Prince Charles has opened the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow but very nearly tripped up as he made his way to the stage for his big speech.

Speaking in front of hundreds of delegates from around the world, the heir to the throne argued that a ‘vast military style campaign’ is needed to tackle environmental problems in his second major speech in two days.

TV cameras captured the moment Charles nearly fell over as he walked from his seat to the lectern.

He quickly brushed off the close call and regained his composure as he began to speak about the urgency of the environmental problems the world faces.

Charles, who has dedicated a large part of his life to raising awareness about the growing crisis, urged leaders in the room to team up with the private sector to ‘systematically engage’ with the problems.

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He said this would allow them to access ‘trillions’ that are at the disposal of big business.

‘The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us just how devastating a global cross-border threat can be,’ Charles said.

‘Climate change and biodiversity loss are no different – in fact, they pose an even greater existential threat, to the extent that we have to put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing.’

He told world leaders the ‘eyes of the world’ are on them as time has ‘quite literally run out.’

Charles said the ‘scale and scope’ of the threat faced called for a global solution, based on transforming the fossil fuel based economy.

‘We know this will take trillions, not billions, of dollars,’ the prince said.

‘We also know that countries, many of whom are burdened by growing levels of debt, simply cannot afford to “go green”.

‘Here, we need a vast military-style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector.

‘With trillions at its disposal – far beyond global GDP and, with the greatest respect, beyond even the governments of the world’s leaders – it offers the only real prospect of achieving fundamental economic transition.’

The prince also delivered a speech in Rome on Sunday, to leaders at the G20 summit.

During those remarks he described Cop26 as ‘the last-chance saloon’, as he called for ‘fine words’ to be translated into ‘still finer actions’.

He told the politicians gathered in Italy’s capital that the private sector is ‘eager’ to work with them and ‘ready to play a hugely significant and game-changing role’, saying solutions to major issues ‘seem possible only if there is a much closer partnership between Government, the main multilateral banks, the private sector and its investors’.

He added that, after many years of his own efforts in speaking up about environmental issues, ‘I am at last sensing a change in attitudes and the build-up of positive momentum’.

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