Prince Charles worries humanity has left climate change action too late

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The Prince of Wales is set to address world leaders at the United Nations’ COP26 climate summit in Glasgow today. Charles, who has long been a passionate conservationist, will address representatives from more than 100 nations to hash out new targets to reduce carbon emissions and address the impacts of climate change. The royal described the conference as a “last chance saloon” for humanity, while he will call for a “war-like footing” in the climate fight in his address later today.

According to extracts of his speech that have been shared with media, the heir apparent will say: “We need a vast military-style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector.

“We have to put ourselves on what might be called a war-like footing.”

A number of royals will lend their star power to the summit, which was delayed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Charles will be joined by his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, while Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge will also attend. 

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The Queen was scheduled to attend but cancelled her appearance on the advice of doctors, and will instead deliver a recorded video address.

Despite his impassioned call for action, Charles admitted in a 2019 interview with CNN that he worried for the future of his grandchildren, because humanity may have left climate action too late.

When asked about teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, Charles told CNN: “Well, she’s remarkable because she represents one of the main reasons why I’ve been trying to make all this effort all these years.

“Because, as I said, I didn’t want my grandchildren to accuse me of not doing something about this in time, and of course there they are.

“All her generation, almost my grandchildren’s, [are] all desperate because not nearly enough has happened, we’ve left it so late.

“So, I’ve always worried about the fact that so often in terms of humanity we leave everything too late, so you have to hit a brick wall and experience a catastrophe before anything happens.”

He added: “This time, with this kind of disaster we’ve engineered, it takes a huge amount to turn the whole thing back to how it should be, to restore the balance.”

Inspired by his father, Prince Philip, Charles has been a dedicated campaigner on the issue of the environment for decades.

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He has celebrated and supported the benefits of bees, gardening, elephant conservation and hedgerows.

The Prince of Wales also talks to plants. 

Last year, his courtiers confirmed that the heir-apparent would often give tree branches “a friendly shake to wish it well.”

After being asked in the 2019 CNN interview what he saw in the future for his grandson George, if something is not done to deal with the climate crisis, he said: “Well, it’s not very encouraging is it?

“If you look at what’s happening at the moment, we can’t go on like this. 

“Every month another record in temperature is being broken ‒ warmer and warmer and warmer.

“Last year was the hottest ever, and we’re already seeing a winter where it’s even warmer. 

“If we leave it too long, and we have done, just growing things is going to become difficult.”

He added: “We only have a very short window which is why it’s absolutely critical I feel, and with the help of the World Economic Forum, it’s why we’re trying to bring as many of these investors together with as many of the companies and sectors as possible.

“I’m going to do this each month from now on in order to see if we can try to create the right framework and the right response to make it possible for your children, and my grandchildren to have a decent, reasonable future.”

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