Pope urges leaders at Cop26 to provide ‘concrete hope’ for future generations

The leader of the world’s Catholics said ‘radical decisions’ are needed to tackle the climate crisis.
Pope Francis urge global leaders to act together on climate change for the benefit of future generations (Andrew Medichini/AP)
AP
Emily Beament29 October 2021

Pope Francis has called on political leaders heading to Cop26 to urgently tackle the climate crisis to give “concrete hope to future generations”.

He said “radical decisions” are needed as the world faces a “succession of crises” in healthcare, the environment, food supplies and the economy.

In a special Thought for the Day message for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the leader of the world’s Catholics warned against countries taking an isolationist approach, and called for a “renewed sense of shared responsibility for our world”.

His comments come as world leaders prepare to head to Glasgow for the crucial climate summit, where countries are under pressure to increase their ambition to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change.

Action already pledged by nations to curb emissions in the next decade leave the world well off track to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial times, beyond which increasingly severe impacts will be felt.

The Pope told Today: “We have lost our sense of security and are experiencing a sense of powerlessness and loss of control over our lives.”

He said the crises being faced “forecast a perfect storm” but also provide opportunities.

Francis added: “These crises present us with the need to take decisions, radical decisions that are not always easy. At the same time, moments of difficulty like these also present opportunities. Opportunities that we must not waste.

“The political decision makers who will meet at Cop26 in Glasgow are urgently summoned to provide effective responses to the present ecological crisis and in this way to offer concrete hope to future generations.

“And it is worth repeating that each of us – whoever and wherever we may be – can play our own part in changing our collective response to the unprecedented threat of climate change and the degradation of our common home,” he said, in a message also available on BBC Sounds.

The two-week climate conference is being seen as key to increasing action on cutting emissions to deliver on the pledges in the global Paris Agreement to limit temperature rises to “well below” 2C, and try for the safer 1.5C goal.

Leaders of major economies will go to Scotland from a G20 meeting in Rome where climate is set to dominate the agenda, although key heads of state, including China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, are set to miss both summits.

Countries – in particular major emitters – are facing calls from across society, from UN chiefs to religious leaders and campaigners, to increase action to keep the 1.5C goal in reach and avoid catastrophic climate impacts.

There will also be pushes to phase out coal power, boost electric vehicles and protect forests, while developed countries also need to deliver finance for poorer nations to develop cleanly and cope with the already inevitable impacts of a warming world.

In an interview for BBC Radio 4’s 39 Ways To Save The Planet, Hollywood star, former California governor and climate campaigner Arnold Schwarzenegger said everyone has to work together to tackle the issue.

He said it is “great when leaders get together every year and talk about what they can do”, but he added he is not a big fan of making everything rest on the annual “Cop” conferences.

Schwarzenegger said: “It’s very important that we have a positive attitude, that we can see it and we all work together because not one person can deal with it themselves. It’s a huge undertaking.

“It takes the political arena, it takes the public sector, the private sector, the non-profit sector, the academic sector, ordinary folks. And then I think we can do it.”

He pointed to California’s successful economy, green job creation and the US’s strictest environmental laws, and said: “All of those countries that come and give speeches that says ‘we’re not going to go and lose jobs because of going green’, they’re liars. Or they’re just stupid and they don’t know how to do it.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in