In 2021 Charles exited a successful business career (where he had been CEO and Chairman of various businesses in the communications and advertising sectors) in order to focus on environmental conservation, sustainable development and impact investment.

In Early 2021 he founded River Action, an agile environmental charity focussed on rescuing Britain’s rivers from the threats posed by sewage & agricultural pollution and water abstraction. The organisation has subsequently become one of the UK’s leading voices in an increasingly vocal public debate around the environmental crisis facing our rivers.

Charles is also the Chairman of the Island Initiative, an NGO focussed on working with small island communities around a range of sustainable development and conservation issues and sits on the board of The Conduit Connect, a rapidly growing impact investment platform which supports a range of social impact and environmental technology enterprises.