England’s King Charles warned of “overwhelming” climate dangers in an address at Australia’s parliament on Monday, saying the growing ferocity of bushfires and floods were an “unmistakable sign” of a sweltering planet.
The monarch urged Australiato assume the mantle of global leadership in the race to slash emissions.
According to him, “It’s in all our interests to be good stewards of the world,” he said in his first speech inside Australia’s parliament as head of state.
The 75-year-old sovereign is on a nine-day jaunt through Australia and Samoa, the first major foreign tour since his life-changing cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
His environmental advocacy — which has seen him dubbed the “climate king” — is sure to resonate in a country scarred by fires and floods.
The “magnitude and ferocity” of these natural disasters was accelerating, said Charles, who described the “roll of unprecedented events” as “an unmistakable sign of climate change.”
“This is why Australia’s international leadership on global initiatives to protect our climate and biodiversity is of such absolute and critical importance.”
Charles paid particular tribute to Indigenous “traditional owners of the lands” who had “loved and cared for this continent for 65,000 years.”
