Our future is in your hands, Prince of Wales tells Copenhagen summit

Philippe Naughton in Copenhagen

Financial institutions with more than $13 trillion in assets are relying on the summit in Copenhagen to give them the certainty that they need to invest in a low-carbon world, the Prince of Wales told delegates last night.
His address came as the summit began its final phase, which is due to end with the signing of an emissions agreement on Friday. That deal was far from secure, the Prince acknowledged, urging ministers: “The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future.”
The Prince pushed the need for corporate responsibility, saying: “We appear intent upon consuming the planet. It seems likely, on current patterns of use, that our global fisheries will collapse by 2050 and, already, fresh water is becoming scarcer, placing global food security at ever greater hazard.
“In the last 50 years we have degraded 30 per cent of global topsoil and destroyed 30 per cent of the world’s rainforests. All of these issues are linked to each other and to climate change — a truly vicious circle. However, it is these links, together with our common humanity and the unprecedented connections of today’s global community, which might, perhaps, provide us with a solution.”

On corporate involvement, he said: “The need fully to engage the private sector reflects not only the growing determination of business to act in a sustainable way but, crucially, its determination to listen to customers. And what customers are saying ever more loudly is that they want their investment choices to make a positive difference to climate change.”
The Prince took some credit for pension funds that are setting climate solutions at the centre of investments. “To ensure a large-scale deployment of capital, these pension funds need clear long-term policies to be agreed here this week,” he said. “This request is supported by the 191 financial institutions with assets of over $13 trillion which signed the international investor statement on climate change.”