Prince Charles launches The ‘Terra Carta’ to recognise the rights of nature

HRH The Prince of Wales launches new initiative to urge big business CEOs to put the planet first.

Prince Charles’ new “treaty” asks CEOs to recognise the rights of nature

Inspired by the Magna Carta, the Terra Carta provides a roadmap to 2030 for businesses to move towards an ambitious and sustainable future; one that will harness the power of Nature combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector. The new global business proposition outlines ten areas for action and comprises of nearly 100 actions for business as the basis of a recovery plan that puts Nature, People and Planet at the heart of global value creation.

Terra carta: for nature, people and planet

As part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, HRH The Prince of Wales, last week announced the ‘Terra Carta’ – a charter that puts sustainability at the heart of the private sector. 

The Prince of Wales’s urgent appeal comes as HRH marks 50 years of campaigning for the environment.

Marking a year since HRH announced his Sustainable Markets Initiative at Davos, the Terra Carta offers the basis of a recovery plan to 2030 that puts Nature, People and Planet at the heart of global value creation.

Speaking at the One Planet Summit in France on 11th January 2021 – HRH The Prince of Wales unveiled the Terra Carta (Earth Charter) – which provides a roadmap to 2030 for businesses to move towards an ambitious and sustainable future; one that will harness the power of Nature combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector.

Prince Charles is making an urgent appeal to private sector leaders around the world to join this endeavour and to give their support to the Terra Carta.

One of Terra Carta’s actions was initiated at the One Planet Summit in Paris, with the creation of a Natural Capital Investors Alliance targeting $10 billion by 2022.

Deriving its name from the historic Magna Carta, which inspired a belief in the fundamental rights and liberties of people over 800 years ago, the Terra Carta aims to reunite people and planet, by giving fundamental rights and value to Nature, ensuring a lasting impact and tangible legacy for this generation.

Source: sustainable-markets.org

The aims of the Terra Carta will be met by:

1. Furthering, and where possible exceeding, the goals and targets outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
2. Broadening the definition of sustainability, beyond simply net zero transition, to be inclusive of Nature, People, Planet, Equality and Prosperity.
3. Supporting the protection and restoration of a minimum of 30% of biodiversity, on land and below water, by 2030 and 50% by 2050.
4. Making global investment and financial flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions, climate-resilient development and Natural Capital/biodiversity restoration (on land and below water).
5. Encouraging coordination, cooperation and cohesion within corporate and public-private-philanthropic domains.
6. Leveraging consumer and shareholder demand to drive sustainable transition and investment within the private sector.

The Terra Carta: a blueprint for making sustainability mainstream

The Terra Carta offers a blueprint for making sustainability mainstream and slowing degradation of the natural environment. The 17-page document contains ten articles spread throughout five sections. These sections explore various aspects of greening the economy, incentivising innovation, prioritising sustainable investment, and redesigning for net-zero and nature-positive transitions.

The articles touch on a broad range of important changes that must happen. For example, Article 3 explores the power of consumers and how they control 60% of global GDP, which gives them the ability to transform markets; but they cannot be expected to do this if they don’t understand their options. 

"They deserve to be told more about product lifecycles, supply chains and production methods… If all the true costs are taken into account, including the cost to Nature, being socially and environmentally responsible should be the least expensive option because it leaves the smallest footprint behind."

So far the list of partners on the Terra Carta website are all huge companies, such as Bank of America, HSBC, and BP, many of whom have powerful ties to the fossil fuel industry – or, as in the case of BP, are the fossil fuel industry themselves.

The fact that the Terra Carta is non-binding is, of course, unfortunate. Until companies are held accountable and forced to pay the consequences of inadequate effort, there is little inclination to make meaningful changes. But there is no doubt that the global mood is shifting, that concerns about the climate crisis are stronger than ever, and that companies are being criticised more vocally for their inaction.

Prince Charles described the Terra Carta as an urgent appeal, for businesses and leaders from all sectors and backgrounds to "bring prosperity into harmony with nature, people and planet" over the next ten years. He said, "I can only encourage, in particular, those in industry and finance to provide practical leadership to this common project, as only they are able to mobilise the innovation, scale and resources that are required to transform our global economy."

If the Terra Carta has a fraction of the sticking power that the Magna Carta did, then it will be deemed a success.

Source: TreeHugger

More Details.

Watch HRH The Prince of Wales’ full video presentation here (worth watching).

The Terra Carta has been designed by Sir Jony Ive (the former chief design officer at Apple) and his new team at LoveFrom.

Download the Charter here.

Download the summarium here.