The twins completed a diving course last European summer with multiple-world-record-holding freediver Pierre Frolla, a citizen of the principality. “They’ve done a water sport course at the Yacht Club twice already, so they’re getting their hands into what it means to connect with our natural surroundings,” says the Prince.
The children also participate in World Cleanup Day with their parents. “In September we went around Monaco and picked up what little trash there was, though there were a lot of cigarette butts,” says the Prince. “I’ve been able to tell them how we can’t let trash invade our cities or our countryside or our natural surroundings. They really understand that, I think, now.”
Albert II says COP28 left him with “reasoned optimism”. “The great announcement right off the bat there, at the beginning of COP, was the formal creation of the fund to help with losses,” he says, referring to the so-called loss and damage fund to assist poorer countries affected by climate change. “Several countries are contributing, and I think more are going to join in.”
The Prince says making changes is hardest for people who are already struggling economically, adding that this is where the loss and damage fund comes in. “It’s always the least advantaged who are hit the worst, hit the hardest. [The fund] is helping people recover from extreme weather events to other problems, like droughts or floods. They are going to happen more often and with more frequency and with different intensities as well, so we have to think of those people and think of the best ways to help them.”
COP28 was derided by some, and several world leaders — including Joe Biden — didn’t attend, citing domestic issues or wars. It was also widely noted that COP28 was presided over by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and that the fossil fuel industry had sent many lobbyists. “It raises concerns,” says Albert II, “but I think, hopefully, what this COP will do is to have all these oil-producing countries think in a more sustainable way.” He adds that that might be wishful thinking, but that the COP meetings are having a bigger influence each year, with more than 90,000 people attending COP28 — and very few of them oil lobbyists in his estimation.
“Of course, we’re not going to do away with fossil fuels from one day to the next, but if everybody understands the science and the figures and the data, well, anyone in their right mind will know that we have to turn to a more sustainable way of living,” he says. “It has to make economic sense as well. And that’s why renewables have to become more attractive.
“If you invest more in renewables and if there are more renewables around, they will be more attractive,” continues the Prince. “It’s what the market dictates, unfortunately.”
Albert II believes that in many cases renewables are simply better. Monaco residents receive healthy subsidies to make the switch from petrol to electric cars. “Then there’s the great promise of hydrogen, although it won’t be tomorrow that we’ll see huge fleets of hydrogen vehicles on our roads, but it is stepping up,” he says. “Also, in the maritime transportation industry and yachting, there’s an Italian shipyard that has produced a hydrogen propulsion yacht.”
But what about the Monaco Grand Prix? The race cars are hybrids, he says, and, ironically, the air is cleanest on race day because only 20 cars are running. The traditional GP has been supplemented by a Formula E electric grand prix.
The year just past was the hottest on record, according to climate experts, and added to the trend of an increased rate of warming. The Prince says the effects are very much felt in Monaco. “The last few years we’ve had very mild winters and very dry winters … and then it seems to bypass spring and goes straight into summer-type weather. We’ve had a record number of days over 30 degrees Celsius. The temperature always used to drop in the evenings, too.” Now, “it doesn’t drop that much, and that is the concern”.
Last summer the principality came close to introducing water rationing. “There were shortages around us,” says the Prince. “So we are feeling it like everywhere else in the world, and the worrying thing is that it’s happening not only year after year, but it’s happening for longer periods during the year.”