Prince Charles says the world must tackle climate change or prepare for “catastrophic” results.
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The royal believes people are not acting quickly enough to combat environmental issues and has warned we are running out of time.
He told the Royal Meteorological Society’s Weather magazine: “For me, the crux of the problem is – and I only pray that I will be proved wrong – that the clock of climate change is ticking ever faster toward midnight.
“We are simply not reacting quickly enough and we cannot be anything less than courageous and revolutionary in our approach to tackling climate change. If we are not, the result will be catastrophic for all of us, but with the poorest in our world hit the hardest.
“Can we say, hand on heart, that we are really doing enough to improve energy efficiency? Are we truly investing enough in renewable energy technologies?”
The future king – who has established his own Rainforest Project supported by major companies, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and the World Bank – is fully committed to tackling climate change.
Charles added: “My objective is to create the largest ever public-private-NGO partnership – and if by working together we can make forests more alive than dead and stop their global destruction, then perhaps we can use this same approach to tackle the other global climate challenges.”
The 59-year-old prince also spoke about the devastating effects extreme weather has had in recent years.
He said: “Like many people Hurricane Katrina will stay in my mind for a long time. I saw the aftermath myself when I visited the area shortly after it had happened and the sheer scale of the devastation and the immense human suffering it caused were almost unimaginable.
“And then in this country, I will never forget the flood at Boscastle in Cornwall four years ago. It was such a freak event. A normal summer’s day turned into a disaster. How no-one was killed, I will never know.”
