Pope Francis urges ‘human-centered’ approach to ‘climate finance’ at UN COP29 summit

Vatican City, Nov 13, 2024 / 09:20 am

Referencing the concept of “climate finance,” Pope Francis said in a message to the U.N. climate summit on Wednesday that ecological debt and foreign debt both impact a nation’s future.

Francis warned that both foreign debt and ecological debt are “mortgaging the future” of nations.

“Efforts should be made to find solutions that do not further undermine the development and adaptive capacity of many countries that are already burdened with crippling economic debt,” the pope’s message said.

A “New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance” is one of the goals of the COP29 — the 29th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change — taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11–22.

Climate finance refers to local, national, or transnational financing that supports climate change mitigation actions.

Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is representing the Holy See at the conference, read the pope’s message to the assembly on Nov. 13.

In his message, Francis said there is considerable indifference toward environmental problems in the modern era: “We cannot wash our hands of it, with distance, with carelessness, with disinterest. This is the real challenge of our century.”

“Indifference,” he underlined, “is an accomplice to injustice.”

The U.N.’s climate change conference, known as the “Conference of the Parties” (COP), has been held annually since 1995 to discuss the goals of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Holy See joined the UNFCCC and the 2015 Paris Agreement in 2022.

Pope Francis said the Holy See continues to support the endeavors of the COP29, especially in the area of integral ecology education and in raising awareness of the environmental problem as a human and social issue.

“It is essential to seek a new international financial architecture that is human-centered, bold, creative, and based on the principles of equity, justice, and solidarity,” the pontiff said.

“A new international financial architecture that can truly ensure for all countries, especially the poorest and those most vulnerable to climate disasters, both low-carbon and high-sharing development pathways that enable everyone to reach their full potential and see their dignity respected,” he said.