Prince Charles' household now carbon-neutral

LONDON — Fewer chartered planes, more train trips and a royal Jaguar that runs on cooking oil have helped Prince Charles achieve a carbon-neutral household, an annual review of the prince's accounts said Tuesday.

The annual review by the prince's Clarence House office said Charles cut his annual carbon emissions by 9 percent, to 3,775 tons, between April 1, 2006, and March 31 this year. The prince offset the carbon emissions by investing in an agency that promotes tree planting and sustainable energy projects.

The review said the prince's households — the Highgrove estate in western England, where he farms organically, and Clarence House in London and Birkhall in Scotland — and the activities of Charles and his wife, Camilla, were now carbon-neutral.

The report — printed on recycled paper in vegetable-based ink — said the prince had reduced his plane and helicopter journeys, introduced green electricity at Highgrove and converted his Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to run on biodiesel fuel from used cooking oil.

Plans also are being discussed to convert the royal train to biodiesel fuel, said the prince's principal private secretary, Sir Michael Peat.

Charles was criticized earlier this year for flying to New York to accept an environmental award, one of 86 overseas trips he took in the past year. But Peat said the prince used carbon offsetting — funding the planting of trees or other activities that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — to balance the effects of his air travel.

The total cost of offsetting the prince's carbon emissions for one year was about $60,000, the review said.