News
HRH and The Prime Minister speak at The Prince's May Day Business Summit on Climate Change
30th April 2008
The Prince of Wales today called on Britain's business leaders to take "essential action" to make their firms more sustainable at the second Prince’s May Day Business Summit
Also attended by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the event aims to encourage company bosses to take steps towards a low carbon economy by taking action within their own firms.
Addressing some of the country's business leaders including Sir Philip Green, owner of the Arcadia Group, and Sir Stuart Rose, Chief Executive of Marks and Spencer, The Prince said in a speech: "What more can I do but urge you, this country's business leaders, to take the essential action now to make your businesses more sustainable.
"I'm exhausted with repeating that there really is no time to lose."
His Royal Highness added: "Of course, we also know that real economic opportunities can come from the new technologies, business models and financial instruments needed to combat climate change."
The Prince went on to urge the delegates to take action before it was too late, telling them: "You would think, wouldn't you, that protecting the ultimate capital asset upon which all future income depends - in other words this fragile planet - was worth investing in, seriously and urgently?"
The Prince reiterated his belief that the global issue required "unprecedented levels of urgent, collective action".
His Royal Highness said that since last year's event he had established The Prince’s Rainforest Project which aims to work with the private sector, governments and environmental experts to find solutions to deforestation that can put in place by next year.
The Prince went on to praise the Chief Executive of Unilever, Patrick Cescau, who had earlier told the conference his company had set a target to procure 100 per cent of its palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015.
His Royal Highness said: "This really is a groundbreaking development which could make the whole difference to the future of the rainforests.
"Meanwhile, I can only pray that other companies which use palm oil will follow your determined and principled leadership - this really is corporate responsibility in action."
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown also made a speech to the delegates and outlined in detail the Government's policies on tackling climate change and his thoughts for the future on the day local elections are held across England and Wales.
He told the business leaders: "Our vision is of people power that is part of a green economy that provides new jobs and opportunities.
"Powered by the innovation of our firms and the skills of our workforce, driven not just by long-term public policy but by green behaviour as an integral part of people's lives.
"Each of us therefore - businesses, consumers and Government – playing their part and working together.
"And with the inspired leadership of The Prince of Wales I've no doubt that this is a challenge to which the human spirit and all the powers of ingenuity and enterprise in our country will not only rise to but surmount in the years to come."
The Prime Minister told the delegates that combating climate change would present firms with the "opportunity to create jobs, to build business, to grow exports, to drive productivity and the opportunity to liberate the creativity and innovative strength of British companies and British people.
"Nothing less than doing this will enable us to meet the scale of the challenge The Prince of Wales has outlined."
He added that he was committed to building a "low carbon economy" both in the UK and around the world.
The Prime Minister said he was "proposing a new global fund and a major reform of the world bank itself to help developing countries reduce their emissions and have the finance they need to adapt to climate change which will not happen otherwise."
Meeting the challenges of climate change "required a fourth technological revolution", he said.
Mr Brown added: "In the past the steam engine, the internal combustion engine (and) the microprocessor transformed not just technology but the way society was organised and the way people lived.
"Now we're about to embark on a comparable technological transformation to low carbon energy with energy efficiency."
He added later that if Britain maintained its share in the growth of environmental industries across the globe there could be more than a million people employed in the UK in this sector over the next two decades.
"So building this low carbon economy offers us the chance to (create) thousands of new British businesses and hundreds of thousands of new British jobs," he added.