Britain’s Prince Charles said Wednesday that India, whose solar power efforts are an example to the world, has a vital role to play in the global search for nature-based and technology-driven solutions which are critical to accelerating the move towards a zero-carbon future.
In an address to the India Global Forum session on Climate Action, the 72-year-old heir to the British throne and environmental campaigner, called upon Indian entrepreneurs and CEOs to join the Sustainable Markets India Council, launched to seek out sustainable investments to influence an acceleration towards climate action goals.
”With India’s global reach and robust private sector, I believe there are some key ways we can work together to accelerate our efforts and build a more sustainable future. Firstly, we need to focus on accelerating the flow of private capital to support the transition,” said Prince Charles.
The royal laid out the vision behind his Sustainable Markets Initiative, which he launched in January 2020, to get CEOs from almost every sector together with the express aim of identifying obstacles to progress and finding game-changing ways to accelerate the transition to a zero-carbon future.
The efforts have identified large financing gaps around sustainable initiatives, in the areas of green energy, water, sanitation, transport, and other critical infrastructure.
”In January this year, I launched the Terra Carta as the mandate of my Sustainable Markets Initiative and the basis of a recovery plan for nature, people, and the planet. At this historic tipping point, the Terra Carta offers a roadmap for acceleration towards a genuinely sustainable future, one that harnesses the power of nature combined with the transformative innovation and resources of the private sector,” he said.
Prince Charles focussed specifically on the need for a clear set of “global farm metrics” to create sustainable supply chains.
”With agriculture being so critical to the Indian economy, there is a real opportunity to explore how such metrics could support the lives and livelihoods of farmers in India as well as wider supply chains and markets,” he said.
”With India being a global centre of technology and innovation, combined with a deep connection to nature and harmony, you have an absolutely vital role to play in this effort. Particularly, in view of India’s wealth of entrepreneurial talent,” he said, adding that India would play an ”essential part” as these efforts are further developed at the COP26 UN climate summit, to be hosted by the UK in Glasgow in November.
Previously, in an address to the Group of Seven nations, Charles had urged the leaders to tackle climate change like they did the pandemic.
“Climate change and biodiversity loss represent a borderless crisis, the solutions to which have been argued about and postponed for far too long,” Charles said.
Advocacy groups believe that the G7 and other rich nations have to deliver on a promise of $100 billion a year in financing to help poor countries overhaul their economies and adapt to the impacts of climate change, or risk failure at November’s climate summit.
(With inputs from agencies)
