Pope Francis has urged world leaders to take “radical decisions” at next week’s global environmental summit in a special message recorded for BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.
The Pope talked of crises including the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and economic difficulties, and urged the world to respond to them with vision and radical decisions, so as not to “waste opportunities” that the current challenges present.
“We can confront these crises by retreating into isolationism, protectionism and exploitation,” Pope Francis said, “or we can see in them a real chance for change.”
Earlier, an UN-appointed panel of experts said that the earth is getting so hot
that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past the most ambitious threshold
set in the Paris accord.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the report as a “code red” for humanity.
He stressed that it “must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy the planet.”
Change Is Needed
Thus, world leaders and climate change agreed that something has to change to avoid the climate crisis.
However, the activist Greta Thunberg has expressed no surprise towards the IPCC report.
“It confirms what we already know from thousands of previous studies and reports that we
are in an emergency,” the 18-year-old wrote on Twitter.
“We can still avoid the worst consequences, but not if we continue like today, and not
without treating the crisis like a crisis,” she added.
