The Duke of Cambridge’s Earthshot Prize has announced the companies and brands who will help “scale up” ideas submitted by finalists aiming to tackle the planet’s problems.

Hitachi, Microsoft, and the Ingka Group, which owns and operates most Ikea stores, are among the businesses supporting the inaugural 15 finalists of the environmental competition, who will be revealed later this month.

William launched his ambitious £50 million Earthshot Prize project last autumn with his Royal Foundation and it aims to recognise solutions, ideas and technologies that “repair the planet”.

It takes inspiration from the Apollo moon landings, nicknamed Moonshot, which helped advance mankind’s technological achievements, and features five categories or Earthshots which organisers say if achieved by 2030 would improve life for all.

Every year from 2021 until the end of the decade, winners of the five Earthshots will each receive £1 million, after being picked by the judging panel.

Indra Nooyi, a member of the Earthshot Prize judging panel and former chairman and chief executive officer of PepsiCo, said: “Sustainability is fundamental to how business is conducted.

“Collaboration with the private sector is critical in order to propel sustainable environmental innovation.

“These companies can accelerate our progress toward a more sustainable future with their global reach and impact.

“By leveraging their expertise, size and scale, they can supercharge the adoption of solutions created by our Earthshot Prize finalists and winners, solutions that will ultimately improve lives around the world and restore our planet.”

The companies supporting the finalists are based across the globe and will make up the first Earthshot Prize Global Alliance.

They include engineering and design firm Arup, Vodacom a South African mobile communications company, Microsoft, Walmart and Unilever.

Winners in the five Earthshot categories, protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate, will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on October 17.