The Prince of Wales Monday denounced a short-sighted "determination to ignore the facts" about the environment and continue with business as usual.

The Prince of Wales accepts an honorary degree from London Business School, May 23, 2011 [Photo courtesy The Prince of Wales]

Speaking as he accepted an honorary degree from London Business School, the Prince warned that ignoring threats such as climate change poses the risk of a crash far greater than the recent financial collapse.

A fresh look at the economy is needed to avert environmental catastrophe, as well as an acceptance that capitalism must change and adapt to meet the challenge, he indicated.

It is now widely accepted that the credit crunch was the result of a collective failure to understand "the levels of systemic risk in the financial system," said the Prince.

"This we can address relatively easily," he said. "But there is another systemic risk which is, to my mind, much more serious in the long term: the threat of increasing and accumulating environmental collapse and with it the devastating consequences for us, as a species, but also for the myriad others which shape this planet with us and on which we depend for our survival."

"Our myopic determination to ignore the facts and to continue with business as usual is, I fear, creating the risk of a crash which will be far more dramatic, and far harder to recover from, than anything we have experienced over the past few years," he warned.

Continuing to use up the planet's resources at the current rate mankind is doing was not a sustainable, long-term way to advance economic growth, he argued. "Capitalism depends upon capital, but our capital ultimately depends upon the health of nature's capital."

The Prince was awarded the honorary degree for his contribution to sustainable business practices.