--- description: Find out why King Charles III is on TIME's 2025 list of the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action. title: King Charles III: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56676f6f6f7c18b9/6998cb0cf1b08293116f1d0c/Titans-King-Charles-III.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2025 # King Charles III Monarch, United Kingdom by [Simmone Shah](/author/simmone-shah/) ## Simmone Shah Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Reporter  Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source Photo: Max Mumby—Indigo/Getty Images) King Charles has long been an outspoken climate advocate, warning of the dangerous effects of plastic pollution on the planet as far back as 1970\. But in the last year, he has shown his commitment to moving from advocacy to action. He hired a head of sustainability in 2023 to improve the Royal Family’s carbon footprint, and announced plans to make Sandringham Estate, the royal family’s country residence in Norfolk, England solar powered, submitting proposals for a 2,000-panel installation, and replacing historic gas lamps at royal residences with LED systems. In June, the royal family’s sovereign grant report made “environmental sustainability” one of the themes for prioritization, which will guide the royal engagements the King and Queen take on and cement the King’s dedication to addressing climate change in his role as monarch. His Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), founded in 2020, has meanwhile grown into one of the world’s most influential CEO-led climate coalitions, bringing together world leaders and executives toward the goal of mobilizing trillions of dollars for climate solutions. Over the summer, the SMI co-hosted the Sustainable Markets Initiative China Forum, the first of its kind to be held in China, to highlight China’s crucial role in the green energy transition and invite collaboration on solutions for global action. King Charles also used the King’s Foundation to launch the “Harmony Awards,” in June 2024 which honor those who have demonstrated a commitment to prioritizing sustainability and nature. King Charles III: The 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326570/king-charles-iii/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326570/king-charles-iii/"},"headline":"King Charles III","datePublished":"2025-10-30T11:30:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T01:01:25.044Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326570/king-charles-iii/","keywords":["TIME100 Climate 2025","list","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56676f6f6f7c18b9/6998cb0cf1b08293116f1d0c/Titans-King-Charles-III.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simmone Shah","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/simmone-shah/"}],"creator":"Simmone Shah","articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56676f6f6f7c18b9/6998cb0cf1b08293116f1d0c/Titans-King-Charles-III.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time100-climate-2025/","name":"TIME100 Climate 2025"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-climate-2025/7326570/king-charles-iii/","name":"King Charles III"}}]}] ```