The Prince of Wales launches unprecedented drive to 'put nature at the heart of big business'.
Yesterday, he unveiled an ambitious roadmap for the private sector called the Terra Carta - or Earth Treaty - his biggest environmental initiative to date. It includes a call for a $10bn investment in the natural environment within a year.
The charter is described as a “recovery plan” designed to “lead the transition towards a more sustainable future”. For the Prince, it marks the culmination of 50 years of work on sustainability and is set to become his primary focus, aside from matters of state. It contains ten action points and 85 recommendations for businesses to move towards a greener future within the next decade.
Here are Terra Carta's ten articles:
1: Create entirely new sustainable industries, products, services and supply chains while making existing system.
2: Embed genuine sustainability in our business models, analysis, decisions and actions by putting nature and the protection of nature’s capital at the heart of how we operate.
3: Communicate better with consumers about the sustainability of the goods, services and investments we offer.
4: Accelerate and align industry roadmaps for decarbonising and transitioning to net zero while restoring and protecting natural capital.
5: Identify, showcase and invest in the game-changing technologies and solutions that are emerging around the world and identify barriers to progress.
6: Access finance and innovation in order to make sustainable markets the norm.
7: Build conservation and nature-based solutions into our asset base and supply chains.
8: Reverse perverse subsidies and improve incentives for sustainable alternatives.
9: Adopt unified metrics, global standards and mandatory disclosure.
10: Urgently invest in science, technology and innovation with a focus on sustainable solutions, alternatives and industries.
The Prince will appeal to private sector leaders around the world to support the Terra Carta, which he hopes will bring sustainability to the heart of industries such as aviation, shipping and urban development.
The treaty is part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative that the Prince launched last January as a forum to encourage business to operate with greener principles. It will act in parallel to the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, UN climate actions to which the private sector is not accountable.