Prince Charles speaks at the World Economic Forum for the first time in 30 years.Credit:Bloomberg
Denouncing"perverse subsidies"given to heavy polluters,he said policy makers should"not be afraid to adapt out longstanding incentive structures",citing his support for a carbon pricing model similar to the one introduced under Labor prime minister Julia Gillard and scrapped by the Coalition in 2014.
"Re-orientating economic subsidies,financial incentives and regulations can have a dramatic and transformative effect on our market systems. It is time to level the playing field and think about how we properly deploy taxes,policies and regulations in a way that catalyses sustainable markets."
Prince Charles flew into the Swiss ski resort on a private jet but his office stressed that was the only way he would then be able to attend a Holocaust memorial event in Israel.
Aware the summit has been criticised as an expensive and carbon-intensive talkfest,Prince Charles told the crowd that leadership figures had a responsibility to better educate the public that the hip-pocket cost of reducing emissions was only one side of the story.
"For a transition to take place,being socially and environmentally conscious cannot only be for those who can afford it,"he said.
He said speaking out on the issue since the late 1960s had at times been"a bit of an uphill struggle".
"Everything I have tried to do,and urge,over the past 50 years has been done with our children and grandchildren in mind,because I did not want to be accused by them of doing nothing except prevaricate and deny the problem,"he said ahead of the private meeting with 17-year-old Thunberg.
"Now of course,they are accusing us of exactly that. Put yourselves in their position. We simply cannot waste any more time - the only limit is our willingness to act,and the time to act is now."
Prince Charles meet Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.Credit:Clarence House
He said technology solutions to climate change were increasingly cheaper but worried there had been a breakdown in links between investors and potential investments. He also flagged the need to"reimagine"how investors analyse,structure and assess models of return.
"There are trillions of dollars in sovereign wealth funds,pension funds,insurance,and asset portfolios looking for investible and sustainable projects with good long-term value and rates of return,"he said.
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"It is time to align sustainable solutions with funding in a way that can transform the market place.
"If we valued our natural capital property,as I've been trying to say for quite a long time,our national and individual balance sheets might look very different indeed."
The Prince pledged to conduct a series of climate policy workshops throughout 2020 and suggested he could also attend key global summits throughout the year,including a major gathering of world leaders in Glasgow in November.