Prince Charles urges Scott Morrison and other leaders to attend COP26
London: Prince Charles has urged Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other world leaders to attend the UN’s climate change conference, calling it a “last chance saloon” to save the planet.
World leaders including Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, the Queen and the Pope will be at the event, but Mr Morrison has not yet made a decision on whether he will attend.
The Prince of Wales was giving an interview to the BBC when he was pressed about Australia’s action on climate change ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow at the end of this month.
A surprised Prince
Prince Charles seemed genuinely surprised when told by the BBC’s climate editor Justin Rowlatt that Mr Morrison was still on the fence about coming.
“Is that what he says?” Prince Charles asked.
“He did say that, yeah, he said he’s spent enough time in quarantine,” Mr Rowlatt said, before asking the Prince what he would say to world leaders about why they should be coming to Glasgow.
“Well, that’s what I am trying to say all the time and the point being that this is a last chance saloon, literally,” Prince Charles said.
“Because if we don’t really take the decisions which are vital now it’s going to be almost impossible to catch up.”
The Prince said it would be a “disaster” if more action is not taken immediately.
“It’ll be catastrophic. It is already beginning to be catastrophic because nothing in nature can survive the stress that is created by these extremes of weather,” he said.
Mr Rowlatt also asked Prince Charles what he would say to the Australian government, saying it seemed to “be reluctant to take on board” the need for serious action on the issue.
“I mean you gently try to suggest there may be other ways of doing things, in my case anyway, otherwise you lot (the media) accuse me of interfering and meddling, don’t you?” Prince Charles said.
The Prince also avoided a question put to him asking if the British government was doing enough, replying: “I couldn’t possibly comment.”
On Monday British MP Alok Sharma, the UK’s COP president and host of the summit, also said he hoped Mr Morrison would attend in person and that Australia would set a net zero target.
“Australia are our closest mates, and I want them to come to our party and sing the same songs — and that means making ambitious commitments on emission reductions by 2030 and, obviously, a net zero target,” Mr Sharma told the Financial Times.
COP26 is seen as the most important climate meeting since 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed.
Last month, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said it was still being worked out who would be going from the government, but insisted Australia would be appropriately represented.
“It is not a no-show at the conference,” she said. “Australia will be strongly represented at the conference no matter by which senior representative and our commitment is very clear.”
‘They just talk’
Prince Charles, 72, is a staunch environmentalist and has spent much of his life promoting and fundraising for green causes. He said he felt the concerns of younger generations and understood why climate campaigners took direct action when politicians failed to deliver on promises.
“They just talk, and the problem is to get action on the ground,” Prince Charles said.
The Prince also said he could sympathise with groups such as Extinction Rebellion, but said protests which disrupt or anger people were not the way to go about change.
Prince Charles also revealed the personal changes he has made to his lifestyle to help combat climate change, including converting his vintage Aston Martin to run on “surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process”.