Global businesses,
international co-operation
and the striving for ideals,
these are all possible
because for millennia,
on a global scale,
nature has been
largely predictable
and stable.
Now in the space
of one human lifetime –
indeed in the space of my
lifetime, all that has changed.
The Holocene has ended.
The Garden of Eden is no more.
The only conditions
modern humans
have ever known, so far,
are changing and changing fast.
It's tempting and understandable
to ignore the evidence
and carry on as usual or to be
filled with gloom and doom.
But there is also a vast potential
for what we might do.
We need to move beyond guilt
or blame and get on
with the practical tasks in hand.
If people can truly
understand what is at stake,
I believe that they will give
permission to business
and governments to get on
with the practical solutions.
And as a species we are
expert problem-solvers.
But we haven’t yet applied
ourselves to this problem
with the focus that it requires.
We can create a world
with clean air and water,
unlimited energy
and fish stocks
that will sustain us
well into the future.
But to do that we need a plan.
What we do now
and in the next few years
will profoundly affect
the next few thousand years.
I look forward very much
to the discussions
and insights that will
go on here this week.
And I thank you again
for this very great honour.
[Applause]
