CHARLES: I DO HAVE SYMPATHY WITH THE ECO-MARCH TRUANTS
...but reveals he refused an invitation to join protest
PRINCE Charles has said he sympathises with teenagers who skipped school to march through Glasgow yesterday, saying: ‘Don’t forget, it’s their future.’
The Prince, a long-time advocate of green issues, said he understands the strength of feeling held by the thousands of young people at the demonstration.
During a day of engagements to highlight green issues, he said he could empathise with the ‘frustration’ protesters felt and reminded Cop26 negotiators of the responsibility on their shoulders.
Charles had been invited to join teenage activist Greta Thunberg and thousands of young people as they marched through the city yesterday, but said taking part would be ‘difficult’ for him.
He made the comments as he met conference delegations, ministers and officials to urge on their efforts to tackle climate change.
In a speech at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Thursday, the Prince said: ‘There’s a lot of anger and a lot of frustration. There’s a big march, which some people have said I should join – that’s more difficult – but the point is, please don’t forget these people out there. Don’t forget that it’s their future.’
Miss Thunberg had urged people to join the climate strike protest yesterday, part of her Fridays for Future marches, but it is understood a Cop26 youth group asked Charles to join them.
Over drinks, he chatted to officials from 70 countries and was joined by Cop26 president Alok Sharma and Archie Young, the UK lead climate negotiator.
He told the group: ‘All I particularly wanted to say was that you know – and I don’t need to tell you I hope – that there are so many people out there and around the world, putting so much expectastood tion on your shoulders. In many ways, the whole weight of history rests on you this time around.’
It is not the first time Charles, who is known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, has empathised with activists who are frustrated at inaction by leaders.
In an interview with the BBC last month, the Prince said he underyoung people’s despair and why groups such as Extinction Rebellion took to the streets to carry out disruptive protests.
He said: ‘All these young people feeling nothing is ever happening, so of course they’re going to get frustrated. But it isn’t helpful, I don’t think, to do it in a way that alienates people.’
His sentiments were echoed previously by the Queen, who last month said she was irritated by the lack of progress on climate issues. As the talks rumbled on, Charles used his time in Glasgow yesterday to cast his eye over the next generation of carbon capture technology.
Arriving in an electric vehicle, he was shown carbon capture machine CycloneCC at Doosan Babcock in Renfrew, which its inventors at the firm Carbon Clean describe as the world’s smallest device of its type.
Iain Tobin, Carbon Clean’s chief corporate officer, said of the royal visitor: ‘He was very impressed. He’s genuinely interested in what we’re trying to achieve, which is to bring cost-effective carbon capture technology to hard-to-abate industrial sectors.’
Charles, who is also the Baron of Renfrew, asked questions of staff including Aniruddha Sharma, Carbon Clean’s co-founder and chief executive, and James Hall, the head of research at the company, who demonstrated the vast difference in size between the old carbon capture technology and the new CycloneCC.
Carbon was previously captured using a 15-metre (50ft) device, which saw the pollutant mixed with a chemical to extract the carbon from the other gases.
But the company has now created a much smaller device. Working like a washing machine, it uses a spinning mesh and a solvent to separate the gas. This not only means it is much smaller, but the device can also be more easily installed on site.
Mr Sharma said during the Prince’s 30-minute visit that the development of the product, which is ten times smaller than previous generations of such machines, would open up more space for decarbonisation.
Mr Tobin described it as a ‘game changer’ for the industry.
Mr Sharma added: ‘Here is an example just outside the Cop where people can actually come and see how the future is going to look – you can compress the size of all this equipment and scale it out.’
Charles signed the visitors’ book in the facility, which shows he was not the first royal to tour the site.
In June 2010, the Princess Royal opened the emissions reduction test facility at Doosan Babcock.
‘Don’t forget that it’s their future’