Pope Francis calls on COP28 to decide for a “binding” energy transition

“The world is falling apart.” Pope Francis launched a new cry of alarm in the face of global warming and called, Wednesday, August 4, for an energy transition “binding” in a text ititled “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”) and published a few weeks before COP28 in Dubai which will be held in early December. The sovereign pontiff deplores responses “insufficient while the world (…) is collapsing” and approaches a “breaking point”.

The Pope urges the great powers to “reconfigure multilateralism” while carbon emissions reduction targets seem increasingly difficult to achieve. According to him, COP28 can represent “a turning point” in the event of a binding agreement on the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources such as wind and solar, otherwise it will be “a big disappointment”.

“Only through such a process can the credibility of international politics be restored.”

Pope Francis

in his text “Laudate Deum”

Pope Francis, who defended the “commune house” a recurring theme of his pontificate since his election in 2013, also warns against “contemptuous and unreasonable opinions” climate sceptics, “even within the Catholic Church”. “In recent years, many people have tried to make fun of this observation”he deplores, against a backdrop of proliferation of false information relativizing global warming or “ridiculous” those who talk about it. “No matter how much we try to deny them, hide them, conceal them or put them into perspective, the signs of climate change are there, ever more obvious”warns the Pope.