THE Prince of Wales has been found wanting in his efforts to save the world from global warming. Charles and his royal household have generated more than 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide in the past year, according to an independent audit.

The prince will this week announce that he and his household are carbon neutral – but campaigners claim this is “greenwash” because, instead of cutting his emissions, he is simply paying to offset them.

Also, it does not include holidays taken by his sons, Princes William and Harry. William spent a week in Barbados with his former girlfriend, Kate Middleton, and flew to Switzerland and Ibiza, and Harry enjoyed two trips to Barbados with his girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, and a trip to South Africa.

On Tuesday Charles will publish details of his carbon footprint for the past year and targets to reduce it. The audit has been conducted by Jonathon Porritt, his long-standing adviser.

However, an independent audit, conducted for The Sunday Times by Chris Goodall, the author of How to Live a Low-Carbon Life, found that the prince’s lavish lifestyle had taken its toll on the planet.

Goodall made use of publicly available records to estimate the prince’s travel and utility bills. He found that Charles was responsible for nearly 1,600 tons of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of more than 600 cars on Britain’s roads for a year.

Flights taken by Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall generated more than 800 . They flew more tons of CO2 than 70,000 miles last year, including frequent visits to Scotland and tours of the United States, the Gulf, Pakistan and Africa.

The prince’s foreign air travel has been controversial. In January he travelled first class to the United States with Camilla and 14 aides, where he picked up an environmental awareness award. The two-day tour cost up to £120,000 and generated 54 tons of CO2 In February he hired an Airbus A319, which can seat 140 people, to carry him, Camilla and 23 aides to the Gulf at taxpayers’ expense. The tour, which generated 380 tons of CO2 four press advisers, an equerry, a dresser for the duchess, a hairdresser, two valets, a butler, a doctor, three staff in charge of logistics and travel, and a personal assistant.

One former senior member of the royal household said the prince’s entourage was often excessive: “Simple actions that could be done by one man seem to take three when the prince is involved.”

In May Camilla dented the prince’s green reputation when she took a private jet to Greece for a short break with friends.

Graham Thompson, of Plane Stupid, a green pressure group, said: “The number of air miles is unacceptable and seriously undermines his claim to be the ‘green prince’. It is a blow to those of us making genuine efforts to live a greener lifestyle.”

The audit also examined carbon emissions of Charles’s three homes: Clarence House, Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall in Scotland. Utility bills for the three came to more than £100,000 in 2005-6, with heat and lighting producing more than 600 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the emissions of 500 houses.

Assuming three-quarters of the staff commuted the UK average of nearly nine miles each way, these journeys generated 78 tons.

The prince offsets carbon emissions from his homes and UK flights with Climate Care, which invests in sustainable projects such as wind turbines in India and cleaner cooking stoves in Honduras. Foreign flights are expected to be offset as part of a government fund later this year.

Clarence House said: “Official overseas tours are taken at the request . . . of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office . . . consequently our emissions are largely dictated in this regard by the government.”

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