Davos: BP accused of 'going backwards on climate change'

There was a handshake and a meeting of minds between climate activists Prince Charles and Greta Thunberg at Davos on Wednesday, as both attended the summit to press for change.

The Prince made his first speech about the environment in 1968.

His speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday was to business leaders and head of states and called for urgent action.

Greta Thunberg and Prince Charles had a brief discussion. Credit: PA

"Do we really want to go down in history as the people who did nothing to bring the world back from the brink, in trying to restore the balance, when we could have done," he told the WEF.

"Just think for a moment, what good all the extra wealth in the world gained from business as usual if you can do nothing with it except watch it burn in catastrophic conditions."

  • The Prince of Wales tells the World Economic Forum how he plans to be environmentally responsible:

The Prince called on businesses to invest in the technology that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to put people and the planet at the heart of what they do.

Charles called on companies to come clean about their impact on the environment and suggested polluters should pay more tax.

Climate crisis group Extinction Rebellion have staged die-ins outside arts organisations sponsored by BP. Credit: AP

One of the UK’s biggest polluters is BP.

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which was set up to measure companies progress toward sustainability, says BP has stopped cooperating with them.

"BP is going backwards on climate change," Paul Simpson, CEO of CDP, told ITV News.

"BP are offering up what their greenhouse gas emissions are but what investors want to know is how is the company transforming to meet the climate science?

"What are their targets for the future?

"Are they in line with the science?

"And that’s what BP doesn’t have".

'BP is going backwards on climate change,' Paul Simpson told ITV News.

Simpson says BP's rival Shell offers far better disclosure but BP insists it is taking climate change seriously.

"We’ve got a large renewables business which employs 18,000 people," Bod Dudley, the outgoing CEO of BP, told ITV News at Davos.

"We’ve got 50% of Europe's largest solar development company, Lightsource BP, that’s been growing and growing, we've now taken it into eleven countries around the world.

"We've got 16 wind farms in North America.

"This is only the beginning".

Prince Charles flew to Switzerland but left the World Economic Forum in an electric car.

A gesture intended to reinforce his message: now is the time for action to match the words.