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The Prince of Wales calls for a new understanding of the link between economic growth and the environment
9th February 2011
The Prince of Wales today calls on the public and private sectors to work together to secure both a stable economy and a stable environment. Speaking at the Low Carbon Prosperity Summit in the European Parliament in Brussels, The Prince highlights the growing risks posed to long-term economic growth by climate change and over-exploitation of the planet’s natural resources. The Prince argues that unless both the environment and the economy become more resilient to climatic shocks then it will be difficult to secure prosperity.
In his speech, The Prince says, “I cannot see how we can possibly maintain the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the long-term if we continue to consume our planet as voraciously as we are doing. We have to see that there is a direct relationship between the resilience of Nature’s ecosystems and the resilience of our national economies. And, let us not forget, it is on that resilience that our future prosperity depends.”
He adds that when the unsustainable depletion of natural resources is combined with natural disasters and other environmental shocks, there is a serious risk to food, energy, water and economic security. If a new, low-carbon model of economic growth is not found the world faces a “very rough ride indeed”, he warns.
However, His Royal Highness believes countries and businesses which adopt a low-carbon future will benefit from the exciting business opportunities and competitive advantage to be gained from changing their approach to growth.
The Prince of Wales is in Brussels to address the Low Carbon Prosperity Summit at the European Parliament at the invitation of the President of the Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, also addressed the Summit.
The Summit is being attended by over 300 MEPs and economists including Lord Stern together with business leaders from The Prince of Wales’s EU Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, the P8 Group of leading Pension Funds and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.*
Following his address to the European Parliament, The Prince is scheduled to attend a meeting of European Commissioners hosted by the President of the Commission at the European Commission Berlaymont building.
Today’s visit is The Prince’s third to the European Parliament, having previously attended events there in 2008 and, in Strasbourg, in 1992.
Notes to Editors
To help forge a low-carbon future His Royal Highness set up The Prince’s Charities International Sustainability Unit (I.S.U.) in 2010. The ISU is working to help facilitate consensus on how to resolve some of the key environmental challenges facing the world, specifically those to do with food security, ecosystem resilience and the depletion of Natural Capital. While continuing to monitor the progress on the tropical forest finance package agreed in Oslo this year, the I.S.U. has been developing two further significant workstreams; sustainable agriculture and marine ecosystems. The I.S.U. seeks to advance possible solutions by convening the public, private and N.G.O. sectors.
- The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change (EU CLG) was established in 2007. The group brings together business leaders from a cross-section of EU and international businesses who believe there is an urgent need to develop new and longer-term policies for tackling climate change. Its members include: Acciona, Alstom, Barilla, Cemex, Deutsche Telekom, Enel, Kingfisher, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Philips, Renault-Nissan Alliance, Tesco, Shell, Skai, Skanska, Unilever, UTC, and Vodafone.
- The Prince of Wales’s P8 Group was launched in 2007 by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and The University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL). This brings together senior officials from leading public pension funds to develop actions relating to global issues and particularly climate change.
- The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) is the European institutional investors’ network for collaboration on climate change. IIGCC currently has 70 members, including many of the largest pension funds and asset managers in Europe, representing around €6trillion.