In the Vatican city, Pope Francis and a collection of 60 mayors and governors from major world cities recently gathered to pledge to combat global warming and its undeniable effects on poorer communities. The conference comes after Pope Francis issued an encyclical on climate change, the first ever dedicated to the environment.
The conference aims to maintain pressure on national leaders and urge them to take a “very strong stand” on environmental issues at the global summit meeting on climate change, which is scheduled to take place in Paris this December.
“I have a great hopes in the Paris summit,” he said. “I have great hopes that a fundamental agreement is reached. The United Nations needs to take a very strong stand on this.”
Although this is not the first environmental meeting the Vatican has organized, the two-day conference marks the first time local officials were specifically invited to help tackle the growing environmental issues. At the event, a declaration which states that climate change is real, man-made and must be stopped, was signed by the attendees and the pope himself.
In the declaration, the mayors also vowed to urge world leaders to pass a “bold climate agreement that confines global warming to a limit safe for humanity, while protecting the poor and the vulnerable from ongoing climate change that gravely endangers their lives.”
During the conference, Francis’ took to the stage and expressed his concerns for the people living in poverty in cities that show no consideration or care for the environment.
He continued his speech by urging the mayors to pay closer attention to the social problems caused by environmental destruction, detailing how the deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil causes a “rebound effect” for human beings, and how modern day slavery is still thriving in poor areas.
In response, the mayors then proceeded to announce their city’s recent achievements and future environmental plans. In the majority of countries, mayors are able to impose regulations to ensure more buildings become more energy efficient, and have the ability to encourage residents to adopt a greener lifestyle; these courses of action will become crucial components of a wider effort to combat climate change.
The mayor of New York, Mr. de Blasio, pledged to reduce greenhouse emissions in New York by 40 percent by 2030, whilst the mayor of Stockholm, Karin Wanngard, urged “climate negotiators to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy sources.”
In addition, Gov. Jerry Brown of California, a state which is entering its fourth year of a record-breaking drought, expressed that “Political and business leaders are not taking climate change seriously enough.”
The final declaration, which was signed by the mayors, detailed that “human-induced climate change is a scientific reality and its effective control is a moral imperative for humanity.” In addition, the declaration also calls for financial incentives to help “the transition towards low-carbon and renewable energy,” and to shift “public financing from military spending to urgent investments for sustainable development.” It further adds that “The high-income countries should help to finance the costs of climate-change mitigation in low-income countries.”
For years, experts have said that urban areas are the key to tackling climate change. Currently, urban areas account for roughly 70% of global energy consumption and energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is imperative that mayors and governors begin working toward initiating significant eco-friendly change within their cities. However, the primary hope is that the “local government leaders can create pressure on the national leaders,” and finally instigate real worldwide change.
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