Pope: Pray for COP28 and thanks to Laudato Si’ Action Platform - vaticannews.va
Pope: Pray for COP28 and thanks to Laudato Si’ Action Platform - Vatican News
Pope: Pray for COP28 and thanks to Laudato Si’ Action Platform
By Vatican News
In his greetings to the crowds gathered for the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis recalled the launch two years ago of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform that offers useful tools for the care of the environment, our common home. An initiative of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, the Platform offers a shared space assisting the Church to develop concrete responses to the ecological crisis, as described by Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato si' and more specifically in his recent document Laudate Deum.
The Laudato Si’ Action Platform provides guidance, suggests actions and gives support to families, parishes, dioceses, educational institutions, health facilities, organisations, workers, businesses and even religious communities in efforts to care for our common home.
The Pope then followed by asking to "pray for the Dubai Climate Change Conference, COP28, which is now close at hand." The Climate Change Conference, COP28 will bring together world leaders in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 30 November to 12 December to find aggreement on policies aimed at limiting the rise in global temperature and dealing with the impacts associated with climate change.
The conference will also be attended by Pope Francis himself, who will deliver a speech on 2 December. The Pope will travel to the United Arab Emirates from 1 to 3 December. In addition to attending COP28, he will have private bilateral meetings and inaugurate the "Pavilion of Faith" at Expo City, designed to inspire more concrete action to curb climate change.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”