noble, this is business, and what you’re doing is creating solutions and a better life for all of us.

“Keep it going, keep the energy up.”

The young people were taking part in the inaugural Earthshot Prize Climate Leaders Youth Programme.

Throughout the week they are taking part in immersive masterclasses designed to develop their skills in leadership, storytelling and networking around taking action on climate issues, and opening doors for them to secure future internships and jobs.

The 100 future leaders, aged 18 to 25, were selected from an application pool of nearly 2,000, from 50 of the 54 African nations.

An additional 20 youth leaders have been invited from seven Asian countries as a legacy from last year’s awards in Singapore.

It comes after the Earthshot Prize announced a series of programmes designed to inspire and engage children and young people from the age of five to join the movement helping to fix the planet.