The Queen
Queen ‘irritated’ by world leaders talking not
doing on climate crisis
Overheard comment suggests anger at possible no-shows
at Cop26 by leaders of countries with worst CO2 emissions
Nadeem
Badshah
Thu 14 Oct
2021 23.55 BST
The Queen
has criticised world leaders’ inaction on addressing the climate crisis,
admitting she is “irritated” by individuals who “talk but don’t do”.
She made
the remarks, which were picked up on a livestream, at the opening of the Welsh
parliament in Cardiff on Thursday.
During a
conversation with the Duchess of Cornwall and Elin Jones, the parliament’s
presiding officer, the Queen referred to the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow
starting on 31 October, which she is scheduled to attend along with other
members of the royal family.
She said:
“Extraordinary isn’t it. I’ve been hearing all about Cop ... still don’t know
who is coming. No idea.
“We only
know about people who are not coming ... It’s really irritating when they talk,
but they don’t do.”
Jones
replied: “Exactly. It’s a time for doing ... and watching your grandson [Prince
William] on the television this morning saying there’s no point going to space,
we need to save the Earth.”
The Queen
then smiled and said: “Yes, I read about it.”
Prince
William had condemned billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos for
pioneering space tourism instead of focusing on the environmental problems on
Earth.
“We need
some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this
planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live.”
The Duke of
Cambridge also expressed his indignation at the inaction on tackling the
climate crisis earlier this week and raised his concerns about the Cop26
climate conference.
He told the
BBC: “I think for Cop to communicate very clearly and very honestly what the
problems are and what the solutions are going to be is critical.
“We can’t
have more clever speak, clever words but not enough action.”
Among the
world leaders still not confirmed to attend the UN’s Cop26 conference are
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, Chinese president Xi Jinping, Russian
leader Vladimir Putin, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and Brazil’s
president, Jair Bolsonaro.
US
president Joe Biden has confirmed that he will attend.
The Queen’s
remarks mirror comments made by her son the Prince of Wales in an interview
with the BBC earlier this week.
Prince
Charles said he was worried that world leaders would “just talk” when they meet
in Glasgow. “The problem is to get action on the ground,” he said.
The Prince
of Wales also expressed surprise that Morrison had yet to confirm his
attendance and believes that the summit in Glasgow is the “last chance saloon”
for global action on the climate breakdown.
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