Prince Albert of Monaco wants Grand Prix cars to run entirely on biofuels in a shift he says will help the sport's image and limit greenhouse gas emissions from his Mediterranean principality.

He also told Reuters that royal families around the world were getting more involved in urging citizens to do more to combat climate change, partly because the scientific findings underpinning global warming had become so robust.

"Everyone can play a part; that's the important message," he said of the drive to slow global warming and avert feared heatwaves, floods, droughts and rising seas.

"Formula One will have to come to alternative energies in the near future," he said on the sidelines of an International Union for Conservation of Nature conference in Barcelona.

"If they are going to have to maintain some level of credibility, then they will have to keep up with ongoing trends, towards cleaner energies," he said of Formula One racing.

The cars can now burn close to a litre of fossil fuel per kilometre.

Asked if he wanted the engines to run completely on alternative fuels, he said: "that's the aim, it will take some time but I'm sure we will get to that."

He said people sometimes asked him when he urged more action on climate change: "how can you speak about these issues when you have a Formula One race in your back yard?"

The Monaco Grand Prix winds through the 0.76 sq mile (1.968 sq km) principality.

Formula One organisers should take on a "leadership role" to transform cars, he said. From 2008, at least 5.75 per cent of all fuel used in Formula One must be from biological matter.

The sport's governing body said in July that the sport was "becoming unsustainable" and asked teams to come up with new rules to slash costs and halve fuel consumption by 2015.

On Grand Prix days, Monaco felt it was doing its part by restricting car parking in a shift that means that 80 per cent of spectators arrive by train.

"So that's worked quite well," Prince Albert said.

The Prince, aged 50, said that Monaco was making steps to cut pollution. It has cut greenhouse gas emissions by eight per cent since 1990 and has taken measures such as planting 340,000 trees to help protect the environment.

The principality, of 32,000 people, had also encouraged the use of car pooling, with 750 people using it every day. The principality's workforce has risen by 2,000 in recent years.