LONDON (AFP) — The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, in the past year saw his income rise six percent and his carbon footprint drop 18 percent, his official accounts showed Monday.
The Prince of Wales received a total of 18.72 million pounds (23.66 million euros, 37.28 million dollars) in the 2007-08 financial year, including 16.27 million pounds from the Duchy of Cornwall and more than 2.4 million pounds from the British government, up from 17.63 million pounds the previous year.
Based on his income, Charles paid 3.43 million pounds in tax in 2007-08.
The Duchy of Cornwall is the landed estate given to all heirs to the throne.
A fervent advocate of environmental protection, the prince also reduced his emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas considered primarily responsible for global warming, by 630 tonnes to 2,795 tonnes in 2007-08.
To offset the remaining emissions, the royal financed several ecological projects.
He achieved the 18 percent reduction in carbon emissions by switching to a "green" electricity supplier, reducing travel-related emissions and converting his 38-year-old Aston Martin Volante DB6 to run on bioethanol made from surplus British wine, among other things.
Based on his success in cutting emissions, the prince has doubled his target for reducing emissions to a 25 percent drop by 2012, compared with 2007 levels, from his previous goal of 12.5 percent.
The carbon emissions totals include those for his activities, as well as those of his wife Camilla, his residence and offices in Clarence House in London, his residence in Highgrove in Gloucestershire, and Birkhall in Scotland, and the official activities of his staff.
The emissions do not include those carried out on official travel or business, which are offset by the government, or those produced by his farms, which emitted 2,459 tonnes of carbon last yaer.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
