The Prince of Wales meets with global CEOs ahead of the G7 Summit

The Prince of Wales met with Global CEOs of his Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) at St James’s Palace today ahead of tomorrow’s G7 Summit to discuss how the private sector can work with governments to tackle the climate emergency and make the world’s economy more sustainable.

Conversation and initiatives reflected on the SMI's Terra Carta, which was launched by The Prince earlier this year and puts Nature, People and Planet at the heart of the private sector and provides a roadmap towards a sustainable future. 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.

In attendance at the meeting were the CEOs of Bank of America, HSBC, NatWest, State Street, EY, AstraZeneca, Heathrow Airport, Stella McCartney, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), and the Investor Leadership Network.

Tomorrow, the nine CEOs will meet the Leaders of the world’s leading economies at the G7 – the first such meeting held between Government and global business leaders to discuss the acceleration of sustainable investment.

The Prince of Wales has worked for over 50 years to address environmental issues and tackle climate change. His Royal Highness believes that economic and social development will best succeed when it works in harmony, rather than in conflict, with Nature.

Since 2020, The Prince has hosted over 50 Roundtable meetings with CEOs and global experts to focus collaboration and action around the world.

During a speech, The Prince of Wales said:

And I particularly wanted to say on this occasion how grateful I am to all of you for joining us here because we do have I think a potentially game-changing opportunity to drive forward the partnerships between government, business and private sector finance that are absolutely vital if we are to win the battle to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.

As I am afraid I have been trying to say for several decades, unless we can actually unlock private sector resource, innovation and finance, with the public sector setting a framework of incentives and regulation, we just don’t stand a chance of solving the existential crises we have engineered over the years.