Queen slams world leaders not committing to climate summit

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The Queen made a rare public intervention on the climate change crisis yesterday, saying she is ‘irritated’ by people who ‘talk but don’t do’.

She made the pointed comment while attending the opening of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff.

The 95-year-old monarch was speaking to the Duchess of Cornwall and Elin Jones, the parliament’s presiding officer, when her remarks were picked up on the event’s live stream.

The Queen referred to the upcoming Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow, which she and other senior royals are due to attend. She said: ‘Extraordinary isn’t it… I’ve been hearing all about Cop… still don’t know who is coming… no idea.

‘We only know about people who are not coming… It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.’

The Queen, who was using a walking stick in public for the second time this week, expressed the remarks emphatically and gesticulated with her gloved hand.

Miss Jones replied: ‘Exactly. It’s a time for doing… and watching your grandson [Prince William] on the television this morning saying there’s no point going to space, we need to save the Earth.’ 

The Queen smiled proudly and said: ‘Yes, I read about it.’

The remarks were a rare public insight into the politically neutral – and tight-lipped – monarch’s personal views on an issue of global importance.

She attended the Welsh parliament alongside Camilla and the Prince of Wales, a committed environmentalist who made similar remarks this week.

The Queen did famously say she hoped ‘people will think very carefully about the future’ ahead of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, which was viewed by many as a direct attempt to influence the vote.

Yesterday’s remarks, although also made in a public setting, were not political – simply a personal expression of frustration at inaction on climate change.

Among those still not confirmed to attend the UN’s Cop26 conference, which starts on October 31, are Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, Chinese president Xi Jinping, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro have also not committed to being in Glasgow for the event.

US President Joe Biden confirmed only yesterday that he will attend. America’s charge d’affaires to the UK, Philip Reeker, said the summit in Glasgow will be ‘a pivotal moment on the road towards a more secure, prosperous and sustainable future for our planet’.

Although the Queen has left environmental campaigning to her late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, her son Charles, and grandson William, it is an issue she quietly takes a great interest in.

In a speech to the Scottish parliament earlier this month, she said: ‘Next month, I will be attending Cop26 events in Glasgow. The eyes of the world will be on the United Kingdom – and Scotland, in particular – as leaders come together to address the challenges of climate change.

‘There is a key role for the Scottish parliament, as with all parliaments, to help create a better, healthier future for us all, and to engage with the people they represent – especially our young people.’

In 2019, she used her Christmas speech to praise young climate change activists and their sense of purpose.

She has also introduced environmentally friendly initiatives at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences, including monitoring energy consumption through a network of smart meters, installing energy-efficient LED lighting where possible and using combined heat and power plants and boilers to convert natural gas into electricity. 

Windsor Castle gets 40 per cent of its electricity from two hydro-electric turbines on the River Thames, and the Queen famously used to go round turning the palace lights off.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night.

Earlier this week, Charles, 72, also expressed his frustration that the world’s leaders had taken ‘far too long’ to take action.

He said: ‘They just talk. The problem is to get action on the ground, which is what I’ve been trying to do for the last 40 years, by bringing together people from every kind of industry and walk of life, to try to create an awareness of what needs to be done.’

This week Prince William hit out at billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for pioneering space tourism – when the world’s greatest brains and minds need to be ‘fixed on trying to repair this planet’. 

The Duke of Cambridge, 39, appeared to rebuke the billionaire’s space race as he spoke about the current issues facing the climate during an interview with the BBC at Kensington Palace.

The royal also warned the Cop26 summit, where world leaders will gather in Glasgow at the end of the month to discuss climate change, against ‘clever speak, clever words but not enough action’. 

The duke’s intervention came just hours after Star Trek’s William Shatner became the oldest person in space at the age of 90, following a journey aboard Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.  

In his interview about climate change, ahead of his inaugural Earthshot Prize awards, the duke said: ‘We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live.’ 

During his interview Prince William spoke about the importance of our actions now – as he warned that inaction on climate change will ‘rob from our children’s future’.   

