Yahoo Finance Prince Charles says 'the dam has burst' as companies join his environmental campaigning
Watch: Royal urges companies to sign ‘Earth Charter’
Prince Charles has said the “dam has burst” on environmental campaigning, with people now coming to him to work on climate issues.
Charles, 72, who has spoken out for years about environmental issues, said it had usually been an “uphill struggle” especially to get companies on board.
On Thursday, he reflected on the societal change as he spoke at the virtual Atlantic Council Global Energy forum after the launch of his Terra Carta plan last week.
He said: “I have spent very nearly 40 years of my life on trying to encourage corporate social and environmental responsibility.
“It has been an uphill struggle.
“And now suddenly, the dam has burst and I find myself approached by all sorts of people wanting to work with us on these matters.”
Charles launched the Terra Carta, or Earth Charter, which he hopes will be to the environment what Magna Carta was to politics, on 11 January, encouraging companies to commit to putting the planet first.
He was invited to speak at the forum on Thursday before Brian Moynihan, the chairman of the board and CEO of Bank of America and Fred Kempe, the CEO of Atlantic Council, discussed the prince’s work and their commitment to putting the planet first.
There has been some scepticism over some of the names signing up to the Terra Carta, including the oil giant BP.
But Charles said: “The private sector is a major part of the solution and the energy sector is the solution when you think about it.
“There’s no time left to wait.”
He encouraged the private sector to lead “with the principles for nature, people and planet and thus for economy” saying that if they did “the public sector will follow”.
He added: “When you think about it we have forgotten the order of nature and the limits it imposes on us – we have engineered the damage we see now.
“We have failed to address the hugely negative externalities of our economic model.”
He said BP was demonstrating that “fossil-fuel companies can become a major part of the solution by transforming themselves”.
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Charles said 2021 would be a “critical year for climate”, acknowledging there was consensus among nations of the direction humanity should take but calling for practical action.
He said action would “determine whether our children and grandchildren look back on a series of broken promises, or a shift in the trajectory”.
His words came on the same day as Joe Biden, the new US president, confirmed that America had rejoined the Paris climate agreement, but the royal did not make any comments on Biden’s move.
Charles first talked about the environment more than 50 years ago, when he raised concerns about single-use plastics.
It’s a passion he has passed on to his children, with both princes William and Harry joining campaigns for the climate and environment.
William launched the Earthshot Prize at the end of 2020, which will give away £50m over the course of 10 years to projects to help solve the problems facing the planet.
Harry, now living in California, said before Christmas that he had heard COVID-19 described as a “rebuke from nature” as he encouraged people to care more about the planet.
Watch: Prince Charles and Camilla visit COVID vaccination centre