A year on from announcing his Sustainable Markets Initiative, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has announced a new charter – the 'Terra Carta', the Earth charter – aiming to put sustainability at the heart of the private sector. HRH The Prince of Wales announced the initiative at the One Planet Summit on the 11th January 2021 as the basis of a recovery plan for nature, people and planet. The charter aims to provide a roadmap for businesses to move towards a sustainable future by harnessing the 'power of Nature combined with the transformative power, innovation and resources of the private sector.' The Terra Carta will serve as the guiding mandate for the Sustainable Markets Initiative, working towards net zero and carbon neutrality.


The aims of the Terra Carta will be met by:


  • Furthering and exceeding the targets in the Paris 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
  • Broadening the definition of sustainability beyond simply net zero transition
  • Supporting the protection and restoration of at least 30% of biodiversity by 2030 and 50% by 2050
  • Making global investment consistent with pathways toward low greenhouse gas emissions, climate-resilient development and natural capital and biodiversity restoration
  • Encouraging coordination and cooperation within private and public areas
  • Leveraging consumer and shareholder demand to drive sustainable transition and investment

The Terra Carta draws attention to carbon capture and storage in several ways. The charter aims to identify, showcase and invest in such game changing solutions like CCS for emissions reductions by focussing on high standard carbon offsets and the creation of carbon offset markets, and these markets directing offsets into solutions that support emission reductions such as carbon capture. The initiative plans to put forward the exploration and scaling up of technologies like CCS and encourages specifically soil regeneration for enhanced carbon capture to have accelerated investment opportunities. The charter will support actions that the private sector and economic actors could adopt including carbon capture mega projects, and catalysing science, technology and innovation including CCS, renewables, energy storage, electrification and biotech to reinvigorate innovation. The charter specifically aims to explore the potential of CCUS, both engineered and nature-based, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help to drawn down legacy carbon in the atmosphere.


HRH The Prince of Wales' Sustainable Markets Initiative will regularly report on and update this new charter, Terra Carta, to reflect the rapid pace of change and progress in the area of worldwide climate change mitigation.


For more information please visit the Terra Carta website at https://www.sustainable-markets.org/terra-carta/