The Prince of Wales will seek to harness City muscle on Wednesday night in the fight to preserve the world’s rainforests – presenting his initiative as a hard-headed business proposition, not philanthropy.

City grandees including Lord Levene, chairman of Lloyd’s of London, Chris Gibson-Smith, chairman of the London Stock Exchange, Robert Swannell, vice-president of Citi Europe, and Stanley Fink, former chief executive of Man Group, will be among 250 attending a Mansion House dinner intended to produce new ideas to generate billions of pounds for conservation efforts.