His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, a long term advocate
for the environment, spoke at a reception launching Ashden’s new three-year strategy. The strategy
focuses on two main approaches, Liveable Cities and Sustainable Energy for Inclusive Development,
incorporating Ashden’s support programmes and Awards.
His Royal Highness Prince Charles, who is Ashden’s Patron, said: “there are few causes more important than promoting a zero carbon
future”.
He added: “As the most recent IPCC report makes very clear,
to avert a climate catastrophe the world needs to move much further, much
faster.”
Sustainable cities, cleaner energy
The event at Clarence House on December 11 brought together
80 high-profile guests with an interest in sustainability and clean energy –
including investors, campaigners and policy makers. Ashden Founder Director Sarah Butler-Sloss spoke, followed by presentations
by two Ashden Award winners – UK software business Demand Logic, which makes
commercial properties more energy efficient, and India-based Ecozen, which cuts
food waste with solar-powered cold storage.
Ecozen Co-Founder Vivek Pandey said: “It was an honour to
meet His Royal Highness, who showed his passion for
sustainability and determination to tackle climate change. We discussed the
growth of Ecozen and the rise of solar energy in India and around the world.
Winning an Ashden Award has opened up so many opportunities for my organisation
and given us a platform to share all we have learned.”
2018 International Award for Powering Business
Ecozen Solutions
Read more
His Royal Highness said: “I’m so pleased to see that Ashden is
using this occasion to launch the new strategy, which focuses on ways to make
our cities more sustainable and to bring sustainable electricity and clean
cooking solutions to many millions of people.
“I’m also delighted to hear that Ashden will be working to
inspire change at a local, national and global level, to bring their knowledge
and their winners’ stories of success to the attention of policy makers,
investors and financiers.”
Ashden “absolutely vital”
The Prince described Ashden’s work as “absolutely
vital”, adding he was proud to be the
organisation’s Patron – a role he has held for more than a decade.
He said: “The challenge facing our world could hardly be
more urgent. But through the sort of smart, practical solutions that Ashden champions
we can rise to that challenge and in so doing we can secure the future for our
children and grandchildren to inherit”.
