Climate change is a serious issue. Until 11 December world leaders are debating in Paris how best to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere and how to reach the goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius until 2050.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden had presented his plan already, when heads of state and government arrived at the climate conference this week. It is as simple as it is ridiculous: Everybody just stop taking baths!

The popular monarch, who is loved in his country despite a rather embarrassing sex scandal that was revealed in 2010 and which involved “strip clubs, illegal clubs, rented ladies who are naked under their fur coats”, is also known as an outspoken environmentalist. “All bathtubs should be banned. Just imagine it,” he said, explaining how bad he felt after taking a bath once when he was staying in a room that only had a tub and no shower:

“It took a lot of fresh water and energy,” (…) It struck me so clearly: It’s not wise that I have to do this. I really felt ashamed then, I really did.”

While the King  is right, of course, in saying that “it’s the small details that have an enormous effect,” there is at least some irony in the fact that the suggestion comes from the same man who in the past liked to round of his elaborate dinners with sessions in a communal whirlpool where sparely dressed women would “throw off their clothes and sit on the men’s laps.”