As COP30 in Brazil draws to a close, we should reflect on the Pope’s address to delegates, delivered by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, in which he makes very explicit the link between addressing climate change and working for peace, according to a report in the Church Times. “If you want to cultivate peace”, he says, “care for creation”. “….In the midst of a world that is in flames, as a result of both global warming and armed conflicts, this Conference should become a sign of hope.”
The climate crisis was global, so there was, he said, a need for “international cooperation and a cohesive and forward-looking multilateralism, which puts the sacredness of life, the God-given dignity of every human being and the common good at its centre”.
But he also pointed the finger at individuals and governments that he felt were trying to slow progress on combating climate change. “Regrettably, we observe political approaches and human behaviours that go in the opposite direction, characterised by collective selfishness, disregard for others and short-sightedness,” he said.
To link peace and climate action clearly makes sense. The very positive outcome of a world in which countries work together to build a future for our planet with lower fossil fuel dependency and reducing carbon in the atmosphere, is an outcome in which trust is built between nations and disputes are resolved by discussion and negotiation. The very negative outcome of a world of more rapidly increasing temperatures and a degradation of creation, is one in which inhabitable land is reducing and conflict is more likely.
Let us pray that those drawing COP30 to a close can reach agreements in which that very positive outcome becomes the more likely.
Read the Church Times article here.