Prince Charles launches environment challenge for students

The Prince of Wales and designer Sir Jony Ive are challenging students from the Royal College of Art (RCA) to create new solutions to the problems facing our environment and to help the world move to a sustainable future.

It's part of the Terra Carta Design Lab project which has developed from Prince Charles's Terra Carta or Earth Charter project which encourages private sector businesses - these are businesses not run by the government - to put money into saving the planet.

Charles wants these businesses to become sustainable and invest $10 billion (£7.3 billion) in "natural capital".

What else do we know?

Prince Charles wants students to tackle the environmental damage being done to the planet.

He said: "Small ideas can have a big impact if they are supported with the right design, science and engineering and that is the key idea behind today's Terra Carta Design Lab.

"We only have 100 days until Cop26, the big UN conference in Glasgow to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis, and we will all need to play our part, old and young, if we are to change how we look after the Earth, making it sustainable for nature, people and planet."

Who is Sir Jony Ive?

Sir Jony (left) is a well known designer

He is an industrial, product and architectural designer who designed some of the best-loved gadgets, including Apple's iPhone, iPod and iPad.

Sir Jony, who is the RCA's Chancellor, said of the design lab: "It's a visionary and imaginative way of helping address the world's increasingly urgent environmental problems.

"Often the biggest challenges demand the most ingenious, most creative thinking, which is why I'm so excited about the work that the RCA students will be able to contribute through this collaboration.

What will RCA students be doing?

Microplastics are harmful to the environment

More than 2,300 RCA students will be invited to collaborate in teams from the college's four schools - architecture, arts and humanities, communication, and design, and will be joined by experienced past students.

Former RCA students are already working to create solutions to environmental problems, such as developing a device to capture microplastic particles from tyres as they are emitted.

A shortlist of entrants will be announced during Cop26, with the final winning designs announced in 2022.