PRINCE Charles has urged the world’s business leaders to deploy the trillions at their disposal to reorient the global economy towards tackling climate change.
Addressing the heads of 120 countries at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the Prince said only the financial might of the “global private sector” had a “real prospect” of delivering lasting change, and shifting the world away from fossil fuels.
A green activist for 50 years, he said: “The scale and scope of the threat we face call for a global, systems-level solution, based on radically transforming our current fossil fuel-based economy to one that is genuinely renewable and sustainable.
“So ladies and gentlemen, my plea today is for countries to come together to create the environment that enables every sector of industry to take the action required.
“We know this will take trillions, not billions, of dollars.
“We also know that countries, many of whom are burdened by growing levels of debt, simply cannot afford to ‘go green’.
“Here we need a vast military-style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector.
“With trillions at its disposal – far beyond global GDP and, with the greatest respect, beyond even the governments of the world’s leaders – it offers the only real prospect of achieving fundamental economic transition.”
The Duke of Rothesay, as he is known when in Scotland, was speaking ahead of a COP26 event with the billionaire founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.
The Bezos Earth Fund has pledged £7billion in grants over 10 years to address c climate change and protect the environment.
The Prince took to the stage after delegates had heard from a range of indigenous people highlighting their experiences of climate change.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said it was an “illusion” to think the fight against climate change was being won, and warned countries were digging their own graves through their lack of concrete action to deliver net zero by 2050.
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