Prince Charles calls for COP21 success

Prince Charles has spoken out about the importance of success at COP21 climate talks in Paris in December.

The heir to the British throne spoke on the subject as he hosted a meeting on climate change and deforestation at Lancaster House with Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, where he addressed an audience of high-level business, government and NGO representatives.

Guests included Ségolène Royal, the French minister of ecology, as well as representatives from Unilever and Marks & Spencer.

“We can’t possibly allow [warming] to be 4 degrees as scientists have warned… a big increase I think it will be impossible to adapt to,” the prince said.

“Billions of people and what is left of the rest of a rapidly diminishing creation depend on whether this time real concerted action – not just words – can be taken.”

The event focussed on encouraging businesses and governments to do more to protect the world’s remaining forests.

Royal called forests the “victims and solutions” of climate change, announcing a day in Paris will be focused on reducing degradation.

“What is at stake in one month’s time is about harmony… harmony between mankind and nature which seems to be often compromised,” she said.

Prince Charles also used the opportunity to announce he will address the opening session of COP21 in December.

"I have been immensely touched by President Hollande's invitation to attend and speak at the opening of the Conference.

"Paris will be an absolutely crucial milestone in the long overdue international effort to keep to a 2 degree world, although I think that everyone realises that this COP will be the beginning of a new phase in the process, not the end in itself."

The prince highlighted the key role financial markets will play in responding to climate change.

The Prince said the summit must "send an unequivocal, long-term signal to the international community, and to global markets, that the transition to a low carbon, sustainable, climate-compatible economy is firmly and irreversibly underway – and that a 2 degree world is therefore still, just, if we stretch every sinew – by setting a proper price for carbon – within reach".