(Reuters) – Prince William of Cambridge criticized the millionaires involved in space tourism, saying the world’s largest brains should focus on solving the environmental problems facing the Earth.

In an interview with the BBC aired on Thursday, William Jeff Bezos criticized the world’s richest man, Elon Musk and Britain’s Richard Branson, whose rival companies are competing to create a new era of private business space travel.

“We need the best brains and minds in the world to focus on trying to fix this planet, not trying to find the next place to go live,” William said of space racing.

File photo. Prince William watches the Euro 2020 semi-final between England and Denmark.

His comments came after Musk spoke about his missions to Mars, and Bezos described his first spaceflight in July as part of creating a path to space so that “our children and their children can create the future.”

“We have to do it to solve the problems on Earth,” Bezos said as Star Trek actor William Shatner traveled into space on Wednesday in his new Shepherd spacecraft.

The work of the British royal family in favor of the earth

Talking about environmental issues has become an important part of the British royal family, and William, 39, is following in the footsteps of his late grandfather, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband and her father, Prince Carlos.

Carlos, the 72-year-old heir to the throne, has been calling for action to prevent climate change and environmental damage for decades, long before the problem spreads, and he often faces ridicule along the way.

“It was a rough track for him. He rode very hard on it. I think it shows he’s ahead of the curve,” William said.

“But now comes the third generation that needs to do more. For me, it would be a complete disaster if George (his eldest son) sat here … about 30 years later, they say the same thing, because by then we’re too late.”

Echoing his father’s message earlier this week, William also said that the COP26 summit of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference should be held in Scotland.

“We had brilliant talk, clever words but not enough action,” William said.

The prince’s personal response to this problem is to create the Earthshot Prize, which aims to find solutions to the planet’s biggest environmental problems through new technologies or policies.

The top five winners, each receiving 1 million (US $ 1.4 million), will be announced at a ceremony on October 17.