Pope Francis calls for accelerated ecological transition

On Saturday, Pope Francis asked attendees of COP28 in Dubai to see the event as “a turning point” that can contribute to “a decisive acceleration of the ecological transition”.

The 86-year-old Argentine pope had to abandon his trip to Dubai due to acute bronchitis, so his message was read by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s second-ranking official and secretary of state.

In a message to representatives of nearly 200 countries, the Pope said: “May this Conference of the Parties be a turning point, reflecting clear and practical political will, thus decisively accelerating the ecological transition.”

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Acceleration, he continued, must “be achieved through means that have three characteristics: efficient, mandatory and easy to monitor. And take place in four areas: energy efficiency, renewable energy, elimination of fossil fuels and lifestyle education for the latter less dependent”.

“Let us move forward, not backward,” stressed Francis, who has made protecting the environment one of the axes of his pontificate since his election in 2013.

Francis dedicated 2015 to his encyclical Laudato Si—a 200-page “manifesto on integral ecology”—and on October 4, the pontifical The exhortation “Laudato Deum” (Laudato Deum) requires major countries to abandon fossil energy.

DW