The Green Party is calling on the Government to follow the lead of our future king and stop investing public money in fossil fuels.
“This week’s visit by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall is an opportunity for the Government to hear the Prince’s views on the need for governments and businesses to divest from industries causing climate change, such as oil, coal, and gas,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.
“The Green Party’s Bill, the Climate Change (Divestment from Fossil Fuels) Bill, is due before Parliament next week. It draws a line in the sand for fossil fuels, and will direct our public money managers to divest from companies directly involved in the exploration, mining, and production of fossil fuels.
“The Prince has himself almost eradicated fossil fuel holdings from his royal investments, and has encouraged others do to the same.
“Last week, Prince Charles pushed for a price on carbon, in advance of his visit to Australia. It would be great if he used his visit here to encourage the Government to do something positive for the environment, like supporting our bill to divest from fossil fuels.
“It doesn’t make sense to be encouraging more fossil fuel pollution when most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves can’t be burnt without causing catastrophic climate change.
“Prince Charles has previously said the planet could receive a ‘death certificate’ from climate change and that ‘climate change is becoming an increasing source of risk to the finance community’.
“Prince Charles echoes the Governor of the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund, who both warn of ‘potentially huge’ losses, and note that ‘climate change will threaten financial resilience and longer term prosperity’.
“I look forward to hearing what suggestions he might have for the Government,” said Mr Shaw.
