Time is running out to try
to stop climate change, Pope Francis said Friday.
Francis met with participants attending a summit entitled,
"The Vatican Dialogues: The Energy Transition and Care for our
Common Home", according to Vatican News.
In comments to the group, he warned that today's ecological
crisis, especially climate change, "threatens the very future of
the human family" and asked oil CEOs for a "radical energy
transition".
Greeting those attending the summit, which included
multinational oil companies, the Pope spoke on an issue very
close to his heart: The Care for our Common Home.
Pope Francis told those gathered that this second year of
Dialogue in the Vatican was taking place at a "critical moment."
Today's ecological crisis, especially climate change, he
said, "threatens the very future of the human family".
The Pontiff noted that a significant development in this past
year was the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) which warns that effects on climate will be
catastrophic if the threshold of 1.5ºC outlined in the Paris
Agreement goal is crossed. "The Report warns, moreover, that
only one decade or so remains in order to achieve this
confinement of global warming."
Faced with a climate emergency, the Pope underlined, "we must
take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal
act of injustice towards the poor and future generations."
In effect, he went on to say, "it is the poor who suffer the
worst impacts of the climate crisis."
What was required, stressed Pope Francis, was courage in
responding to "the increasingly desperate cries of the earth and
its poor".
During his address, the Pope focused on the three points that
were being discussed during the meeting, which are, a just
transition; carbon pricing; and transparency in reporting
climate risk.
Pope Francis remarked that a just transition to cleaner
energy, which is called for in the Preamble to the Paris
Agreement, can if managed well, generate new jobs, reduce
inequality and improve the quality of life for those affected by
climate change.
On the issue of carbon pricing, the Pope said, this was
"essential if humanity is to use the resources of creation
wisely."
Speaking on the third point, transparency in reporting
climate risk, Pope Francis commented that, "open, transparent,
science-based and standardized reporting is in the common
interests of all."
In conclusion, the Pope warned that "time is running out!"
Deliberations, he emphasized, "must go beyond mere
exploration of what can be done, and concentrate on what needs
to be done."
In our meeting last year, Pope Francis said, "I expressed the
concern that 'civilization requires energy, but energy use must
not destroy civilization'. Today a radical energy transition is
needed to save our common home."
He continued by saying that, "the climate crisis requires
'our decisive action, here and now' and the Church is fully
committed to playing her part."
However, the Pope did strike a note of optimism, "there is
still hope and there remains time to avoid the worst impacts of
climate change", he said, "provided there is prompt and resolute
action…"
The summit was organised by the Dicastery for Promoting
Integral Human Development.
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