The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, has warned business leaders to take action against climate change or watch the world continue on a path to destruction.
With his latest remarks Prince Charles showed he was determined to voice his opinions, calling on an audience of global business leaders to take tough choices over climate change and capitalism even if it made them unpopular.
Reuters Newsagency reports the British prince said the world was at the mercy of people vociferously and aggressively denying the current operating model was accelerating climate change, which could destroy the world.
“We can choose to act now before it is finally too late, using all of the power and influence that each of you can bring to bear to create an inclusive, sustainable and resilient society,” he said in a speech in London to a conference entitled Inclusive Capitalism.
Reuters reports he added: “There will, of course, be hard choices to make, and, take it from me, in the short term, you will not be popular with your peers, but if you stand firm and take the kind of action that is needed, I have every confidence the rewards will be immense.”
Prince Charles sparked a diplomatic spat last week by comparing Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, with some politicians calling for the 65-year-old prince to keep his personal opinions private.
Traditionally, Britain’s royal family does not voice political views in public, with the head of state a constitutional figurehead. During her long reign, Queen Elizabeth has never aired personal sentiments.
However, Prince Charles has often courted controversy by voicing strong views on the environment, architecture and social affairs.
He told the London conference, where others speakers include former United States President Bill Clinton, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney that “we stand at a pivotal moment in history”.
He highlighted the growing plight of the world’s most vulnerable people and said man-made global warming undoubtedly compounded the unprecedented environmental change that put great strain put on nature’s life-support systems.
“These changes threaten to undermine all of the progress we have achieved, unless we can create a much more sustainable and inclusive approach,” he said.
“If there is a price to pay for achieving the necessary transformation, it will be our abandoning of the next, seemingly easy, short-term solution that our current form of capitalism thinks is necessary and, instead, focusing on approaches that achieve lasting and meaningful returns,” Prince Charles added.
