The new king is a fervent defender of ecology. A commitment that is close to his heart, sometimes to the point of stepping outside of his traditional royal reserve. Charles was even a forerunner on the subject: his statements and his choices happened to be mocked in the past, when climate change issues were still largely ignored.
• Pioneer options
In 1986, Charles converted his Highgrove farm in Gloucestershire, in the west of England, to organic farming. Home Farm – this is the name of this farm – is 365 hectares of land cultivated without pesticides and with open-air rearing of sheep, oxen and pigs. At the time, it passes for an original. The initiative is ridiculed, he is even nicknamed the “potato prince”.
Four years later, he creates the Duchy Originals label, a range of organic food and drinks, which allows him to sell products from his farm. Today, the Duchy brand is a reference in the British organic market, whose 300 products are sold by a chain of high-end supermarkets and exported all over the world. In 2018, the company generated €3.5 million in revenue, reports Point of view, “Proceeds were donated to the prince’s charities.”
But in 2021, Charles gives up on renewing the lease on his farm. However, he has another project: to transform the Sandringham estate, privately owned by the Queen, into a large organic sheep farm. Today honey is already produced there thanks to the hives that have been installed.
Another pioneering gesture from Charles: at the end of the 90s, he announced that he would no longer use aerosols, it had just been discovered that they were harmful to the ozone layer. He is one of the first to do so.
• Personal efforts
Shortly before COP26 last fall, Charles expressed concern that international leaders were “just talking” rather than taking drastic action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
In an interview with the BBC, the Duke of Cornwall thus evoked his own efforts to reduce his carbon footprint. He explained that he did not eat meat or fish two days a week and had reduced his dairy intake. “If more people did this, it would reduce the pressure on the environment a lot,” he said.
Charles also indicated that his car, an Aston Martin that he has owned for some fifty years, had been modified to run on “surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese-making process,” with a blend of 85% bioethanol, the rest Unleaded petrol. Since 2007, he also publishes the “ecological footprint” of him. In 2020 there were 3,133 tons of CO2, compared to 5,070 in 2019.
• A strong political statement
In November 2021, during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Carlos came out of the royal family’s traditional reserve to urge politicians to redouble efforts in the fight against global warming. “The eyes and hopes of the world are on you to act quickly and decisively because time is up,” he said during his inaugural address.
• A model town
On his land in Cornwall, southwest England, in Newquay, Charles supported the construction of a new district, he explains The monitor. Housing that respects the environment, smooth mobility and favored public transport, children’s play areas integrated into community gardens, fruit trees in the city, edible plantations in the streets… The project is part of a sustainable approach.
It takes inspiration from an earlier initiative led by Charles: Poundbury, a new town built in Dorchester, in the south of England, which shared the same sustainable approach, aiming for social diversity and zero cars. But the goal had not really been achieved, he recounts international mail. The project had also been criticized for its heterogeneous architectural style.
• A television channel dedicated to the environment
Last year, Charles signed a deal with Amazon Prime Video to launch a TV channel dedicated to the environment, called Re:TV. “I have spent part of my life trying to convince people and companies to investigate the climate crisis and find solutions,” the still-prince said in a statement.
• A sustainable fashion collection
In 2019, Prince Charles donated the nettles from his country residence to pioneering designers of sustainable fashion. The following year, he transformed essay by launching a sustainable collection of 18 pieces – ten for women, eight for men – with his foundation, The Prince’s Foundation, in collaboration with Net à porter. Handmade clothing in the UK.
for magazine fashion, he explained “being one of those people who hate throwing anything away” and would rather keep their clothes “even mend them if necessary, than abandon them”.
• Botany lover
Charles has always been a gardening enthusiast, but his habits have been mocked at times. Like counting his flowers, trimming his topiaries himself at night, or talking to his plants to encourage his growth. In a documentary released in 2010, he remembers The Figaro, He explained that he did not understand these criticisms: “We have denigrated nature too much, by trampling on it. Look at the result: it returns us in the gums.”
• Defender of another economic model
In 2020, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Charles advocates for a more responsible economic model. “To secure our future and prosper, we must evolve our business model and put people and the planet at the center of global value creation,” he said. He had also had a private meeting with environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
“What good is all the money that is generated in the world by continuing to do business as if nothing had happened, to change nothing, if not to watch that it does not burn in catastrophic conditions?” He asked himself in front of the world elite. .
However, the prince had been singled out for his environmentally unfriendly travel on private planes and helicopters. A Clarence House spokesman responded: “World travel is an indispensable part of the Prince’s role as a senior member of the Royal Family, representing the UK abroad,” he reported. Gala. “When he travels, he does so at the request of the British government. It does not choose the destinations or the chosen means of transport”.
Source: BFM TV
