In a sign of how seriously he views the climate crisis, Pope Francis will attend the COP28 climate conference later this year – the first time a pontiff has taken part in the UN environmental meeting since they started in 1995.
The pope told Italy's state-run RAI television TG1 news in an interview that he expected to be in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from December 1-3. The conference runs from November 30 to December 12.
'Our future is at stake, the future of our children and our grandchildren. A bit of responsibility is needed. – Pope Francis
'We are still in time to stop it,' he said, speaking of global warming. 'Our future is at stake, the future of our children and our grandchildren. A bit of responsibility is needed.'
Pope Francis's comments come after he published a major document in October, Laudate Deum, appealing to climate change deniers to have a change of heart, saying they cannot gloss over human causes or deride science while the planet 'may be nearing the breaking point'.
FaithInvest at COP28
Religious groups will have a more prominent role in this year's COP, which for the first time will have a Faith Pavilion, facilitated by the Muslim Council of Elders, which will host a series of talks and presentations and also facilitate networking and advocacy.
FaithInvest will also attend the COP this year. FaithInvest CEO Dr Lorna Gold will give give the opening remarks at the Faith Pavilion on Monday December 4. She'll be discussing faith-consistent investing; appropriately, finance is one of the themes for the whole COP that day.
The Faith Pavilion will hold 65 sessions with 300 speakers from every corner of the world; 120 faith-based organisations have signed up to take part. The dedicated website is: https://faithatcop28.com/.
Two events ahead of COP28
Ahead of COP28, FaithInvest is hosting two events focusing on how faith-consistent investing can support efforts on climate change: a roundtable in Rome on Monday November 6 and a conference in London on Tuesday November 7.
Monday November 6: The Rome roundtable will focus on how to anchor faith-consistent investing in the experience of the world's poorest communities. It will be broadcast live via Zoom.
Tuesday November 7: The London conference, entitled Financing a Liveable Future, will discuss faith investments in climate solutions. It is co-hosted with Operation Noah, the UK-based Christian charity working with the Church to inspire action on the climate crisis. Register below. We have a number of concessionary/complimentary tickets available. If you are interested, contact us.