He said: ‘I want the things that I’ve enjoyed – the outdoor life, nature, the environment – I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else’s children. 

‘If we’re not careful we’re robbing from our children’s future through what we do now. 

‘And I think that’s not fair. I want to use my little bit of influence… to highlight incredible people doing incredible things and will genuinely help fix some of these problems.’ 

He also raised his concerns about the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow next month.

He said: ‘I think for COP to communicate very clearly and very honestly what the problems are and what the solutions are going to be, is critical.

‘We can’t have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action.’  

The father-of-three, who shares Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, said his father Prince Charles had a ‘a really rough ride’ but was ‘well ahead of the curve’ on the environment.  

He said: ‘It’s been a hard road for [my father]. 

‘My grandfather started off helping out WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) a long time ago with its nature work and biodiversity, and I think that my father’s sort of progressed that on and talked about climate change a lot more, very early on, before anyone else thought it was a topic.

‘So yes, he’s had a really rough ride on that, and I think you know he’s been proven to being well ahead of the curve.’

‘Well beyond his time in warning about some of these dangers. 

‘But it shouldn’t be that there’s a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more.

‘And you know, for me, it would be an absolute disaster if George is sat here talking to you or your successor, Adam, you know in like 30 years’ time, whatever, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late.’

He added that his viewpoint had changed since he had his own children, saying: ‘I want the things that I’ve enjoyed – the outdoor life, nature, the environment – I want that to be there for my children, and not just my children but everyone else’s children.

‘If we’re not careful we’re robbing from our children’s future through what we do now. And I think that’s not fair.’    

Cop26 is the deadline by which countries are expected to bring forward more ambitious plans, under a five-year cycle, to get the world on track to meet the Paris goals.

The 2015 Paris Agreement commits countries to keeping temperature rises to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit them to 1.5C – beyond which the most dangerous climate impacts will be felt.

The conference begins in Glasgow on October 31. 

Prince George, the mini eco-warrior! Prince William says son, 8, gets ‘confused and annoyed’ when rubbish reappears the next day after litter- picking with school

ByMonica Greep For Mailonline 

The Duke of Cambridge says Prince George becomes ‘confused and annoyed’ when rubbish reappears after he’s picked up litter. 

The eight-year-old royal has been collecting rubbish with his £20,000-a-year school, Thomas’s Battersea, in south west London, but expressed frustration to his dad that litter continues to appear in the same place daily. 

Prince William made the comments as he spoke to BBC Newscast’s Adam Fleming in a sit-down interview about the current issues facing the climate at Kensington Palace.  

The 39-year-old duke said it would be a ‘disaster’ if George were to be sat down in 30 years’ time having the same conversation, because ‘by then we will be too late’. 

‘So George at school recently has been doing litter picking’, said William. 

‘I didn’t realise but talking to him the other day he was already showing that he was getting a bit confused and a bit sort of annoyed by the fact they went out litter picking one day and then the very next day they did the same route, same time and pretty much all the same litter they picked up back again’. 

‘And I think that for him he was trying to understand how and where it all came from. He couldn’t understand, he’s like, “Well, we cleaned this. Why has it not gone away?”

The father-of-three, who shares George, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, said his father Prince Charles had a ‘a really rough ride’ but was ‘well ahead of the curve’ on the environment.  

He said: ‘It’s been a hard road for [my father]. My grandfather started off helping out WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) a long time ago with its nature work and biodiversity.

‘I think that my father’s sort of progressed that on and talked about climate change a lot more, very early on, before anyone else thought it was a topic. 

‘So yes, he’s had a really rough ride on that, and I think you know he’s been proven to being well ahead of the curve. Well beyond his time in warning about some of these dangers. 

‘But it shouldn’t be that there’s a third generation now coming along having to ramp it up even more.

‘And you know, for me, it would be an absolute disaster if George is sat here talking to you or your successor, Adam, you know in like 30 years’ time, whatever, still saying the same thing, because by then we will be too late.’