King Charles’s five-point plan as he urges trillions of dollars to tackle climate crisis

King suggests using private finance and increasing green agriculture funding to forge ‘new vision for 100 years’

King Charles has set out an action plan for tackling the climate crisis based on five key suggestions at Cop28, saying up to five trillion dollars will be needed each year.

His proposals, made in the form of questions, included bringing together different types of organisations to face the crisis, and involving private and goodwill finance, on top of public money.

Secondly, the King suggested targeting that cash carefully at projects driving sustainable changes and away from dangerous practices in all industries worldwide.

His third idea was ramping up investment in renewable energy, green technology and agriculture.

He also asked how to “bring together different solutions and initiatives to ensure coherent, long-term approaches across sectors, countries and industries”.

And lastly, the King raised the question of how to forge “an ambitious new vision” for the next 100 years among indigenous people, as well as young people, artists, communicators and engineers.

Addressing around 1,000 global heads of state and dignitaries, the King said the “hope of the world” rested on the Dubai climate summit.

Setting out his vision for transformation, he asked: “Firstly, how can our multilateral organisations, which were established at a different time, for different challenges, be strengthened for the crisis we face?

“How can we bring together our public, private, philanthropic and NGO [non-governmental organisation] sectors ever more effectively, so that they all play their part in delivering climate action, each complementing the unique strengths of the others?”

Public finance alone would never be sufficient, he added. “But with the private sector firmly at the table, and a better, fairer international financial system, combined with the innovative use of risk reduction tools like first loss risk guarantees, we could mobilise the trillions of dollars we need, in the order of four-and-a-half to five trillion a year, to drive the transformation we need.”

Public finance alone is not enough, the King said (AP)

The King’s second question was how to ensure finance flows to developments “most essential to a sustainable future, and away from practices that make our world more dangerous, across every industry in every part of the world”.

“Thirdly,” he asked, “How can we accelerate innovation and the deployment of renewable energy, of clean technology and other green alternatives, to move decisively towards investment in this vital transition across all industries?

“For instance, how can we increase investments in regenerative agriculture, which can be a nature-positive carbon sink?”

He questioned how incentives that have a perverse impact can be eliminated quickly.

“Fourthly, how can we bring together different solutions and initiatives to ensure coherent, long-term approaches across sectors, countries and industries?

“For virtually every artificial source of greenhouse gas emissions, there are alternatives or mitigations which can be put in place.”

Finally, the King asked his audience: “How can we forge an ambitious new vision for the next one hundred years?

“How can we draw on the extraordinary ingenuity of our societies, the ideas, knowledge and energy of our young people, our artists, our engineers, our communicators, and, importantly, our indigenous peoples, to imagine a sustainable future for people everywhere?

“A future that is in harmony with nature, not set against her.”