LONDON — Britain’s prime minister may be paring back his green pledges — but King Charles III had a different message on the global stage Thursday.
In a historic speech to the French Senate, the monarch said France and the U.K. must work together in order to “answer more efficiently” the challenges posed by climate change, as he talked up the “existential” importance of the issue.
His speech came less than 24 hours after U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the paring back of several policies aimed at driving down Britain’s carbon emissions to zero by 2050 — a move that was greeted with fury from opposition politicians, green activists and some business groups.
Charles, noted for his outspoken views on climate change, had already called for “fighting the scourge that is climate change” in an address at the Palace of Versailles Wednesday night. He went further on Thursday, as he addressed the Senate, the upper house of parliament, in both French and English.
“Just as we stand together against military aggression [in Ukraine], so must we strive together to protect the world from our most existential challenge of all: that of global warming, climate change and the catastrophic destruction of nature,” he said.
“In this century, [man] has started to understand that to survive, he must protect nature. This vision is all the more relevant in the 21st century,” he added. The king said it was “encouraging” to see the “measures taken by our governments, citizens and increasingly by the private sector.”
The green king
Charles has long touted his credentials as a climate advocate. He first publicly addressed the reality of climate change in 1970 while still heir to the throne. He has vowed to take a more restrained approach as king on political issues.
But on the environment, he continues to bang the drum.
In his address Thursday, Charles talked up the contribution both countries could make to the fight against climate change. His speech, long planned, is nevertheless notable amid scrutiny of Sunak’s climate credentials back home, after the U.K. prime minister eased key targets meant to phase in electric cars and encourage cleaner heating.
On Thursday afternoon, Charles will join French President Emmanuel Macron to meet British and French business leaders who, he said, are “working on collaboration, innovation and investment in clean growth and the preservation of our precious biodiversity” and “that are part of an essential world leadership” on climate change. The British monarch will travel to Bordeaux Friday where he will visit an organic vineyard and an urban forest, where scientists are studying the effects of climate change.
Charles said the two nations will play an “essential role in working in partnership and harmony with our governments and our people” to tackle climate change.
The speaker of France’s lower house, Yaël Braun-Pivet, saluted what she called the king’s “personal commitment” to protect biodiversity and the environment “which dates back to his youth.”
As part of his state visit to France, Charles is the first member of the U.K. royal family to visit the French Senate since 2004, when his late mother Queen Elizabeth II gave a speech as part of the centenary of the entente cordiale, an agreement reached by France and Britain in 1904 which aimed to put to bed a host of colonial disputes.
As he closed his address, the king proposed a new entente cordiale — this time on climate.
“Let’s renew [our entente cordiale] for future generations. So that she becomes, I suggest, also an entente for sustainability, to answer more efficiently the worldwide emergency on climate and biodiversity,” he said.
