Stop talking start doing something
Prince warns failure to take action will be ‘catastrophic’
PRINCE Charles has declared world leaders must do more than “just talk” when they gather in Glasgow for the COP26 summit.
The Prince of Wales said he understood why so many young people are “despairing” about climate change and called on the summit to take ambitious action to protect the environment.
Three weeks ahead of the summit, Charles said he also understood why climate campaign groups such as Extinction Rebellion stage protests and block roads, but he suggested they should take a less disruptive approach.
He told the BBC: “I totally understand the frustration but it isn’t helpful, I don’t think, to do it in a way that alienates people.
“The difficulty is, how do you direct that frustration in a way that is more constructive rather than destructive?
“The point is, people should really notice how despairing so many young are.”
Charles, a long-standing environmental campaigner, said it had taken “far too long” for the world to take the climate crisis seriously.
He is concerned that leaders gathering at the Glasgow climate change conference from October 31 to November 12 would not deliver on their words.
He added: “The problem is to get action on the ground.”
Charles is due to attend a series of events at COP26, alongside the Queen.
The prince said he was taking his own personal steps to reduce his carbon footprint – by converting his Aston Martin car to run on what he described as “surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process”.
The vehicle operates on a fuel blend made up of 85 per cent bioethanol and 15 per cent unleaded petrol.
He warned of a disastrous outcome if global leader fail to ratchet up efforts to combat climate change.
Charles said: “The risks now are so great if you don’t make the right move.
“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.”
The 12-day summit aims to secure more ambitious commitments to limit global warming to well below 2C with a goal of keeping it to 1.5C compared with preindustrial levels.