Prince Charles Wants Companies To Raise £7.3bn For His Earth Charter

The Prince of Wales is asking companies to join “Terra Carta” (Earth charter) for a more sustainable future, aiming to raise £7.3bn to invest in nature. After he met with Greta Thunberg in Davos last year, Prince Charles presented his new campaign at the virtual One Planet Summit on Monday.

“If we consider the legacy of our generation, more than 800 years ago, Magna Carta inspired a belief in the fundamental rights and liberties of people,” he writes in Terra Carta’s presentation. “As we strive to imagine the next 800 years of human progress, the fundamental rights and value of nature must represent a step-change in our ‘future of industry’ and ‘future of economy’ approach.”

The Prince of Wales, who has been committing to the environment since the 1970s, added on Monday that he “can only encourage, in particular, those in industry and finance to provide practical leadership to this common project, as only they are able to mobilize the innovation, scale and resources that are required to transform our global economy.”

For Amy Nguyen, founder and editor of the Sustainable & Social platform, “it’s great to see this investment coalition led by Prince Charles”.

Nguyen recognizes that he has been an influential figure in leading the environmental movement.

“As nations race towards net zero,” she adds, “the impact on biodiversity and ecosystems can sometimes be overshadowed by the focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions or solving plastic pollution.”

According to ecological economist Robert Costanza, the interconnectivity of the environment and natural ecosystem services has an estimated annual value of USD $46 trillion. So the Terra Charter is an indication that the future global economy must take this into consideration.

“We know that natural capital accounting and efforts to protect biodiversity loss are not only essential to create planetary resilience but also to provide businesses with key materials and resources.”