The Prince of Wales has taken the lead at COP26 on behalf of the Royal Family, meeting with world leaders and policymakers while advancing the work of his green agenda, including the Sustainable Markets Initiative and the Terra Carta.
Let’s break down exactly who Prince Charles has met this week so far.
Monday, 1 November
Prince Charles’s first meeting on Monday was with the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.
Prince Charles also met with President Klaus Iohannis of Romania. The Romanian government told the press, as reported through Act Media, a Romanian news agency, that President Iohannis and Prince Charles “agreed on the need to find solutions to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity. In this context, President Klaus Iohannis pointed out that there is a close link between them, the loss of biodiversity exacerbating climate change, which in turn affects ecosystems and species.”
Prince Charles then met with President Iván Duque Márquez of Columbia, who tweeted about their meeting: “Valuable and gratifying meeting with HRH Prince Charles, with whom we discussed an international coalition for the protection of forests; your interest in the development of projects #EnergíasRenovables and our Green Hydrogen route.”
In a meeting with President Zuzana Čaputová of Slovakia, the two spoke about “green transition and the opportunities it creates for sustainable businesses. A promising area for deeper cooperation also between Slovakia and the UK,” according to her official Twitter.
Prince Charles finished his first day of meetings with world leaders meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France; the two then hosted, with the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, a forum for the “Accelerating Restoration in Africa, the Case of the Great Green Wall” initiative.
Tuesday, 2 November
Prince Charles met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia. Ahead of COP26, in an interview with the BBC, Prince Charles was told that Morrison hadn’t officially accepted the invitation to attend and said that it was important for world leaders to attend because “the point being that this is a last-chance saloon, literally. Because if we don’t really take the decisions that are vital now, it’s going to be almost impossible to catch up.”
When Prince Charles met Morrison at COP26 on Tuesday, the Prime Minister told him that Australia would be net-zero by 2050 and that “Australia has done that here at Cop26, doubled our climate finance commitments, and we are working very closely with our Pacific family.”
After meeting President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, the President tweeted, “On the margins of COP26 in Glasgow, I had a productive dialogue with The Prince of Wales.”
Prince Charles also met with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajed. His Foreign Minister, Dr AK Abdul Momen, briefed the press that his talks “highlighted Bangladesh challenges, initiatives and demands to face the climate change impacts,” said the Dhaka Tribute.
Momen also revealed that Prince Charles was accompanied by representatives from central banks and spoke about “private sector engagements” in tackling climate change and that he would look at a proposal to visit Bangladesh “as they wanted to participate in Bangladesh’s development process.”
One of the most high-profile dignitaries Prince Charles met on Tuesday was President Joe Biden, who spoke of the royal’s long-term commitment to green initiatives. President Biden reportedly said, “We need you badly…and I’m not just saying that,” and “You got the whole thing going… that’s how it all started.”
Prime Minister Andrew Holness of Jamaica tweeted about his audience with Prince Charles, “I welcomed the opportunity to meet with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales who has been a strong voice on climate-related matters. Our discussions included the #COP26 agenda as well as the charitable work of the Prince’s Trust in Jamaica.”
Prince Charles also met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính of Vietnam. According to reports from VOVWORLD, Prime Minister Chính congratulated Prince Charles on the UK’s hosting of COP26 and reiterated that Vietnam’s goal is to achieve “net-zero emissions by 2050 and shift to the green, circular economy.”
The news site reports that the Prime Minister also spoke of cooperation between the UK and Vietnam and that Prince Charles “said he hopes to promote the Vietnam-UK cooperation in environmental protection and biodiversity conservation projects.”
And finally, Prince Charles met with President Hage Geingob of Namibia. The official Namibian President’s Twitter account shared, “President Geingob thanked Prince Charles for his work to protect our planet,” and in a follow-up tweet, “The President also shared Namibia’s commitment to accelerate efforts in favour of a safer planet for current and future generations.”
