Prince Charles helped persuade Jeff Bezos to pledge £732 million for land restoration in Africa.
The Amazon founder appeared alongside the Prince of Wales and French president Emmanuel Macron at a Cop26 event on Monday (01.11.21), which highlighted the Great Green Wall initiative – which will plant 20 million trees across the width of Africa to counter desertification – and he vowed to match a previous contribution made through his Bezos Earth Fund.
He said: “We all know that this is the decisive decade, but without action, it will become the indecisive decade.
“We can’t let that happen. Please consider us an ally for this important cause.”
The evening before, Charles had hosted Jeff and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, for an informal meeting over tea after the G20 summit in Rome, Italy, and sources claimed to the Daily Mail newspaper that the prince was “instrumental” in bringing together the businessman and the French leader on the issue.
Lauren shared a number of photos from the meeting on Instagram, while her partner tweeted: “The Prince of Wales has been involved in fighting climate change and protecting our beautiful world far longer than most.
“We had a chance to discuss these important issues on the eve of #COP26 – looking for solutions to heal our world, and how the @BezosEarthFund can help.”
At the beginning of the Cop26 climate summit in Scotland, the 72-year-old prince had described the meeting as a “last chance saloon”.
He said: “We must now translate fine words into still finer actions.
“It is surely time to set aside our differences and grasp this unique opportunity to launch a substantial green recovery by putting the global economy on a confident, sustainable trajectory and, thus, save our planet.
“This is why I am so grateful to have this chance to talk to you here today and to shine a light not just on how far we’ve come, but also on how far we still need to go.”