He Pope Francisco, who has made the fight against global warming one of the banners of his pontificate, announced on Wednesday that he will attend the climate summit (COP28) that begins on November 30 in Dubai.
“I’m going to Dubai. I think I’m leaving on December 1st, until the 3rd. I will be there for three days,” said the Argentine pontiff, 86 years old, in an interview with Italian television Rai1.
Dubai will host this UN climate conference from November 30 to December 12, whose objective is reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help developing countries to confront the consequences of climate change.
According to the pope, this conference could represent “a turnaround” if a binding agreement were reached on the transition from fossil energies to less polluting ones such as wind and solar. If that commitment is not achieved, there will be “a great disappointment,” Francis said.
Since his election in 2013, the pope has made the defense of the environment a central theme of his pontificate. In 2015, he dedicated his encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praise You) to that question, a 200-page manifesto in favor of an “integral ecology.”