During a BBC interview at Kensington Palace, William appeared to criticise Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Briton Richard Branson, whose rival ventures are all vying to usher in a new era of private commercial space travel.

"We need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live," William said of the space race.

His comments come after Mr Musk spoke about missions to Mars, and Mr Bezos, who in July described his inaugural space flight as part of building a road to space "so that our kids and their kids can build a future".

"We need to do that to solve the problems here on Earth," said Mr Bezos, who celebrated sending Star Trek actor William Shatner into space in his New Shepard spacecraft this week. 

Speaking out on green issues has become a major feature of the British royal family.

William, 39, is following in the footsteps of his late grandfather Prince Philip and his father, Prince Charles.

Charles, the 72-year-old heir to the throne, has for decades called for action to stop climate change and environmental damage,  often facing ridicule along the way.

"It's been a hard road for him. He's had a really rough ride on that, and I think he's been proven to being well ahead of the curve," William said.

"But it shouldn't be that there's a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more."

The prince warned that people could be "robbing from our children's future" if the climate crisis is not tackled in time.

"For me, it would be an absolute disaster if [my son] George is sat here in 30 years' time, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late."

"Now I've got children as well and speaking to other parents, it's a bit of a cliché, but you do start to see the world differently.

"I want the things that I've enjoyed – the outdoor life, the nature, the environment – I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else's children.

He said the key to tackling climate change is to "bring people with us".

"People have got to feel like there's hope, there's a chance we can fix this."

In an echo of his father's message earlier this week, William, said the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference COP26 summit in Scotland had to deliver. 

"We can't have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action," William said.

His personal response to the issue has been to create the Earthshot Prize, which aims to find solutions through new technologies or policies to the planet's biggest environmental problems. 

Source | Reuters