The Prince intends to cut back on the number of domestic and international air flights, which introduce carbon emissions directly into the atmosphere. The promise was made shortly before he announced an initiative, backed by the Prime Minister and religious leaders, to encourage businesses to introduce environmental accounting.

Company accountancy techniques should, he said, include details of each company’s impact on the environment in terms of carbon footprints and the impact on biodiversity.

His company, Duchy Originals, will help to test a range of measurement techniques to determine how a standardised accountancy system can be added to the financial accounting carried out by businesses.

Among the initiatives likely to be tested by the organic products company, as part of the Accountancy for Sustainability Project, is an assessment of the carbon-emission cost of producing each packet of biscuits, with the details published on the packages.

The Prince, speaking at Clarence House, said that sustainable accountancy was overdue and should focus attention on the damage being done to the planet.

A short film featuring Stephen Fry was shown to highlight environmental issues and the Prince said: “We are consuming the resources of our planet at such a rate that we are, in effect, living off credit and living on borrowed time.

“So it is, of course, our children and grandchildren who will have to pay off this debt and we owe it to them — and to ourselves — to do something about it before it is too late.”

He added of his accounting initiative: “A key issue in changing the behaviour of companies is persuading or requiring them to give more information to consumers about key environmental and social issues, such as the greenhouse-gas cost of their products and services. It is, perhaps, only through consumers and shareholders having access to such information that organisations will come under real pressure to change.”

The Prince’s personal carbon footprint will take account of every aspect of his lifestyle, from the lighting in royal homes to the amount of electricity wasted on standby facilities. Most of the focus of the exercise will be on his travel. To reach engagements he intends to journey by rail more frequently and as far as possible on regular services. Many flights will be replaced by car journeys and he will convert his personal Jaguar and Land Rover to run on biodiesel.

The Prince will still travel by air where security and accessibility dictate.

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