The Prince of Wales has been a longstanding climate change activist./Reuters
The Prince of Wales has been a longstanding climate change activist./Reuters
The Prince of Wales has stressed the importance of China in solving climate change as he introduced the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) China Council. The council, launched by Charles in 2020, brings together international figures from the private, public and philanthropic sectors to bring together leading global businesses in a bid to develop ways to decarbonize the global economy and ease the transition to sustainable markets.
In a video message, the Prince said, "Climate change and biodiversity loss, as two of the world's most dire and pressing threats, simply cannot be solved without China."
The UK Prince acknowledged progress had been made under China's presidency of COP15 and at last year's COP26 in Glasgow but said governments cannot achieve net-zero on their own and urged industry to play a central role in accelerating the planet's transition to green energy.
READ MORE
'Spanish Stonehenge' emerges from drought-hit reservoir
Greenland glaciers threatened by climate, tourism
Climate change stresses bees, makes their wings wonky
Mobilizing finance will be crucial he insisted, "China is home to the world's biggest banks and insurers. Chinese companies are also world leaders in green technologies from electric vehicles to renewable energy. So your collective action through the SMI China Council will play a vital role in the global transition to a greener economy."
He highlighted some key events coming up in China this year including the SMI China Council Local Action in Jiangxi, the 2022 Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality International Cooperation Conference in Jinan and the 2022 Carbon Neutrality Economic Development Forum in Beijing wishing them "every possible success with fruitful deliberations."
"The future of humanity, the entire natural world on which we utterly rely for all economic activity and civilization itself, depends on an ever more urgent solution," he continued.