Meghan Markle and Prince Harry urge Instagram fans to ‘save the planet’ – just days after figures showed carbon emissions from royal travel has doubled

PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle are urging fans to look after the environment this month, days after figures revealed the royal family has doubled their Co2 emissions for travel.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex follow a select number of accounts each month, highlighting various charities, individuals and foundations, and this month the focus is the environment.

With a fresh batch each month, the new parents have unfollowed all their previous accounts, and are now following 15 new ones.

Among them is the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), named after the A-lister who set up the initiative in 1998.

The charity focuses on environmental issues and wildlife, which is the theme of July’s spotlight.

But their post urging people to look after the planet comes just days after fresh stats showed the emissions doubled last year.

Despite calling on fans do to their bit for the environment, a report published last week revealed the Co2 emissions for the royal family’s business travel hit 3,344 tonnes for the 2019 financial year.

That figure is nearly double the 1,687 tonnes produced in the previous 12 months.

Overall the Royal Household’s greenhouse gas emissions grew by 3 per cent to hit 8,393 tonnes.

This growth was put down to the increased use of ‘chartered large fixed wing aircraft for foreign business travel’, with the majority of flights taken by Prince Charles and Camilla.

But since Meghan, 37, joined the royal family last May, she and Prince Harry have visited Sydney, Melbourne, Fraser Island, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand as part of their Australian tour, as well as Morocco and Dublin.

Overall the royal family spent £2.6 million on travel in the last year, which is said to be due to five major overseas visits, rather than one.

Announcing this month’s accounts, Prince Harry, 34, said: “Environmental damage has been treated as a necessary by-product of economic growth.

“So deeply ingrained is this thinking that it has been considered part of the natural order that humankind’s development comes at the expense of our planet.

“Only now are we starting to notice and understand the damage that we’ve been causing.

“With nearly 7.7 billion people inhabiting this Earth, every choice, every footprint, every action makes a difference.”

Among the 15 new accounts is 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a climate activist with Asperger’s, and Dr Jane Goodall, an English anthropologist.

And they’re also following more established causes, including the WWF Foundation, National Geographic, the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, Australian Geographic and Mike Bloomberg.

Plus there’s also a focus on initiatives in Africa, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are visiting later this year, including African Parks, Rhino Conservation Botswana as well as Elephants Without Borders.

Sussex Royal posted a collage of nine photos taken from the new accounts, which has been liked 120,000 times.

They captioned the post: “As a continuation of our monthly social awareness approach to shine a light on the accounts that are working towards positive change, for the month of July we turn our attention to the environment.

“There is a ticking clock to protect our planet – with climate change, the deterioration of our natural resources, endangerment of sacred wildlife, the impact of plastics and microplastics, and fossil fuel emissions, we are jeopardizing this beautiful place we call home – for ourselves and for future generations.

“Let’s save it. Let’s do our part.”

Meanwhile Paul Burrell claims Meghan Markle would have had no preparation for joining the royal family.

And we also revealed Kate Middleton tried to befriend Prince Harry’s ex, Chelsy Davy.

Meghan Markle has allegedly been nicknamed the ‘degree wife’ by one senior royal who claims her marriage to Prince Harry will ‘only last three years’.