IMAGE: CNS photo/Wolfgang Rattay, Reuters
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Denial or indifference when it
comes to climate change will not help further honest research or facilitate finding adequate
solutions, Pope Francis told government leaders attending a meeting on implementing the Paris accord.
Ratified by 170 nations, the 2016 agreement marks “a
shared strategy to tackle one of the most worrying phenomena our human race is
experiencing — climate change,” the pope said in a written message.
The message was read Nov. 15 to those attending the COP23
session of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, Nov. 6-17. The
Vatican released a copy of the text Nov. 16.
In the message — addressed to the president of the COP23
session, Prime Minister Frank
Bainimarama of Fiji — the pope said the Paris agreement is “a clear path of
transition toward a model of low- or no-carbon economic development,
encouraging solidarity and emphasizing the strong links that exist between
fighting climate change and fighting poverty.”
The urgency of addressing climate change demands
“greater commitment from countries, some of which will have to seek to
take on a leadership role in such a transition,” which will also
necessitate keeping in mind the needs of those who are most vulnerable, he
said.
A recent U.N. Environment Program report found that current goals for
cutting greenhouse gas emissions by the agreement’s signatory nations will result
in just one-third of the reductions required by global targets for 2030.
Closing
some of that gap would require increased action in curbing emissions by private
industries and regional governments, the report said, but even if countries
were to reach their national targets, there would still be an increase of 3
degrees Celsius by 2100 — a number beyond the Paris target of under 2 degrees
Celsius.
The pope said if nations are to continue to build and
implement guidelines and practices that are truly effective and able to reach
the complex goals of the agreement, their “willingness to cooperate”
must stay high.
“We must avoid falling into these four grievous
attitudes that certainly do not help promote honest research and sincere and fruitful
dialogue about building the future of our planet: denial, indifference, giving
up and trusting in inadequate solutions.”
Focusing on economic and technological solutions is
necessary, but not enough, he said; ethical and social concerns and
consequences of a new vision of development and progress must also be
considered.
Pope Francis told leaders to maintain a proactive and
collaborative spirit so they can better stimulate and increase awareness and
the willingness “to adopt truly effective decisions” to tackle
climate change and poverty, and promote true, integral human development.
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