The Prince of Wales has described his sense of pride for the Earthshot Prize team and the “fantastic” finalists ahead of the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening.

In a broadcast interview in Singapore at the base of the world famous Supertrees in Gardens by the Bay, the prince said he was “really excited about this year’s winners and finalists” as he detailed the positive impact of Earthshot’s first year.

The awards are aimed at recognising solutions to “repair” the planet, and will see five category winners presented with £1 million each to scale up their environmental ideas.

I’m really proud of the whole team to be honest. Earthshot coming from a seed of an idea to where we are three years later.

William said: “I’m thrilled to be in Singapore. It’s fantastic and the third year into Earthshot.

“We’ve seen an incredible bunch of people come through again and I think from the first year we can quantify a bit more of the impact.

“In the first year alone, we have had a positive impact on 1.5 million people. We’ve protected 1.2 billion hectares of ocean, upcycled 35,000 tonnes of waste, 40,000 tonnes of CO2 and we’re going to do more – that’s just five finalists from the first year so I’m really excited about this year’s winners and finalists.

“Last year we had two companies, both who’ve expanded by eight times and are moving into different countries.

“It’s all about scale now and my job is to really bring the money in, the capital and the private sector, into the Earthshot and meet the solutions and say – come on how can we do more.”

The prince added: “I’m really proud of the whole team to be honest. Earthshot coming from a seed of an idea to where we are three years later. The whole point is to provide impact and to make change.

“The guys and girls you’ve met are fantastic and they are at the forefront and over the next 10 years we have to give them the support and all the help we can so that their impact is magnified greater than what they are already doing.”