https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/pope-begs-climate-deniers-to-listen-to-science-1.874528
Pope Francis said on Friday that carbon pricing is “essential” to stem global warming – his clearest statement yet in support of penalising polluters – and appealed to climate change deniers to listen to science.
In an address to energy executives at the end of a two-day meeting, he also called for “open, transparent, science-based and standardised” reporting of climate risk and a “radical energy transition” away from carbon to save the planet.
Carbon pricing, via taxes or emissions trading schemes, is used by many governments to make energy consumers pay for the costs of using the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming, and to spur investment in low-carbon technology.
The Vatican said attendees of the closed-door meeting at its Academy of Sciences, a follow-up to one a year ago, included the CEOs of Royal Dutch Shell, Eni, BP, Repsol, Conoco Phillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and executives of investment funds.
“Collectively, these leaders will influence the planet’s future, perhaps more than any in the world,” said Father John Jenkins, president of the US University of Notre Dame, which organised the meeting.
A small group of demonstrators gathered outside a Vatican gate. One held a sign reading “Dear Oil CEOs – Think of Your Children”.
Francis, who has made many calls for environmental protection and has clashed over climate change with leaders such as US President Donald Trump, said the ecological crisis “threatens the very future of the human family”.
He criticised those who, like Mr Trump, doubt the science that shows human activity is causing the earth to heat up.
“For too long we have collectively failed to listen to the fruits of scientific analysis, and doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain,” Francis said. Discussion of climate change and energy transition must be rooted in “the best scientific research available today”.
Mr Trump, asked in an interview if he accepted climate science, said last week: “I believe there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways.”
He has said the United States will withdraw from the Paris accord, a 2016 global agreement to fight climate change.
