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Pope Francis performs a mass on the day of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Peter’s Basilica, in the Vatican, on December 12, 2020. REUTERS / Remo Casilli / Pool / File Photo
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Saturday urged countries to work toward zero net carbon emissions and committed the Vatican City, the world’s smallest state, to reach the goal by 2050.
Francis, who has championed environmental causes since his election in 2013, told a UN climate summit that the 108-acre (44-hectare) city-state surrounded by Rome would be doing its bit to combat climate change.
“The current pandemic and climate change, which are not only relevant for the environment, but also ethically, socially, economically and politically, affect, above all, the lives of the poorest and most fragile,” he said in a video message. At the climb.
“In addition to taking some steps that cannot be postponed any longer, a strategy is needed to reduce net emissions to zero,” Francis said.
He pledged the Vatican to “reduce net emissions to zero by 2050,” as well as to intensify environmental management efforts and promote the rational use of natural resources such as water and plant more trees.
A Vatican statement said the city-state was moving forward with plans to replace all of its combustion-engine cars with electric or hybrid vehicles.
He said the Vatican, which began installing solar panels in 2008 and banned single-use plastic bags last year, now recycles 65% of its waste and aims to reach 75% by 2023.
In his speech, Francis said that the Holy See is committed to promoting, in Catholic schools and elsewhere, “an education for integral ecology” to favor development and sustainability and promote economic policies that respect the environment.
In 2015, Francis wrote a landmark encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praise Be) on the need to protect nature. It supported the scientific evidence that human activity was to blame for global warming.
Francis also strongly supported the Paris agreement to limit global rise in temperatures and has said he is saddened by US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from it.
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