We’ve had enough talk, Charles and William tell world
Two future kings teamed up on the environment yesterday to tell world leaders: ‘we’ve had enough of talking.’
Prince Charles and his son william gave powerful speeches at Cop26, urging delegates to face the urgency of putting ‘our words and commitments into practice’.
The 72-year-old heir to the throne could not hide his impatience and frustration during an impassioned address on deforestation on the second day of the Glasgow summit.
Charles said: ‘I cannot believe how many times I’ve ended speeches like this all over the world during the past 40 years – and to no avail. But I can only pray that this time, this session will provide us with a real sense of the seriously urgent systemic shifts that need to happen to deliver on our vision.
‘And I urge you all to take all the work we’ve discussed today with implacable resolve and determination to make things happen on the ground. Frankly, we have all had enough talking so we need to put our words and commitments into practice.’
Charles had a 15-minute bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden yesterday, while william met Jeff Bezos, two days after his father had a private meeting with the Amazon billionaire in Scotland.
Charles walked into the auditorium, following speeches by Boris Johnson and Mr Biden, with a delegation of indigenous people from the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, representing 24 countries with rainforests. He wore a colourful necklace presented moments earlier by an Ecuadorian member of the group and told Juan Carlos Jintiach and Tuntiak Katan: ‘we’ve got to work harder to save your forests, for all our sakes.’
In his speech to delegates discussing steps needed to safeguard the world’s forests and land, he said nations needed to ‘honour’ the rights of indigenous people who were ‘experienced custodians’ of the habitats.
He said urgent changes needed to be made as ‘so many people and communities are already suffering seriously from the increasingly dire impact of climate change’.
Prince william brought along some of the winners and finalists from his recent Earthshot Prize environmental awards. He told an event for leaders designed to highlight how to accelerate clean technology: ‘For many of you, world leaders and governments in this room, that means demonstrating leadership and persuading your electorate how much this matters.
‘For others, business leaders and philanthropists, it means transforming the clean, green option into the cheapest, best and most obvious choice.’
Earlier in the day he said: ‘If we are to achieve our goal to repair our planet in what is now less than a decade, it is our shared responsibility to continue thinking differently, acting boldly, and making the impossible, possible.’