Francis, dubbed the Green Pope, had made his stand clear for environmental protection and climate change, one of which was his issuance of the lengthy 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’, calling for care for our common home.
Among other green initiatives, he spoke at global climate summits and advocated for renewable energy. To lessen the dangers and threats of climate change, the Holy Father appealed for a major change in the world energy system.
In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ (“Praise be to you, my Lord”), he called for care for our common home—our planet Earth. He cited Saint Francis of Assisi in his canticle that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.
AAt global climate summits, he advocated for renewable energy at the global, individual, and community levels. "If we took the planet's temperature, it would tell us that the Earth has a fever. And it is sick. We must commit ourselves to ... the protection of nature, changing our personal and community habits."
During the 2023 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai, he urged world delegates, through Secretary of State Pietro Cardinal Parolin in his absence because of health reasons, to ‘Choose life, to choose the future!’
“Do not postpone action any longer but craft concrete and cohesive responses for the well-being of our common home and future generations. The future of us all depends on the present that we now choose,” he said.
The UN Summit was held in a year of record heat and drought.
“May this COP prove to be a turning point, demonstrating a clear and tangible political will that can lead to a decisive acceleration of ecological transition.”
He added efficient, obligatory, and readily monitored measures in the sectors of energy efficiency, renewable sources, elimination of fossil fuels, and education in sustainable lifestyles.
“The destruction of the environment is an offense against God, a sin that is not only personal but also structural, one that greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst, and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations,” said Pope Francis to the assembly through Parolin.
He said, “Climate change is a global social issue and one intimately related to the dignity of human life.”
He asked, “Are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death?”
“I make this heartfelt appeal: Let us choose life! LLet's choose the future! May wBe attentive to the cry of the earth; may we hear the plea of the poor; and may we be sensitive to the hopes of the young and the dreams of children! Our grave responsibility is to guarantee their future.
He said the root cause of the climate crisis, manifested in excessive heating of the planet, driven mainly by escalating levels of greenhouse gases, is unsustainable human activities.
“The drive to produce and possess has become an obsession, resulting in an inordinate greed that has made the environment the object of unbridled exploitation. The Holy Father said, "The climate, in its untamed state, is pleading with us to end this delusion of power."
He called on mankind to recognize its limits “with humility and courage” as the sole step towards authentic fulfillment.
He pointed to the divisions that exist among us as the main obstacle to this crucial shift and said, “A world completely connected, like ours today, should not be unconnected by those who govern it, with international negotiations that ‘cannot make significant progress due to positions taken by countries that place their national interests above the global common good.’”
Emphasizing the need to overcome inflexible positions, he urged a focus on collective responsibility for the future: “The task to which we are called today is not about yesterday but about tomorrow: a tomorrow that, whether we like it or not, will belong to everyone or else to no one."
HHe disagreed with attempts to place the blame on the poor and high birth rates. “It is not the fault of the poor, since almost half of our world that is more needy is responsible for scarcely 10% of toxic emissions, while the gap between the opulent few and the masses of the poor has never been so abysmal.”
“Almost half of our world that is more needy is responsible for scarcely 10% of toxic emissions,” he said.
He said the climate crisis has more impact on the poor, the indigenous peoples, deforestation, hunger, water and food insecurity, and forced migration.
“Births are not a problem as a resource,” he said, “whereas certain ideological and utilitarian models now being imposed with a velvet glove on families and peoples constitute real forms of colonization.”
He called for cooperation and trust in a world that has “become so multipolar and at the same time so complex that a different framework for effective cooperation is required… Global warming has been accompanied by a general cooling of multilateralism, a growing lack of trust within the international community.”
Environmental and peace issues are interconnected, he said, and he regrets the waste of humanity's energy and resources on“ wars"—"such as those in Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine, and in many parts of the world"—which” worsen problems instead of solving them, thereby destroying lives and the common home.
“With the money spent on weapons and other military expenditures, let us establish a global fund that can finally put an end to hunger,” he said, adding works for the sustainable development of the poorer countries and for combating climate change.
He promoted ecological conversion with the Catholic Church's help, "deeply engaged in the work of education and of encouraging participation by all, as well as in promoting sound lifestyles since all are responsible and the contribution of each is fundamental."
He called on leaders to serve, to work together, and to foster “good politics” to benefit those at the base, especially the young, who are already dedicated to caring for our common home.
He hoped that the year 2024 could mark a breakthrough, drawing inspiration from the transformative experience of Saint Francis of Assisi, who composed his “Canticle of the Creatures” in 1224, an experience that led him “to turn his pain into praise and his weariness into renewed commitment.”
He urged, “With God’s help, let us emerge from the night of wars and environmental devastation.”
Taking the challenge to be a sample of green initiatives, he cited the Vatican’s goal to become carbon-neutral or to go solar, which aligns with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, which came into effect in the Vatican in 2022.
In the effort to become ecologically sustainable in the past two decades, he cited that in 2016, during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, he approved the installation of 2,400 solar panels on the roofs of the Paul VI Hall as part of his goal to make the Vatican the world’s first “carbon neutral state.”
In 2016, a year after the release of the environmental encyclical Laudato Si’, the Vatican vastly innovated its recycling system.
Last year, the Vatican, in a partnership with Volkswagen, introduced an all-electric, zero-impact car fleet to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Through these ecological efforts, the city-state has reduced global emissions by around 0.0000443% in 2022, according to reports from the UNFCCC.
They noted the Vatican’s commitment to achieving “a reduction in emissions in line with keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, as well as to pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as foreseen in Art. 2 of the Paris Agreements.”
