- He said with the passage of time he has realized that responses to climate change have not been adequate yet the world is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.
- He asked COP28 negotiators to go beyond vague promises by enacting binding and specific policies.
Pope Francis has released a new Apostolic exhortation that is urging swift action on the climate crisis.
In his new letter Laudate Deum, the Pope called on the world to take immediate and urgent action.
He said with the passage of time, he has realized that responses to climate change have not been adequate yet the world is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.
"It is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons. We will feel its effects in the areas of healthcare, sources of employment, access to resources, housing, forced migrations," he said.
At a time when scientists are warning that global temperatures are estimated to rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Pope said there should be an immediate transition to renewable energy.
Pope Francis made it clear that the necessary transition towards clean energy sources is not progressing at the required speed.
“Avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people,” he said.
Africa which has contributed less to carbon emissions is already feeling the brunt of global warming, with prolonged droughts, flooding, above-normal temperatures, and a famine that continues to devastate the Horn of Africa.
With international oil and gas companies scrambling for Africa’s massive oil and gas resources, the head of the Catholic church criticised fossil fuel companies’ efforts at greenwashing their continued exploration.
“Whatever is being done risks being seen only as a ploy to distract attention. We have made impressive and awesome technological advances, and we have not realized that at the same time, we have turned into highly dangerous beings, capable of threatening the lives of many beings and our own survival,” he said.
Less than two months before COP28, Pope Francis also took issue with the last two annual conferences for failing to deliver reductions in the use of fossil fuels.
He asked COP28 negotiators to go beyond vague promises by enacting binding and specific policies.
The Pope called for binding forms of energy transition that meet three conditions; that they be efficient, obligatory, and readily monitored.
“If we are confident in the capacity of human beings to transcend their petty interests and to think in bigger terms, we can keep hoping that COP28 will allow for a decisive acceleration of energy transition, with effective commitments subject to ongoing monitoring,” the Pope said.