Charles's £7bn Earth Charter: Prince of Wales calls on world businesses to help right 'broken green promises' in new eco drive
The Prince of Wales will today launch an ambitious £7.3billion recovery plan to right a string of ‘broken promises’ over the environment.
Marking 50 years since he first began campaigning on green issues, Charles will unveil his ‘Terra Carta’, a pioneering multi-national agreement between some of the biggest firms in the world to put sustainability at the heart of the global post-pandemic recovery.
His project has been inspired by the Magna Carta, which defines fundamental rights and liberties. Now, 805 years on, his ten-year ‘Earth Charter’ is designed to give ‘fundamental rights and values to Nature’. The prince hopes it will put an end to decades of unfulfilled agreements on the environment and give ‘our children and grandchildren the future they deserve’.
The Prince of Wales will today launch an ambitious £7.3billion recovery plan to right a string of ‘broken promises’ over the environment
He believes harnessing the private sector and big business is the way to do it. Writing in the foreword to the document, he says: ‘To guarantee our future, we have no other choice but to make each day count – and it must start today.’
The prince has spent the past year meeting world leaders from industry, government, philanthropy and technology to convene a ‘coalition of the willing’, who have vowed to bring sustainability ‘to the heart’ of their work.
Those that have signed up include Bank of America, AstraZeneca, Schroders, HSBC, Heathrow Airport, Coutts, BP and Sir Jony Ive, the British-born former chief design officer at Apple. The 17-page, 85-point Terra Carta, designed by Sir Jony, sets out an immediate ten-point action plan for businesses which will provide a roadmap to a more sustainable future for the private sector.
Those that have signed up include Bank of America, AstraZeneca, Schroders, HSBC, Heathrow Airport, Coutts, BP and Sir Jony Ive , the British-born former chief design officer at Apple
Most eye-catching is the creation of a ‘Natural Capital Investors Alliance’, promising an ambitious $10billion (£7.3billion) in investment for green initiatives by 2022. All those who are involved in the initiative will have to commit to an allocation of that figure to invest in ‘natural capital’ – reducing emissions, restoring biodiversity and boosting sustainable economic growth. Other aspects include a demand for industry to recognise the importance of local traditions, culture, products and jobs.
Charles will launch his Terra Carta today via video link at the One Planet Summit in Paris. He will say: ‘I can only encourage, in particular, those in industry and finance to provide practical leadership to this common project, as only they are able to mobilise the innovation, scale and resources that are required to transform our global economy.’
A senior royal source said the prince sees the charter as a ‘pivotal moment’ in his life’s work on green issues – which began when he warned against the perils of plastics in a speech in 1970, aged just 21.
Greta mocks UK eco vows
Greta Thunberg has rubbished Boris Johnson’s promises of a ‘green revolution’ after the Government approved the use of a bee-killing pesticide and a new coal mine.
Environment Secretary George Eustice gave farmers in England permission to use a chemical that is a known risk to bees and is banned by the EU. Climate-change activist Miss Thunberg, 18, wrote on Twitter: ‘New coal mines and pesticides... the UK’s so-called “green industrial revolution” is off to a great start.’
The approval for a deep coal mine in Cumbria comes despite the Government’s vow to cut carbon levels.
The Department for Environment insisted the pesticide would be controlled.