Pope Francis Demands The End Of Fossil Fuel Consumption At COP28, Calls Environmental Destruction ‘An Offense Against God’

A speech written by Pope Francis was delivered by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the COP28, the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In this speech, the pope called for an end to fossil fuels.

The leader of the Catholic Church was unable to attend the Dubai summit and deliver the speech himself. He is continuing to recover from the flu and inflammation in his lungs.

“The destruction of the environment is an offense against God, a sin . . . that greatly endangers all human beings, especially the most vulnerable in our midst and threatens to unleash a conflict between generations,” the pope said. “Are we working for a culture of life or a culture of death? To all of you I make this heartfelt appeal: Let us choose life!”

The pope demanded that the planet should be kept safe by developing energy-efficient and renewable resources.

He also advised his followers not to blame the poor for the environment’s destruction.

“It is not the fault of the poor, since almost half of our world, that is more needy, is responsible for scarcely 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, while the gap between the opulent few and the masses of the poor has never been so abysmal,” Pope Francis wrote. 

Following this speech, countries have discussed whether they should commit to phasing fossil fuels down or phasing them out.

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, the president of COP28 and the chief executive of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company who comes from the United Arab Emirates, indicated that he approved phasing fossil fuels out.

The environmental pressure group, Global Witness, recently did an analysis which revealed that, by 2030, the UAE’s oil and gas production capacity will increase by 42%.

John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, declared that, for the first time, America would not build any new power plants.

The United Kingdom, the U.S. and France are among the 22 countries that are committing themselves to tripling nuclear power.