King attends national Climate Clock switch on at Climate Innovation Forum
28 June, London: His Majesty King Charles III has today attended the launch of a Climate Clock, representing a stark warning that there are only six years and 24 days left to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
28 June, London: His Majesty King Charles III has today attended the launch of a Climate Clock, representing a stark warning that there are only six years and 24 days left to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees[1].
The event took place at Climate Action’s Climate Innovation Forum (CIF), where His Majesty also attended a meeting on climate solutions and met British climate-tech founders.
The Climate Clock was switched on by Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, using a button made of plastic recovered from the ocean. The activation of a five-metre-tall Climate Clock in the City of London’s historic Guildhall automatically launched 150 climate clocks across London and major cities nationwide – the largest of which is at Piccadilly Circus. Billboards were donated by Ocean Outdoor and JCDecaux.
The Climate Clock represents the speed of action that must be taken to limit the worst of climate change and global warming. It also visualises the Renewable Energy Lifeline, which monitors the percentage share of global consumption generated by renewable resources.
For more than five decades, as Prince of Wales, The King has championed action for a sustainable future. Before the Climate Clock was activated, a short film was played, featuring speeches over the last 50 years by His Majesty, as Prince of Wales, on the subject.
During a high-level meeting joined by His Majesty, discussions focused on “accelerating the speed and scale of the green transition”, looking at how to rapidly finance, replicate, and scale innovation. The King also heard about what is needed between now and COP28 to mobilise private sectors on these issues. Invited participants included Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London; Rt Hon Graham Stuart, Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero; the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; and the CEOs of HSBC, AstraZeneca, OVO Energy, and GRIDSERVE.
Returning for the fifth year as the flagship event of London Climate Action Week, the Climate Innovation Forum convened 1,500 leaders from government, business, finance, and civil society to catalyse the fulfilment of the UK’s climate commitments, and drive the radical collaboration, finance and innovation needed to deliver on our global climate goals.
At the event, His Majesty also met some of the UK’s leading climate-tech startups, including Arda Biomaterials, Futraheat, Piclo, and Clean Growth Fund. These organisations offer opportunities to help the country achieve its net zero targets – the “economic opportunity of the 21st century”, according to an independent review commissioned by the UK government.[2]
CIF was run by Climate Action in partnership with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Acting as a key touchpoint between COP27 and COP28, it aimed to shine a light on the pro-growth opportunities that net zero presents regionally, nationally, and globally. DESNZ hosted a separate roundtable on COP28 alignment together with Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Speaking at the event, Nick Henry, CEO and Founder of Climate Action, said: “We are honoured to be joined by His Majesty King Charles at the Climate Innovation Forum for the national Climate Clock switch on, during London Climate Action Week. This powerful illustration of the scale of the climate emergency also reminds us there is still time to avert disaster. We need to align all actors – governments, cities, investors, businesses, and civil society – to move at speed and at scale. It is vital that we embrace the pro-growth opportunity of the net zero transition and turn ambition into transformational action.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For any questions, please contact: climateaction@webershandwick.com
About Climate Action
Established in 2007 and headquartered in London, Climate Action’s mission is to facilitate collaboration to encourage the development, deployment and accelerated uptake of globally sustainable, net zero solutions.
Led by founder and CEO Nick Henry, the organisation looks to support the critical role of business and finance in the transition to a net zero, just and sustainable world. They curate industry-specific media and event platforms that are designed to forge public-private-partnerships. Most notably, Climate Action has been a part of the official side-event programme hosted by the COP Presidents and UNFCCC since COP16 in Cancun. Their 2022 Innovation Zone at COP27 comprised a 6000m² hub for cross sector collaboration which welcomed almost 10,000 attendees and hosted over 100 events.
About Climate Innovation Forum
Returning for the fifth year as the flagship event of London Climate Action Week, the Climate Innovation Forum will convene 1,500 leaders from government, business, finance and civil society to catalyse the fulfilment of the UK’s climate commitments, and drive the radical collaboration, finance and innovation needed to deliver on our global climate goals.
Taking place on Wednesday 28th June in the heart of the City of London in the historic Guildhall, the Forum is being run in partnership with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The high-level event will shine a light on the pro-growth opportunities that net zero presents regionally, nationally and globally. Its mission is to champion bold leadership and brave action, catalyse innovation and collaboration, and mobilise finance to go further faster. The Forum will also act as a key touchpoint between COP27 and COP28, mobilising key actors to engage in constructive, forward-looking dialogues.
About Climate Clock
The first Climate Clock launched in Union Square, New York City, in September 2020 and quickly went viral. It now has a global presence, with monument-sized Clocks installed in London, Prague, Rome, Seoul, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and portable clocks in the hands of climate leaders across the world, from Greta Thunberg to Bill McKibben to the Prime Minister of the Bahamas Phillip Davis, and most recently displayed during final negotiations at COP27.
The Climate Clock urges governments, corporations, and people in power to #ActInTime for the climate crisis. It exhibits a 'Deadline' counting down the time remaining to prevent global warming from rising above 1.5°C and four 'Lifelines' tracking progress on key solution pathways, including the percentage of the world's energy from renewable sources, the amount of land currently protected by Indigenous peoples, the Loss & Damage Financing owed by G20 Nations to the most vulnerable nations, and the percentage of women in national parliaments. The countdown is based on IPCC data, the gold standard of climate science.
The original Climate Clock in New York was co-created by Gan Golan, Andrew Boyd, Katie Peyton Hofstadter, and Adrian Carpenter.
About the Climate Clock button
The button that activated the national Climate Clock on stage at Climate Innovation Forum was made from Ocean Plastics collected from beaches in Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Gower Peninsula in Wales. This would-be waste material will later be upcycled into a plant pot and presented to His Majesty by Climate Action.
About the COP28 Alignment Roundtable
Convened by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and facilitated by Climate Action, the participatory roundtable will bring together a selection of senior representatives from government and non-state actors across the UK – including cities, industry and finance, to discuss priorities for COP28 and how to align objectives to maximise the UK’s impact in delivering a transformational COP of action.
Key quotes
Andrew Boyd, Climate Clock Co-Creator: “The deadline on the Climate Clock tracks our critical time window to push forward climate solutions. Grassroots climate activists and indigenous communities across the globe have carried this message of “what we need to do by when” into the halls of power across the world, and now it is being heard here in London. Leaders must Act In Time. We hope the British public is empowered by the Clock’s message to hold our leaders accountable.”.