Prince Charles spoke at the opening of COP21 this morning. In his address the Prince restated that in March 2009 there were 100 months of business as usual left before irreversible climate change would be the global reality.  He relayed that 80 of those months had now passed. He stated the urgency of the need for an outcome to address the now evident impact of global climate change. His comments reiterated the statement of Christina Figueres, who preceded him and announced that there has never been a time in history where the fate of so many was in the hands of so few. The Prince concluded by noting that the world knows what needs to be done, the cost is low 1.7% of global GDP, and his sincere hope that an agreement would be reached.

The Prince has been an advocate of the environment and established the International Sustainability Unit (I.S.U.) as part of the Prince’s Charities in 2010. The goal of the I.S.U. is to address development and environmental issues. Since its inception, I.S.U. has initiated programs in natural capital and climate resilience.